I am redoing the front end on my F150 but wanted to ask if anyone has used urethane bushings in their I beam pivot?


I have heard over and over again that they ride rougher than rubber and that they squeak all the time unlike rubber.


I am curious about this because I have also seen some claim rubber bushings don't last in these I beam trucks and I hate to spend the time to replace the bushings only to be back where I am now in a few years.

 

My two E250's have had urethane axle pivot bushings installed---all the BS about them making the ride harsh or such is just that----BS.

For the peace of mind knowing I'll not have to re-do that task again and that I'm riding on better parts is well worth the $35 or so it costs in parts. If you do this pay close attention to the instructions---my Energy Suspension parts has us reusing the factory steel outer sleeve which can be left in place when removing the squishy part of the OEM pivots.

Radius arm bushings in urethane too please.

 

I already replaced them with red urethane bushings years ago. But I noticed my rubber bushings are wore out and I figured nows the time to do it. I still am on the fence as I don't want squeaks nor a rougher ride. I did like the thought of using the shell again that means I can just pull the bolt and drop the I beam without actually removing it just knock out the rubber and slide the new in.


I already bought Moog problem solver bushings but I can send them back or sell them to Donnie at work his '82 will be getting drop beams and last time I looked they didn't have bushings.


I just need to decide on prothane or energy suspension for my bushings. Another thing is do I go red or black. I like black as it blends in and looks factory looking but when I did the radius arm bushing years ago Napa only had red no black.

 

Repeating urethane bushings don't suddenly make the ride harse or unbearable---fact is you'd barely know they're in there. Given the weight of your truck, how the suspension moves urethane's biggest advantage is found in its "harder" feature. They're not susceptible to deteriorating like OEM parts---another huge reason to use them.

Energy Suspension or Prothane are about the same---I've seen almost no difference in them truth be told. What I do find is Energy Suspension seems to have more parts available and most aftermarket high performance parts sellers have them too. Recently I bought new ES radius arm bushings for an E250 from Summit Racing---Jeg's was about two weeks out on receiving them.

Not really familiar with Moog urethane bushings---they're in blue IIRC? Despite that being such a great name I'm sure they're made by someone else, perhaps Energy Suspension or Prothane?

Red is my choice---why go to that labor and expense and NOT have them be noticeable, even if only from underneath?

 

I don't know if Moog makes urethane bushings, when I ordered my balljoints for the truck from rock auto I ordered plain rubber Moog bushings. I how ever yesterday ordered a set of 6601 I beam bushings for a stamped I beam as that's what they listed for 81 through 83. Only thing is I got them in black vs red.


I did notice that my I beam on the driver side looks shiny under the bump stop that might be where my harshness is coming in from cause I believe the driverside bushing is the one deformed to hell. I don't see how a stock suspension could get anywhere near hitting the bump stop I don't hit huge bumps but I do hit some dips and thoses are around 40 to 45 mph.

 

I got the urethane bushing installed yesterday. I didn't do the ball joints as the popping I was hearing was actually my draglink which was damaged when the truck hit a curb at 45 mph. I checked it out after it happened nothing was bad or loose or bent but I guess it caused accelerated wear in the ball joint for the drag link as it got worse and worse on the steering.