I just ordered a set of polyurethane bushings for the front control arms today. They are made by prothane part number 6-212. I called prothane to confirm and stated they were not sure if it would fit a lightning or not. However,a truck shop out in california said the expedition, regular f-150, and the lightning are all the same and should work. It was worth the 55 dollars to at least check it out.

I have the hotchkis front coils, rear leafs.....still waiting for the sway bars and these bushings to come in......then it's wrenching time. Good thing i have a hydraulic press as bushings can really test your patience. If any of you want the number of where i purchased them from let me know.


Anthony

 

Nost,
I have the same kit. Installing it this weekend. Heads up. You need to re-use the inner and outer metal sleeves of your stock bushings. I bought a new set of bushings at the dealer to take apart for the pieces I need. The kit should fit fine. The factory bushings fit all 97-up F150's. So far the best way I have found to take apart the stock bushings is heat. Heat up the center bushing just enough to slip it out. Then the rubber part comes out pretty easy. You got a much better deal on your kit. The local shop here (Quickor) charged me $69.95.

FYI,
The Hotchkis sway bars are now shipping. I just checked my UPS tracking number and mine will be here Wednesday.

 

I would be interested in that number. I've got the hotchkis coils and leafs and need to go ahead and order the sway bars. Might as well do it once and do it right.

Silver-Bolt - Do you have a Part # for those extra ford bushings?

Thanks.

 

I can post them on Thursday, that's when I will have them. There are 8 bushings all together. 4 are the same and the remaining are specific to each side. The lower left and right are different from each other. Soon as I take one apart I will post how it goes. Have done similar jobs in the past and they were not too bad. Just have to do it outside. The rubber stinks when it gets hot.

 

Thanks and look forward to your install results and description.

 

Don't forget to use plenty of poly-u grease. Otherwise it'll squeak like a stage coach. Even the graphite impregnated ones will squeak some without it.

 

Cool, can't wait to get the sway bars and get the whole suspension kit in and done. I wasn't aware the bushings are different from side to side.....i thought the upper and lower were different.....No matter i will look into it when i get em.

As for the bushings, it is alot easier to reuse the same sleeves....why did you need to get bushings at the dealer? As for getting bushings in and out.....i would not recommend heating them if you do just be careful not to heat up the arms themselves. I have always either drilled them out on a vise or used a hydraulic press. Sometimes you can bring em to a shop and they will let you use their press.....usually at no charge if they are cool.

 

The extra bushings are more of a convenience than anything. I would like to have the new bushings assembled ready to go when I start on the truck. Trying to minimize my down time. Plus it's added insureance just in case I booger up one of the old bushings removing it. Not applying any heat to the control arms. The heat is to get the new bushings apart (if neccesary). With any luck they will come right apart. The new urethane kit comes with plenty of the lube.

 

Well 6 of the 8 factory Ford bushings came in yesterday. I started the process of taking them apart last night. Big pian in the a$$. Took about 2 hours to take apart the 4 upper bushings and reassemble with the urathane. Will tackle the lowers tonight. They look to be the hardest to do. Here are the part numbers.

L & R upper control arm bush P/N F65Z-3069-AA (4EA)

L & R lower foward control arm bush P/N F65Z-3069-HA (2EA)

L rear lower control arm bush P/N F65Z-3069-EA (1EA)

R rear lower control arm bush P/N F65Z-3069-GA (1EA)

After starting this last night I highly recomend that you spend the money for the set of new Ford bushings. Get this part of the job done before you take the truck apart. The urethane bushings fit into the factory sleeves perfectly. No doubt this will be worth the effort, but it is a big job. I will probably have more time in this part of the job than the whole rest of the suspension upgrade.

Tip:
Some of the bushings have a sleeve through the center of the rubber with caps pressed onto the ends. I was able to clamp the edge of one cap into the vise and used a pipe wrench on the other cap to remove it. You will only have to remove one cap on each bushing. Does not matter which cap comes off. This will make more sense when you see the bushings. I then used a propane torch to heat the rubber enough to push the inner sleeve out. I do not think you can do this without using some kind of heat. I think if you just try a press them apart you will destroy the outter sleeve. It does not take much heat. I do not feel that I damaged the metal in any way.

I hope the 2 remaining bushings come in Friday like my parts guy said. Kind of screwed without them. Best of luck. It is a dirty nasty job that will be worth every minute.

Ruslow (Stan) if you haven't already order the kit. It is correct.

 

I took a look at the factory service manual today....they recommend replacing the whole control arm in the event of a bushing/ball joint failure.....Whats up with that?

Anyway, since you and i are the only ones taking the leap of faith on here with the bushings, it really is hard to say what the best way of doing it till i get mine apart to and do some experimenting....but for now i'll take your word for it. I am gonna attempt it using the sleeves in the control arms and see how it goes, however i wrote down the part numbers just in case the factory ones meet their demise with the press

Did your bushing set coem with instructions or tips.....I am still waiting for mine

Anthony

 

The instructions that came with the Prothane kit are very basic. Tell you how to assemble the new bushings into the factory sleeves and tell you one goes where. That's about it. No tips or tricks for removing the old one's fronm the A arms and nothing about pressing in the new ones. Wish me luck. I will no tomorrow. I will post anything special I come up with that may help.

The assembly of the urethane into the sleeves is easy. No big deal there. Getting the old ones disassemble is a major mofu. Now I just hope my 2 back ordered parts come in today. I would like to have all of them done tonight and not have to try and save two for tomorrow.