Prothane poly pivot bushings

Has anyone tried these polyurethane bushings?

Link to 4 Wheel Parts

My son is going to try them. He says that they don't require that the sleeve of the OE bushings be driven out. So that would be on less step.

RenoHuskerDu wrote

Has anyone tried these polyurethane bushings?

Link to 4 Wheel Patrs

My son is going to try them,. He says that they don't require that the sleeve of the OE bushings be driven out. So that would be on less step.

I installed the Prothane urethane bushings in my truck back in 2015 and up until I had to park the truck due to the balancer spinning on the crank when it came apart in late 2018 I have had no problems with them.

What I did was put a jack under the pivot of the I beam with the truck on the ground pulled the bolt out then lowered the jack to tilt the I beam towards the ground.  I then used a hammer to drive out the center sleeve then put a large drill bit between the rubber bushing and the outter case and spun the drill which walked the bushing out.  I then used a wire brush on a drill and polished the outer case up before using a generous amount of Porthane bushing grease and installed them.  Jacked the I beam back up into place and installed the bolt and was done.

I need to replace my poly bushings on the rear bar how ever as I bought them from napa years ago and it came with no grease and they creak on me.  Will be getting Prothane bushings for those and will be installing Prothane bushings in my leaf springs when I replace them with new springs.

I wont use urethane bushings how ever on anything that goes between the cab and the frame as they pivot great and take the abuse that rubber cant but they are not that great at isolating vibrations.  With that said I actually noticed my truck rides smoother with the urethane bushings from Prothane over the old rubber bushings that I had.

That's helpful feedback Rusty, thank you.

I can see a case where the poly bushings would not work, if the OE bushing is so far gone that the metal sleeve itself has started to take it on the chin from the crossbolt, and suffer serious metal on metal wear.  None of us, of course, would let our trucks go that far into decline. But we may purchase a Bully that has this type of wear. In that case you would have to find the correct puller to drive out the entire OE bushing remains and sleeve. Or split it with a power chisel to remove it. Not fun.

I'm told that bending the sleeve lips inward with a hammer all the way around makes it easier to drive it out.  But the job looks tedious and tiring, all done under the truck on your belly or side, unless you own a lift. So I'm glad to hear of another who has gone the poly route and left that OE sleeve in place.

RenoHuskerDu wrote

That's helpful feedback Rusty, thank you.

I can see a case where the poly bushings would not work, if the OE bushing is so far gone that the metal sleeve itself has started to take it on the chin from the crossbolt, and suffer serious metal on metal wear.  None of us, of course, would let our trucks go that far into decline. But we may purchase a Bully that has this type of wear. In that case you would have to find the correct puller to drive out the entire OE bushing remains and sleeve. Or split it with a power chisel to remove it. Not fun.

I'm told that bending the sleeve lips inward with a hammer all the way around makes it easier to drive it out.  But the job looks tedious and tiring, all done under the truck on your belly or side, unless you own a lift. So I'm glad to hear of another who has gone the poly route and left that OE sleeve in place.

If you have an air hammer use a chisel around the lip and fold the bushing in towards the center then hammer the bushing outwards once you collapse one side slightly it will loosen the fit.  The other option is to use a press to press the assembly out.

Personally I would knock the guts of the bushing out first then try and fold the lip in towards the center which will be easier with all the guts gone once you do this it will release the press fit nature of the shell and it should hammer out a lot easier.  I lucked out on mine as they werent that far, the bushings were shot but there was still rubber between the inner sleeve and the shell.

Helpful tip. I use a ball joint press and swap bushings in a very controlled manner. Impact driver speeds things up too.

I went with Energy Suspension bushings, which also reuse the outer shell. I had the axle beams out of the truck, so I pushed the center sleeve out of the rubber, burned the rubber out, then used a small flap sanding wheel to polish the inside of the outer sleeve. It worked perfectly!

^^^ second Energy Suspension as opposed to Prothane. I just ordered a set of body mounts from both companies and compared them side by side. Energy was better materials and construction. The Prothane was 100% poly but the Energy Suspension kit had a fused in metal collar for durability. Go with the Energy Suspension kit.

We have trouble finding either. I am increasingly convinced that parts for our older trucks are hard to get in a plan to push people into boring, soulless, modern vehicles. My response is ... buy more parts trucks!

I have the Prothane bushings on order with 4WheelParts and they keep stalling.  They did the same to one of my sons on an LUK clutch, finally he cancelled and ordered it at CarID (which has its own problems so caveat emptor there too).