# Body bushings question



## GTO4UNME (Sep 27, 2014)

Hi everyone. I have a what appears to be a silly question or two in regards to body bushings. 

First, does the body have to come off the frame in order to replace the body bushings on either a '66-'67 or a '68-'69 GTO? 

Secondly, I saw two kinds of bushings for sale in the Ames Performance catalogue. I saw original style rubber bushings with hardware and sleeves, and then I saw poly urethane bushings with hardware but no sleeves. I then saw somewhere online that poly urethane bushings are harder than rubber so they do not need the sleeves. Is this correct? Which bushings are better or preferred?

I am new to restoring old vehicles and there seems to be a lot of conflicting opinions online.


----------



## 68-GTO (Oct 20, 2013)

in my 68 poly bushings install sheet, is marked that i must take the old sleeves from the rubber bushings.

in my opinion poly bushings are the better choice.


----------



## BearGFR (Aug 25, 2008)

Disclaimer: I've not attempted to replace the bushings without removing the body MYSELF, but I *did* replace them when I did a frame-off rebuild on my '69 so I do have some experience.

Opinion? It should be possible to do without completely removing the body, if you're very careful (and lucky enough to not have one or more bolts that you can't remove for one reason or another). Remove all the bolts first and then do one at a time, using a floor jack near each bushing to lift the body just BARELY enough to slide the old bushing out from the side and slide the new one in. This is most important when working on the ones nearest the cowl/firewall area because the front fenders and sheet metal attached to them bolt to the cowl at one end and to the frame at the front of the car, so if you try to lift the cowl area "a lot" your going to start bending things in ugly ways.

I went back with new rubber on my car, but I also significantly upgraded the suspension when I built it so whatever 'slop' is there from the rubber body bushings is more than counteracted by the suspension. I might do poly some day though.

Bear


----------

