Well the O.E. leaf bushings are about gone they are squeaking and feels like something is loose... wonder why. and its time to replace them. I did some searching here and just on the internet and found Polyurethane from Energy Suspension. I would Much rather have those over the OE rubber, but has anyone installed them and had good over bad or vise versa? I had No idea that they were out there till I did some searching and now I want some. What is it going to take for me to install these. A day, couple of hours, with no lift or air tools.. yeah that part sucks. also would it be a good idea to do the sway bars and anything else while im at it?

I put the energy suspenion bushings in when I did my truck and am happy with them.Just make sure you use the grease they supply and grease them up good.It doesn't take that long to do them , just do part at a time , then you don't have to take everything off.The hard part is getting the old bushings out , I half melted them , then used a round head chisel and popped them out.I think it took me about 3 hours to do it all.

I would just advise you to take out the leaf packs and burn out the old bushings, maybe you could cut them out with a hole saw though, maybe not. But anyway I had to burn out mine. I used a propane torch from walmart. I replaced them with the bushings you are looking at and really have had no squeaking for about 500 miles or so.

My fronts were actually fine, but I replaced them anyway. I had no air tools just a jack and four stands,and it was a one night, sleep, then next morning job.

In most cases you don't have to replace the front spring eye bushings. Just get a rear set of 8 from indpendent4x.com and you should be set. Hardest part is getting the old ones out. 20 minute job if they pop right out to a few hours maybe if they give you problems. Again I would say you should not even mess with fronts.

I noticed a good improvement in mine, but then again the oem ones were half gone like yours are. If you still have original shackles, pick up a hd set from Indy4x, much easier to work with.

HA I was thinking the same thing just as i reviewed this post HA, maybe Ill just do that.

Oh yeah got them all in even the fronts, which didnt need replacing, in 1 hour, and yes I really need new shackles BAD, from running so long on the bushings, or what was left of them, it really tore the bolts up pretty bad. not bad enough to worry just yet. Now, it rides better, no more noises, and it gets a little better movement up and down. Energy Suspension is awsome. All I did was jack the rear end up, place jackstands under the frame. broke the bolts loose with a breaker bar and pulled the old ones out by hand. the New bushings went in a lot harder than I expected, that is what took so much time.. then went to front of the leafs and pushed them out with an air hammer slid the new ones in, put it back together and away we went. not as hard as I thought it was going to be. thanks guys.

Here's my recent experience: I wanted a 1.5 inch lift shackle set for my Rodeo, and I also had bad squeaking from the stock bushings.

Taking it all apart, the stock shackles were pretty hard to get out, because they were so badly corroded that the shafts on the shackles were really misshapen and rough.

The front shackle on one of the leafs popped right out with the first hammer strike. No wonder, the outer sleeve was cracked all the way through... source of the squeeking found.

The other leaf spring didn't want to come out at all, I tried driving a large flat tip screwdriver into the end of the leaf eye to spread it, and that didn't work at all... broke the screwdriver actually.

I then got out a power drill and drilled out as much of the rubber bushing as I could. The inner metal bushing came out, but I still had to get out my blow torch and burn out the rest. Once you light it you can start scraping it out as it melts, no need to burn it completely out. Remember to be safe and have a hose or fire extinguisher nearby.

Anyway, after I got it burned out enough, I was able to get my sawzall blade in there, and I made a cut through it where the leaf spring eye gap is. After I had it cut through, I used a chisel to bend one end of the cut bushing in on itself. I had to bend nearly half of the bushing in before I was able to pound it loose. I was completely fused to the leaf by corrosion...did I mention how much PB Blaster I had sprayed on it? No help.

The bushing I used are the ones sold by Independent 4x. I recommend the black bushings, not colored. They come with just enough grease to lube them up. When I put the bushings in at the back and went to put the new Calmini shackle on (I probably should have gotten the Independent 4X one, but no matter), I discovered that I couldn't slip the shackle over the bushings. I had to take the bushings out and chamfer them a little bit on one side with my dremel. I was then able to put them back in and use a BFH and pound the shackles on and the leaves into the shackle ends.

The front replacement bushings are split type, and go in really easy and fit perfectly.

Overall, I am very happy with the poly bushings and lift shackle. Even if you don't want to lift, I highly recommend replacing the stock shackle. Due to the corrosion pitting that I found on mine, I wouldn't have been able to re-use them if I had wanted to. The ride now seems smoother and tighter than it ever was, even when it was brand new in 95.

Here are the bushings I used:
Independent 4X bushings, buy the black ones!

On my front bushings, one of them was cracked all the way across and loose, and had to be replaced. The Energy Suspensions poly bushings on the front leafs are excellent.

Mine has a squeak/chirp sound coming from the rear also... I think it happens mostly when I'm on the highway traveling at speeds around 50+ mph.

I'm guessing it's bushings related. If so, I'll just have to add this to my list of things to do. Look for me to post questions about this in the near future <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />