How to keep polyurethane bushings from squeaking! Fix that squeak! 

ha ha.

Fam4sta, no; only sand the sleeves. I have further improved my methods and increase the exactness and speed at wich to accomplish this task. The method is as folows: insert the bushing into its place (control arm or whatever) using a caliper measure the inner diameter if the installed bushing (the diameter will be smaller when installed which is a good thing because that means the bushing will not slip in its place once our modification is done correctly) one you have that measurement you may now use it to match the sleeve. The sleeve can be no larger than 0.003 inches larger than the inner diameter of the installed bushing. But 0.001 inches or matched is preferred. I have also found that after using a die grinder to take the majority of the material of the sleeve is the way to go, as then filling it and using sand paper to smooth it to "perfection) will take no more than 0.002" off. But if you don't press hard with the die grinder than you'll really only take off 0.001 to get it polished. I hope that answers your question.

You do not want the bushing to slid in its installed location.

Ya, there's issues with that. If you have a suspension system that you has a lot of articulation classic clevite bushings just get ripped apart real quick.

2 mm over hang of the sleeve is usually appropriate. the bushing being longer than the sleeve a tiny bit will keep the components centered. Put some motor oil or teflon lube or axle grease on the face of the bushing and wiggle it into place. teflon is great because it is less able to attract dust or abrasives. It is bad to have suspension components flopping around in an un controlled manner. cutting the bushing with a hack saw works well, especially if you have a vice, clamp a sleeve or bolt in the vice and then the bushing over that to hold while sawing, also a bench grinder will tear away bushing material well.

@@crazydeathcar even if I get the arm in place, with lube or oil, the bushing would be so squashed that the arm wont have no motion. I'll try a hand saw and see from there

do not lube the outside of the bushing, you want the bushing to remain static in the part it is installed in.

@@crazydeathcar Ok, good to know, thank you!

Or you can just lathers all the contact points with copper antiseize and skip this whole conundrum. I mean seriously, this is heavily documented.

if you have slack in between the bushing and the bracket the eye of the leaf spring will be able to move side to side. if this is the rear axle then the axle will be able to flop side to side and change the thrust angle. the flanges on the bushing are there to control the axle, there should be a small amount of pressure on the flanges of the bushing to ensure there is no side to side movement.

@@crazydeathcar I see. So I just have to trim down the bushing flanges a bit. Small enough to not get squeezed so tightly that it makes squeaking noise but not so much that it would move side to side. Is that right?

Yes

@@crazydeathcar One more thing. I'm having a hard time removing the bushings from the leaf springs. What did you do to remove them. I'm afraid I'd ruin the bushings when I remove them using flat edge.

@@youandicandiy5794 I'm not there, so my advice will likely be poor, maybe a wide punch through the sleeve hole to tap the inside face?

Doesn't work of the bushing is so tight is squeegees all the grease off when you put it in.

@Micah Turner the formula 5 grease works well. Just remember to hand tighten and then load the suspension before tightening to the proper torque spec. People that torque it down when the car is jacked up face binding issues later due to expansion when under load. A single layer of Teflon tape over a clean sleeve or sway bar with a light layer of Formula 5 (PTFE) or marine grease on top of it helps too. Otherwise you are regreasing things every few months.

Reasons: vibration isolation, higher impact strength compared to ball bearings, and radial flexibility resulting in larger range of motion required for this application. Ball bearings have very low impact resistance, you'll get more put of roller type bearings, but spherical plain bearings have the most impact strength of all bearing types. If you are doing bearings it would be wiser to use a spherical plain bearing. I recommend a a spherical plain bearing that is stainless steel with a PTFE liner.i think synergy manufacturing has high duromator bushings with PTFE linings, I've used some of their stuff. The larger stuff is good but the tolerances for their smaller bushings are poor.

Blake Regalia that's most certainly an option. you'll have to purchase a reamer of the appropriate size to do that. it's also likely the sleeves are not all the same size.

preload for the bushings? that is determined by the length of the sleeve around the bolt, it doesnt matter if there is weight on it.

I have no doubt that you did experience that however there are many different blends of polyurethane and there are many bad ones

.Agree,but you will not know until you have a probleam. They all look the same different colors of cause.As there is no garrantee on these, how can you be sure.Sales will always tell you;This is the best;.

I dont know why people think useless anti sieze is a lubricant.

@@crazydeathcar Because its damn near impossible to completely remove. It even resists parts cleaner. And on bushings you just need a tiny bit of anything to keep the polyurethane from rubbing on metal to prevent it from sounding like a cricket. What you did in this video is actually stupid, and youll be replacing those bushings alot sooner than you think. You Essentially just sanded years off the life of the bushing. Smart move..

Its damn near impossible to remove a lot of things, like tar, but hey why not use that? Actually these bushing are still not squeaking and I've only lubbed them one since initial placement and all the Clevis joints on my rig which are newer are trashed up and broken apart.

Maybe when you've seen antisieze used as a lubricant, as I have, fail so many times then you'll agree with me.

Ben Thomas, that wasn't an option in this situation because these springs I got stuck with required those bushings. It's Ranchos little trick to make an extra buck.

Don't be a damn blow-hard, Ben Thomas. There are plenty of applications that call for poly bushings that have nothing to do with cost savings. This video has useful information for the people who's applications do well with a harder bushing (track prepped sports cars that want more precise response to driver inputs come to mind).