Over the winter, my son and I have just about completed a cosmetic/suspension restoration on his 92 Yukon. Some of the things we have done include:

installing heated rear window and outside mirrors

power seats

new dashboard

new carpet, sound deadener

rebuilt transmission, rebuilding the differentials which includes regearing to 4.88 gears

installing a 4 inch lift kit, and 36 inch tires.

the suspension rebuild is the source of my frustration. We replaced the ball joints, and planned to replace the worn out control arm bushings. The last 4 or 5 front end rebuilds I have been involved with, I used Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings with great success. I知 furious that I can稚 say that with this project!!

The problem: in a cost cutting move, Energy Suspension wants you to reuse the outer shells (the part pressed into the control arms) and the inner sleeves and outer washers. The problem: generally, those are wear items. The washers and sleeves are usually rusty, or badly damaged due to wear. It痴 seems absolutely ridiculous to expect the customer to reuse wear items. In my mind, that痴 like buying a rotating assembly for an engine, and being expected to reuse your old bearings!!!

I have looked over 4 different parts trucks, all the sleeves/washers are in unusable condition. Reluctantly, I decided just to bite the bullet and buy cheap stock replacement bushing to get the needed parts to complete the control arms. I buy new parts painstakingly take them apart, clean the parts only to find the aftermarket bushings have significantly smaller inner diameter sleeves!!

After a brief cooling off period, I called energy suspension. They told me they stopped including those parts to meet a desired price break point. To which I say: BULLSHIT!! I personally would have been perfectly content to pay a little more to have the kit included everything I need.

To add insult to injury, I could have purchased aftermarket replacement control arms with all new components for about 75 bucks more than I have in attempting to rebuild the old ones. I would prefer not to go that route, I知 guessing the quality of the ball joints/bushings wouldn稚 be top notch, but at least the damn thing would be finished!!!

Over the years, I have bitched here several times about the throwaway mentality society has, and the lack of desire for customer satisfaction. I have used energy suspension many times over the years, believe me this latest experience will result in many questions and consideration before spending money with them again.

Im done ranting.

 

Rant Brother Rant.... Right is Right ***** them. They changed the goal posts and the end game. Give'm **** and let them know. Cost cutting Kork Soakers....

But take a look so you dont blow a gasket

 

That's a bummer.

I've never heard of Energy Suspension before. Are they a "white-box" supplier like the parts you get from Kanter? I wonder if the Moog control arm bushings need to have the outer shells reused?

 

I just went through this exact same situation rebuilding the front suspension of my '08 Toyota 4Runner. I saw that note on the Energy Suspension website about reusing the outer shells and thought this must be a normal thing with Toyota bushings. What should have been a weekend project with a trip the alignment shop on Monday morning turned into a week long ordeal; drilling, banging, and burning out the old rubber bushings to salvage the outer shells followed by hours and hours of wire wheeling to remove the remaining bits of runner still inside the shells. Complete Nonsense! I would have gladly paid twice the cost of the bushings to have avoided this ridiculous process. It would be different if the outer bushing was a factory serviceable part, but it's not; it's an integral component that is not easily separated. I feel your pain, never again.

Rodney

 

That sucks, I can't imaging attempting to re-use the outer shells from rubber bushings, didn't even know that was "a thing". I used Energy Suspension back in '91 for their Polygraphite bushings to rebuild my '68s front end. Good parts that are still in service, but not worth it to re-use old outer shells.

 

I noticed this trend the last time I did a front end rebuild (~3-ish years ago). Some kits specifically stated that only the poly inserts were provided and you needed to re-use the shells. I avoided all of those and went with Energy Suspension's main competitor. Good quality parts - and complete!

 

I sent a email to energy suspension explaining all this, and told them that without a doubt when I need to buy suspension components again I値l be reading the instructions BEFORE buying them. And if they still expect you to reuse old parts, I値l be buying from their competitors.

Just wondering, what brand did you use, and are you happy with them?

I値l be sure to share any reply I get from them.

 

As I mentioned, there is a complete set of body bushings/suspension bushings from energy suspension on my 69, and on my son痴 70 el Camino. I used their products on my old 87 cutlass, 87 442, bd had planned to use them on my 81 GMC project truck.

Up until the Yukon, I had zero complaints.

 

They had been around forever. Well, at least 25 years!!

I used Moog parts when I first built my 69 when I was in high school (late 80s). I noticed a few years ago the upper control arm bushings (especially the front bushings) looked like hell, I知 guessing from the header heat. That痴 why i decided to go polyurethane.

I had my choice of Moog or cheap autozone bushings. Since I had planned to cut them apart to get the sleeves/washers, I bought the absolute cheapest parts available. Now I知 curious if the Moog parts have the same dimensions as OEM? I might have to spend some more money to attempt to come up with a solution to this ridiculous penny pinching.

 

Classic shrinkflation: for the same prices you get less.

 

If we re-source our manufacturing back to the good 'ol United States of America, some or all of this will go away. Let's hope we can. I watched a yootoob vid and the guy tried 2 brand new brake masters. Both were bad from the box. This is another huge problem in our hobby. Electrical is the worst as you can't see when they're bad from the box. You must first install it and then try to figure out why you still have the problem with a brand new part on the car. Only to find it was the part you just put on is BAD! What!?

It's a communist plot to over throw the world. (Maybe it is)

 

Energy Suspension has been around for quite some time. Believe they started by selling polyurethane replacement control arm bushings, end link kits and motor mounts for popular classic era cars. Meaning '64 to '74 A, F and X chassis cars. Recall full page ads from them, often on back covers of the Mags, back in the day, Eighties, and early nineties.
Like so many others, they were likely bought out by "venture capitalists" with the result being production off shored, and out sourced. Eddie Lampert types. With the resultant decline in Quality. Most shop on price alone, they simply don't care about quality or longevity. Explains the whole "wal mart" hegemony that exists now.

 

Which is why I've never heard of them. 20+ years ago I bought a white-box suspension kit from Kanter to rebuild the front suspension on my 64 98. If I rebuild the suspension on my 71 98 I'll have to probably search for Moog parts individually.

Interestingly, Rock Auto lists Moog, Energy Suspension, Dorman, etc. control arm bushings with and without the sleeve (at least based on the pictures). We all know how reliable the pics on Rock Auto are.

 

My son and I spent all morning at our local salvage yard. We removed 11 control arms from wrecked trucks, before finding enough usable sleeves/washers to assemble his truck. So far, no reply from energy suspension. Hopefully this weekend we can get the front end back under the truck and get it on the ground.

 

Sorry to hear about Energy Suspension’s move on this front. Unsurprising if vulture capitalists are involved.

If there’s an alternative you trust, vote with your $ and time there. I’d fall back to Moog as a first move, then Energy Suspension’s aftermarket competitors.

If you’re stuck reusing shells, I wonder if would help to individually match your reused shells to the arms they will be working in. It could be that in their prior life, due to the designs of the suspensions they came from that some are in better and some are in worse shape. Maybe matching the lightest-previou-use ones to your heaviest load spots will lead you to the best suspension solution.

They’re totally different vehicles, but I found on my ‘66 big cars that polyurethane bushings were just too stiff to be true to GM’s 60’s designs. I ran ‘em for about 2 years before going back to rubber. If Yukon full replacements are $75.00, I’d be tempted to try rubber proper replacements in the name of longevity, ride quality and to avoid suspension clunks from reused parts.

Chris

 

I put poly graphite bushings in my 71 Cutlass 30 years ago- that brand seems familiar- didn't have to reuse shells back then. They are squeaky now but have lasted a long time....

 

Great big steaming piles of horse excrement!!

I thought I lucked out at the salvage yard, one pair of sleeves/wasgers looked VERY clean. Turns out they were so nice and clean because they had been replaced with the same style slightly smaller dimension part as the aftermarket replacements I already bought. 😡😡

However, I知 happy to report I was able to find enough decent used parts to finish assembling the control arms.

This turned out to be a far bigger headache than it should have been.

 

It's Communist plot!

 

The '88 to '00 trucks are still coming into the borderland yards. Meaning El Paso TX. GMT400 body designation. Very clean metal parts. I've floated a few pieces on the "gmt400" site, but it is next to impossible to sell anything there. Plus most there are looking for interior plastics, which do NOT do well down here. Let me know if still looking

 

I've used PST parts many times (PST | Polygraphite Bushings | Poly Bushings | Performance Poly) and prefer their "polygraphite" to the more popular stuff from Energy Suspension. It's supposed to add lubricity and eliminate the squeaks common to urethane bushings. I've got them on both my '69's and no complaints.

 

I値l be rebuilding the front end of my 81 GMC, this is the kind of info I need. Thanks!!

 

I hope the OP hasn稚 had a heart attack yet 😂😂

wow