Replacing body bushings on a GM X-body.

[TheSilverBuick]

I finally broke down and bought a set of body bushings for my '77 Skylark and was wondering if there are any surprises to watch out for or techniques to use when replacing these? Otherwise my plan is pretty much try and replace one at a time and improvise from there as that doesn't work This car doesn't have a rust issue so I don't expect any of the bolts to give me grief, no bolt on it has yet to date.

The originals are shot and I bought some energy suspension poly ones and they showed up yesterday. Hoping to put them on next weekend.

[STINEY]

No rust? You may just find this to be a boring job then. Hardest part is rebuilding the area that the bolts thread into, and always twist into a useless mass on rust-belt cars.

Good Luck!

[squirrel]

It'll probably be easier to replace them in pairs, so you can separate the body from the frame enough to slip the new (thicker) mounts in

[TC]

When I did the ones on the GMC I did one side at a time......First loosen all the bolts on both sides, then take out all the bolts on one side while leaving the bolts in on the other side, take a jack and jack up the body on the one side you took the bolts out of and replace all the bushings on that side, then drop the body back down reinstall the bolts on that side, but Don't tighten them, then go to the other side and repeat what you just did. Then after all the new bushing are in, go ahead and tighten up all the bolts........Done........

[TheSilverBuick]

I like the "doing one side at a time" method, can't see anything conceptually wrong with it. Thanks TC.

[squirrel]

Since there are only 4 you can do either one side or one end at a time. Watch out for fan shroud/fan clearance, etc if you jack it up much

[TheSilverBuick]

There are six. Up by the front bumper, behind the fender and then at the back of the front subframe. Thanks for the reminder about the fan shroud!

[squirrel]

Oh yeah, forgot about the core support... Three at a time would be the way to go

[SpiderGearsMan]

capture nuts always break loose
don't overtighten them

[squirrel]

Southwest capture nuts don't always break loose....

[SpiderGearsMan]

nope ..our cars are not worth the effort ,,not after the nomad

[SuperBuickGuy]

that x-body is a full-framed car? ummm, perhaps you may wish to look under your car Randal

How would you "jack up one side?"

On a car like the camaro/nova which has only a frame clip - this is a better way.

Start at the radiator, take the bolts out
Remove the forward bolts at the firewall
Jack up under the firewall an inch or so - remember the motor/trans is connected to the subframe, so you can't jack under the transmission; you could also use a engine hoist attached to the forward mounting points on the frame. Don't pick up on the fenders unless you're planning on realigning the entire front sheetmetal.
Replace the forward 4 bushings and loosely put the bolts back in
set the car back down on the ground but don't remove the jack (slight pressure on the lift point)
take the rear bolts out and GENTLY let the car down enough to slip the other bushings in place
Jack the car back up just a bit and tighten the bolts to 70 or so lbs on all of them
let the car back down on its suspension
torque the bolts to factory specs (last I remember it's 125-150lb range)

honestly, the "trick" is to keep the car level so you don't have to fight the bolts and bushings back in and not jack up too much

[TheSilverBuick]

As much as the whole car flexes, I think I'm going to go with a side at a time and work from there on the wiggle room the flexing creates. I have no intention of pulling the engine hoist out of the basement if I can help it.

[TC]

I like the "doing one side at a time" method, can't see anything conceptually wrong with it. Thanks TC.

That is how the instructions that came with the body bushing kit I got said to do it....... Worked great for me, though for one of the bushings the body had a stud coming out of the body instead of a bolt threading into the body, I just had to jack the cab up a bit higher......

[TC]

As much as the whole car flexes, I think I'm going to go with a side at a time and work from there on the wiggle room the flexing creates. I have no intention of pulling the engine hoist out of the basement if I can help it.

Just use a piece of 2x4 between the body and jack to distribute the weight.........