Viper Beau
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- Dec 17, 2008
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Just wanted to give some feedback on my experience with the install of the complete Energy Bushing kit I got from Stinker. To start of, I am not one who works on cars. I don't have the experience and knowledge of a lot of members on this forum. So I hope those guys that are uneasy about taking on this task might learn from my experience. Second, I was working alone. Obviously, working with someone else would have made this job a lot easier. I do have a decent amount of tools in my garage and so with the right tools, a little brains, and some big balls I decided to go for it.
After researching the forum for suspension options and what people seemed to be doing, I decided on some Caltracs (bought used), Energy Bushings for the front and leaf springs, and a Hotchkis sway bar setup. After talking with Stinker about the Hotchkis for a little bit I had to wonder whether the $650 for the sway bars and the polyurethane bushings was that much better. From Stinker I gathered our sway bars are pretty thick and though they may be heavier than the Hotchkis, and the Hotchkis probably does give a bit better performance, how much of the better Hotchkis performance could actually be attributed to the sway bars or the new polyurethane bushings. So the questions was do I go with the Hotchkis and get only new poly sway bar bushings ($650) or Stinker's Energy Bushing complete front/back kit and keep the pretty good stock sway bars ($200). I went with Stinker because I don't believe the Hotchkis set up would be that much better, at least not $450 better.
The front install went ok after I bought a Benzomatic torch at Home Depot $10. By the way, don't do the install without a torch. IMO its a complete was of time, unless you have a press. Welding torch would even be better but not part of my tool collection. Burn both ends until you see the rubber starting to almost boil out of the bushing and the metal sleeve shoots right out. Heating up the outer ring while prying out the rest of the bushing in how I did it. It took some time but got done. My die grinder and a coarse sanding drum cleaned the inner ring of the upper control arms and done.
The clear white grease that comes with the kit. WOW!!! its more like glue that you can't get off. Make sure if you do this you wear rubber gloves. That stuff is a nightmare, very sticky and very viscous.
Stinker hooked me up with some end links. I over-drilled them with a 1/2 in. bit and they fit right on. I just replaced the ones where the front sway bar bolts on.
Next I did the front sway bars. They were obviously the easiest. The Energy Bushings are much thinner than the rubber ones but the fit was perfect and the gold colored brackets make things look much better than stock.
Lower control arms and streering rack I took to my mechanic shop. I was not comfortable messing with the shock/spring assembly and getting those bolts removed was too much for my tools and comfort level.
The rear leaf springs took time to burn out. I thought I was done after burning the rubber out. It was'nt until I tried to fit the E-bushing that I discovered you had to gut out the metal sleeve. That was a pain since my sawsall batteries decided to not work. I beat the crap out of them and pryed at them until they came out. Not fun. Use a sawsall metal blade to cut a chunck out of them and they should pry and punch out easier.
I put the Caltracs aluminum bushing in the front eye. While I had them out I ran a wire brush over the springs and spray painted a coat of black to touch them up a bit.
Also took the time to strip and paint my rear sway bar, Caltracs, and U bolts to clean the rear up.
My evaluation of the install is that it is a time consuming task but with a torch, working sawsall, and patience it can be done by a single person. Again, I don't know much about cars so if I can do this install, I think others would be able to do the same. The Caltracs went on pretty easy as well. Froze the aluminum bushings, used antiseize, 1.5 turns after spring bolt contact, the typical info you find on the forum.
Are the Energy Bushings worth the time to install. Without question YES! Steering does not have as much play in it now. I can go around corners like a mad man. I used to own a Infiniti G35 Coupe which had the sport suspesion option on it and it had more body roll than my truck does now. Consider again the shear weight of the truck and the height off the ground. My truck is not lowered either. I can take this beast fast around corners and it has very minimal body roll. I have not raced the 1/4 mile yet so I can't tell you if it hooks better than stock but some of the other reviews seem to think it helps. My goal is not to set track records or anything like that. I am looking for a fast street truck that I can take every now and again to the track. As far as suspension upgrades that fit my goal, the Caltracs and Enegry Bushings definitely fit the bill. The only other thing I am thinking about is Justin's QA1's for even better traction options. Anyone looking to give a good performance/handling bump to your truck should seriously consider buying this kit from Stinker. Definitley worth it and with all the mods available that are big bucks, this is a very low cost high reward mod that everyone could benefit from.
After researching the forum for suspension options and what people seemed to be doing, I decided on some Caltracs (bought used), Energy Bushings for the front and leaf springs, and a Hotchkis sway bar setup. After talking with Stinker about the Hotchkis for a little bit I had to wonder whether the $650 for the sway bars and the polyurethane bushings was that much better. From Stinker I gathered our sway bars are pretty thick and though they may be heavier than the Hotchkis, and the Hotchkis probably does give a bit better performance, how much of the better Hotchkis performance could actually be attributed to the sway bars or the new polyurethane bushings. So the questions was do I go with the Hotchkis and get only new poly sway bar bushings ($650) or Stinker's Energy Bushing complete front/back kit and keep the pretty good stock sway bars ($200). I went with Stinker because I don't believe the Hotchkis set up would be that much better, at least not $450 better.
The front install went ok after I bought a Benzomatic torch at Home Depot $10. By the way, don't do the install without a torch. IMO its a complete was of time, unless you have a press. Welding torch would even be better but not part of my tool collection. Burn both ends until you see the rubber starting to almost boil out of the bushing and the metal sleeve shoots right out. Heating up the outer ring while prying out the rest of the bushing in how I did it. It took some time but got done. My die grinder and a coarse sanding drum cleaned the inner ring of the upper control arms and done.
The clear white grease that comes with the kit. WOW!!! its more like glue that you can't get off. Make sure if you do this you wear rubber gloves. That stuff is a nightmare, very sticky and very viscous.
Stinker hooked me up with some end links. I over-drilled them with a 1/2 in. bit and they fit right on. I just replaced the ones where the front sway bar bolts on.
Next I did the front sway bars. They were obviously the easiest. The Energy Bushings are much thinner than the rubber ones but the fit was perfect and the gold colored brackets make things look much better than stock.
Lower control arms and streering rack I took to my mechanic shop. I was not comfortable messing with the shock/spring assembly and getting those bolts removed was too much for my tools and comfort level.
The rear leaf springs took time to burn out. I thought I was done after burning the rubber out. It was'nt until I tried to fit the E-bushing that I discovered you had to gut out the metal sleeve. That was a pain since my sawsall batteries decided to not work. I beat the crap out of them and pryed at them until they came out. Not fun. Use a sawsall metal blade to cut a chunck out of them and they should pry and punch out easier.
I put the Caltracs aluminum bushing in the front eye. While I had them out I ran a wire brush over the springs and spray painted a coat of black to touch them up a bit.
Also took the time to strip and paint my rear sway bar, Caltracs, and U bolts to clean the rear up.
My evaluation of the install is that it is a time consuming task but with a torch, working sawsall, and patience it can be done by a single person. Again, I don't know much about cars so if I can do this install, I think others would be able to do the same. The Caltracs went on pretty easy as well. Froze the aluminum bushings, used antiseize, 1.5 turns after spring bolt contact, the typical info you find on the forum.
Are the Energy Bushings worth the time to install. Without question YES! Steering does not have as much play in it now. I can go around corners like a mad man. I used to own a Infiniti G35 Coupe which had the sport suspesion option on it and it had more body roll than my truck does now. Consider again the shear weight of the truck and the height off the ground. My truck is not lowered either. I can take this beast fast around corners and it has very minimal body roll. I have not raced the 1/4 mile yet so I can't tell you if it hooks better than stock but some of the other reviews seem to think it helps. My goal is not to set track records or anything like that. I am looking for a fast street truck that I can take every now and again to the track. As far as suspension upgrades that fit my goal, the Caltracs and Enegry Bushings definitely fit the bill. The only other thing I am thinking about is Justin's QA1's for even better traction options. Anyone looking to give a good performance/handling bump to your truck should seriously consider buying this kit from Stinker. Definitley worth it and with all the mods available that are big bucks, this is a very low cost high reward mod that everyone could benefit from.
