Neighbor is trying to replace his shot rubber bushings with polyurethane from Energy Suspension, and he ran into a big issue - normally you install the poly bushings by simply burning off the old rubber, leaving the factory sleeves pressed in the springs, clean up said sleeves real nice on the inside, and the poly bushings should slide right in - well in his case the poly bushings are slightly larger than needed to fit in the factory sleeves. If he cuts the sleeves and removes them, then pushes the bushings directly in the springs, then it looks like there will be some slop around the bushings, and they will likely die rather quick. Truck is a '93 F150 ext cab 2wd with 3" wide leafs. Anyone ran into this before, or know of anyone else running into it?

 

Is he sure he has the right part, and if so, have him contact the dealer and have them fix the issue.

 

for what it's worth, I put poly bushing on my 95' F150 4X4. It has 3" springs too. The poly bushings fit in the springs fine. The old ones had the thin steel sleeve around the rubber. I ran into problems because I also replaced the rear shackles. The ones I bought were apparently after market and already had the rubber ones installed. I removed one and found the Poly's wouldn't fit those. I had to reinstall the rubber ones.

 

When i did my drop we put polys in the leaf springs and were going to re use the stock shackels but could not get them in what so ever, we ended up using djm shackels with the polys instead.

 

He got them through AutoZone, they have two kits listed for his truck and he compared both and they are the same...

So did you leave the thin steel sleeves in the springs, and press the bushings in those? Or did you remove the sleeves too, and install the bushings directly in the springs? And he's reusing his factory shackles, so hopefully the bushings there fit like they should...

So the poly bushings didn't fit in the factory shackles? He hasn't tried that yet, he hit a snag on the springs and that's where he stopped for now, I'll see tomorrow if the shackles will give him the same trouble...

 

I have a set of poly bushings for mine. I haven't replaced them yet. From what I have seen the poly bushings won't fit in the shackles. It looks like they will work in the springs though. If someone finds a way to do it please share.

I recently put poly bushings on my Stang and put the bushing directly into the spring with no sleeve except for the one in the center of the bushing and it works great.

 

Well I was looking through the ENS catalog last night, and comparing to what AZ sells- turns out the kits by AZ are the correct ones according to ENS, and the only difference between them is the shackle bushings - download the ENS catalog from their site and see the different designs for yourself (I can't link to the image as it's in a PDF file), maybe you got the wrong kit for your shackles? This still don't explain my spring issue tho, but maybe they are meant togo in the springs directly like you did with your Mustang...

 

[quote=TexasGuy001;8650767] It looks like they will work in the springs though. If someone finds a way to do it please share.

Ty, Jim used his Press in the shop to get the polys in the leaf springs when it comes time he should to for you.

 

Jason, so your friend Jim pressed the poly bushings in the thin steel sleeves in the springs? Guess we'll be using the 20-ton press again...

 

Here is some pics, i cant remember, I can go out and tak a pick of the spring now and post it? Let me know

 

The way poly bushings sit with that shoulder on the sides of the spring I don't think you'd be able to take a pic of what's behind it, but if you feel like it give it a shot. If not just look to see if that thin steel sleeve is still in there, as that's really all I need to know. Thanks man!

 

There is no steel sleeve, all i see is Red bushing !

 

Ok, so bushings straight in the springs - that shouldn't need a press to do tho, they look like they'd slide right in. Oh well, guess we'll just have to try it...

 

As for the springs, the thin steel came out in pieces with the old bushings. The new poly bushings just went in without anything else, nice fit too! The aftermarket shackels, didn't have any thin steel casing, just the rubber. Pressed them out, tried to fit the bushings, didn't fit, and pressed the rubber bushing back in.

Joe

 

Alright Joe, that helps a lot - basically you just confirmed Jason's observation, so I'll tell my neighbor to just pull the steel sleeves out. About the shackles, I'm thinking you got the wrong kit - there are two different ones, the main spring bushings are the same in them but the ones for the shackles are different based on the particular shackle design, they are close but not identical.