# Bushing swap, neccessary?



## Richtenb (Feb 1, 2010)

Hello guys, i have been thinking of a swap of the bushings back and forth for a while to energy súspensions.

Is it really neccessary? i will change my front and rear struts, springs, and busings aswell as the swaybars when spring arrives.

Would appreciate some thoughts about this. thanks


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## badgoat91 (Jul 13, 2009)

hey ya i was in your boat but i went for it. I put the whole energy suspension kit on my 05 goat and that alone made a significant difference. the pics i have are pre bushings . then i went with koni rear shocks, there the best i have ever used, i had them on my trans am to. then i put the eibach springs and now everythings prefectly tot. bushings are defintely the best place to start otherwise the rubber will get worn out fast with stiffer spring and other suspension mods


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

This will explain to you what you need to know:http://www.gtoforum.com/f39/definitive-definition-gto-suspension-concerns-19058/

I'm going to be swapping my x-member bushings and adding a diff insert this weekend.


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## dms (Jun 27, 2005)

I wrote the article that was referred to you. If you have any questions, just ask

mike
dms


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## Richtenb (Feb 1, 2010)

*Thanks for the answers guys*

I will sure try to get the crossmember bushings then and the heavy duty endlinks which mike writes about.. I actually would have bought everything from Pedders if it wasn´t so damn complicated for us foreigners  so i had to turn to australia. Mike however is a really helpful guy. 

Bad goat, was it a pain in the a.. to mount the bushings and what about the installation instructions for the energy suspension bushings?
hmm you have almost convinced me about this one...


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Richtenb said:


> I will sure try to get the crossmember bushings then and the heavy duty endlinks which mike writes about.. I actually would have bought everything from Pedders if it wasn´t so damn complicated for us foreigners  so i had to turn to australia. Mike however is a really helpful guy.
> 
> Bad goat, was it a pain in the a.. to mount the bushings and what about the installation instructions for the energy suspension bushings?
> hmm you have almost convinced me about this one...


I just finished my Energy Suspension x-member bushings and Lovells rear diff insert bushing. The x-member bushings took some work with a prybar and a large screwdriver to work them out. Also I had to use a ratching tie down strap to pull the passenger side x-member into position, so I can get the mount bolt in. The driverside bolt went right in. The funny thing is my friends GTO was the same exact way mine was. Rear diff insert was an easy install. Soap and warm water worked fine, to push the rear diff insert bushing in.

I have alittle more noise than I did with the rubber bushings, don't bother me none. The rear seems alittle more tighter and it feels like it wants to break loose. The radius rod bushings are next, mine are showing signs of stress cracks but no leaking yet. There is still a handfull of other bushings I want to do, but the main bushes I wanted to do first. I wish I had the pations to wait and do the rear control arm bushes to while I did the x-member bushes, ohh well those will come later.


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## Richtenb (Feb 1, 2010)

*Great Advice*

Allright Then i will be counting on some hard work with the x member bushing then. I think i will order them from Lovell as well. Great Write up about the installation process GM, Im having some hard times deciding if i should order the control arm bushings as well.. I really hate the work with bushings 

GM, whats your set up suspension wise? have you changed your shocks and top bushings as well?


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Richtenb said:


> Allright Then i will be counting on some hard work with the x member bushing then. I think i will order them from Lovell as well. Great Write up about the installation process GM, Im having some hard times deciding if i should order the control arm bushings as well.. I really hate the work with bushings
> 
> GM, whats your set up suspension wise? have you changed your shocks and top bushings as well?


The x-member bushings are pretty easy, it shouldn't take you long to do them at most an hour. Do one side at a time, you'll be fine. If your going to do the lower control arm bushings do them at the same time, from the looks of the service manual it looks like your going to do repettive steps if you do them later. I don't know whats involved in doing the control arm bushings if they are easy to remove or not. If your looking for some adjustablity in the rear I would go with the adjustable control arm bushing, thats what I'm going with.

Its a slow process for me to work on my suspension. The first thing I done was drag bags then later front and rear swaybar bushings thats it. I haven't got to the shocks/struts, springs, strut bushings and berings yet. I may do Lovells or King springs.


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

I've done all of the bushings on my car. IMHO the rear control arm bushings and especially the inner ones are an important upgrade. The inners have big voids in them making them flex quite a bit. Replcing them seemed to help my rear camber. As was said if you're going to do the outer rear control arm bushing you should do it at the same time as the x-member bushing as you need to drop a bit to get the bolt out of the outer one. At the time I did mine it was said that you needed a special big press tool to get them out. Being a DIYer and stubborn I made a tool out of a large cast iron pipe coupler and a threaded rod. . A large washer holds one end and a couple of smaller ones drive the bushing into the coupler which acts as a cup. You should cut off the shoulder on one side of the bushing so it can push thru easier. At first it won't budge but the application of some heat from a propane torch softened them and they popped out fairly easily. The new ones pop in with no effort at all. I carefully cleaned up the inner part where the bushing goes and painted them so they wouldn't rust before I reassembled.

Here's my cheesy but effective tool. You can see that the inner bush (on the left) has voids in it. It also has some sort of goo on a hard shell which is why it comes out so hard. The heating softened the goo and out it came.


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## QUIKSLVR04GOAT (Nov 24, 2008)

Ok... This may seem like a really stupid question. Would a "Master Bushing Kit" like The one on this website: Discount Car Parts Stuff - Car Accessories & Truck Accessories - Cheap Auto Parts - Car Cover - Floor Mats - Cargo Liner - 2004 Pontiac GTO Master Bushing Kit Performance/Accessory Have all the Bushings to do the WHOLE Car. :confused THANKS LOL!!


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## Richtenb (Feb 1, 2010)

*thanks for all the answers*

I have made up my mind now, Ill buy the crossmember bushings and the rear control arm bushings. Thanks for a good write up about that Svede. Guess i will be going with the hard artillery (propane torch) aswell. I thought a modified screwdriver the ones u stab with, (stabbingdriver maybe  ) would be enough, but it seems lika i just have to build that tools aswell. i am also a DIY and would hate to leave the car away to personel who never ever seen a GTO (not the most common car in Sweden, Volvo you know  )

The caster rod and top bushings is already bought. Thanks again for all the help guys


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## Richtenb (Feb 1, 2010)

*Regarding Quicksilvers question*

Actually no, and i would really not recommend you from buing parts from that store either.. Actually i ordered my corsa from there, took 3 months and i didn´t get it. had to call 15 times to get i canceled and then i ordered it from thunderracing. 

if you want to get rid of the suspension, tire rub problems you will have to buy a radius rod bushing and strut top bushings.. The X member bushings are also separate aswell as the differential insert if you want that one. (packages for thoose are available aswell) 

otherwise it pretty much covers a lot


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

QUIKSLVR04GOAT said:


> Ok... This may seem like a really stupid question. Would a "Master Bushing Kit" like The one on this website: Discount Car Parts Stuff - Car Accessories & Truck Accessories - Cheap Auto Parts - Car Cover - Floor Mats - Cargo Liner - 2004 Pontiac GTO Master Bushing Kit Performance/Accessory Have all the Bushings to do the WHOLE Car. :confused THANKS LOL!!


No, but it's a really good place to start. The major stuff it's missing (and somewhat critical) are the strut mounts and front radius rod bushings. IMHO their subframe (x-member) bushings are the best


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## QUIKSLVR04GOAT (Nov 24, 2008)

svede1212 said:


> No, but it's a really good place to start. The major stuff it's missing (and somewhat critical) are the strut mounts and front radius rod bushings. IMHO their subframe (x-member) bushings are the best


What are front radius rod bushings and x-member bushings? How much do they run? and what are they for?

THANKS!!


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

Strut mount are also important. The strut mounts are what's on the top of the struts. They sit in a "cup" that's under where your strut tower brace bolts too. You get at them by taking out the strut from below. The stock ones have a tendency to collapse which cause the strut to lean in and can cause the tire to rub on the strut. It also makes the front end "loose". The strut bearings are right below the bushing and they are usually replaced as a unit.

The front radius rod bushing is on the front of the rod that keeps your front control arm from moving fore and aft. The OEM is a liquid filled unit that is prone to leaking the liquid out and even "good" presents excessive movement. When you brake for instance your wheel goes back in the wheel well. A new one will give you a more solid feeling in the front and prevent tire wear also. Kollar Racing Products has a nice RR bushings for a little over $200. The Energy set is a nice place to start but the other big bushes like the strut bush and RR are more than that kit each but maybe more necessary.

The rear x-member bushing holds the rear subframe that the rear control arm and wheels are attached to. They come in the Energy kit. You need to get new bolts (one for each side) from GM as they are one time use bolts.


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## Richtenb (Feb 1, 2010)

*Svede*

is the crossmember bushing in the energy suspension kit??

is it in the subframe part or??

would really help me alot if you knew this one

thanks


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

The Energy kit has the subframe (x-member) bushing. That's the one that you'll need the new bolts for. The area is circled in red. There is a plate with 3 small bolts you can reuse and the 1 long bolt in the center you need to replace.










This pic shows the strut bushing that's prone to collapsing with the bearing below it. It's in yellow.


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## QUIKSLVR04GOAT (Nov 24, 2008)

SVEDE Youre awesome! thanks for clearing some of that up for me!


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## Richtenb (Feb 1, 2010)

*Thanks a lot*

i agree with Quicks.
Fantastic writeup Svede!!

A bit off topic
Where do you get thoose nice repairschuedules from? 

anyway, thanks a lot.. Then ill just buy the energy suspension subframe kit, a lot cheaper than lovells too


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## svede1212 (Nov 1, 2005)

Richtenb said:


> i agree with Quicks.
> Fantastic writeup Svede!!
> 
> A bit off topic
> ...


If you mean the pictures, I have a bunch in PhotoBucket I've picked up over the last 6 years


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## Richtenb (Feb 1, 2010)

**

God damn, should have been around 6 years ago to collect pictures aswell


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## GM4life (Mar 18, 2007)

Richtenb said:


> God damn, should have been around 6 years ago to collect pictures aswell


They are great and all for show and tell, but if you turn wrenches like I do you'll have a mental picture of everything.


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