Plays_with_Toys

Hey guys, I was curious what is entailed in replacing the suspension/steering bushings on the 2nd gen pickups/1st gen runners??? What tools are required and what kind of cost I might expect, both doing it myself or through a shop.

Also, what brand/type are good replacements, and is there anything else I should do while I am working down in there? I have 104K miles on the truck.

Thanks!

Ilovemountains

Hi, yeah I did a little research also for my 88. I changed the sway bar bushings with Prothane and a new set of end links by the same company; I picked everything up at AutoZone for under $30, what a difference in noise. I also found that my lower shock bushings were shot, so I got a new set of shocks thanks to Rancho's lifetime warranty, which made another big difference. The biggest of all was the front end rebuild I just did, I changed out my ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, idler and pitman arms and a new Rancho 5000 stabilizer kit. I was going to look into the A arm bushings but while I had the front end apart I checked them and they are very very tight still with 148,000 miles and my truck is a V6 so its always had extra weight up front. I changed my rear springs out with a set of Downey 2" lifts, which were supposed to be soft riding, I must have done something wrong because they are very stiff and bouncy to me and I have my shocks cranked up rather firm. All in all my truck rides like new again! Hope this helps but your A arm bushings are probably still OK unless its been beat off road, 95% of my miles are highway and back road! Good luck: drink:

scubasteve83

I think it depends on how deep you want to get into the project. Most of it could be done pretty easily I think.

Plays_with_Toys

My truck is really solid, but I have a slight steering wheel shake under braking, and I've had my brakes looked at multiple times with no visible problems. I was going to get some brembo rotors and some nice pads when my dad suggested just getting new bushings.

scubasteve83

could be an allignment problem?