luckypabst : Poly body bushings
Poly body bushings
Post by luckypabst on Jul 15, 2006, 2:38pm
Here's what I've found concerning the poly body bushings, after doing two trucks, two different ways:
The first way used a bulk polyurethane tube, durometer 60A, similar to the hardness of a tire tread and maybe just a hair softer than a NOS rubber set. I cut the tube down to the NOS thickness and opened up the ID to match. This method worked well but was expensive and the poly bushings don't squish down much - next time it might be best to make them 1/8" thinner than stock.
Method 2 used this kit: http://tinyurl.com/kdoxx. The poly is very hard, I'm guessing closer to 80A and they are 1/8" thinner than the NOS set. I did have to open up the holes to match the stock bushings. This kit comes with 14 bushings, so there's enough left over for half a bed set, which will require enlarging the center hole as well.
The kit cost about the same as 6" of the bulk tube, required less work and included much more material. The 6" tube only yields about 7 bushings in comparison.
Both methods made major improvements in overall ride quality and it's a fair bet that any truck that's not had the bushings replaced recently probably need it done now.
One note - I have yet to replace the rubber strips under the core support. As stock, they're two strips of 1/4" rubber per side.
Chris
