Hey,guys. After having torn the rear suspension out of the 69 Z/28 4 years ago(Wow,has it been that long?!!)I finally got it all back together with polygraphite bushings everywhere.My question is this-I know the stock front eye leaf spring bushings were a bear to get out.I used the "burn the rubber/beat the wee out of the steel sleeve" method,but the new bushings have no steel sleeve-is this right? I put it together this way-just popped the poly bushings into the spring eye and bolted it all together,Please tell me it doesn't have to come apart again! I would be beyond depresed if I had to start taking stuff OFF the car again!

:rolleyes: Sorry Peter, but at least on this Camaro kit's photo, they show metal inserts for both, front and rear PST poly bushings. web page (http://www.p-s-t.com/polybu2.html#*)
http://www.p-s-t.com/images/shack.gif

My new install kit from Eaton Detroit did not come with metal sleeves. I decided to go with rubber bushings.

ORENCH-thanks for the reply.That's the exact kit I bought.I know there are inserts at the ID of the bushings,I did use those.My concern was for the OD of the bushing where it fits into the front spring eye,The factory rubber ones had a steel sleeve that presses into the spring,these,as you can see,are just naked bushing.I'm pretty confident they are intended to be used as is,Thanks for the replies,Guys,this is a great site!

So, why does the poly kit come with inner sleeves and the rubber kit come with neither an inner or outer metal sleeve?

For what it's worth, I am going through my rear leafs right now myself. I have a new pair of 3 leafs that I'm putting in. My new 3 leafs came with a set of rubber spring eye bushings pre-installed. I'm also using a set of Prothane Poly bushings. I just took the new springs to a local machine shop and had the stock rubber eye bushings pressed out. It cost me $15.00 (definately worth it to save the headache!)

My Prothane bushings came with a Inner sleeve but no O.D. sleeve like the rubber bushings. I am almost ready to bolt it all back together as soon as I finish pressing in the driver's side shackle bushings into the frame rails. I hope to post up some before/after pics soon...

Good luck,
Mark P.

Poly bushings work completely differently than the rubber units, and don't have outer sleeves in general.

For the rubber units, the inner sleeve and outer sleeve are effectively BONDED to each other by the rubber material, the rotation imparted by the suspension causes the rubber to flex, and the sleeves rotate relative to each other.

For the poly bushings, there is no stretch, but rather the bushings slip to allow the inner sleeve to rotate relative to the outer sleeve, in this case the spring eye. This is why it is CRITICAL that the poly units be lubed, continuously. The poly graphite bushings are not too much better than the other units. If the bushings can't slip freely, the suspension will bind, period. Bind is bad. The firm feeling that results from the poly is partly due to the modulus of the material, but certainly affected by the bind they impart. Sorry, not the best use of a material to solve a problem. You don't have to agree with me, but this isn't an opinion, it is fact.

A good alternative for bushings like this is the delrin units that are avaliable. They have provisions for lubrication, and are slippery to begin with.

Keep 'em lubed.
Mark

Good Point Mean69,

I noticed that the Prothane leaf spring eye bushings had notches machined into them to help retain the very sticky & thick lube that was supplied! I used both tubes of grease on the entire set!

- Mark P.