DIY Energy Suspension Polyurethane Front Control Arm Bushings Install

[Boosted Motorsports]

Alright guys finally finished my dreaded bushing install. Wasn't "difficult" but was definitely a labor intensive pain in the ass job. I'm breaking this into a two part series to keep the videos informative yet not be an hour long. At just over 30minutes for the front control arms it is pretty informative and shows the steps taken to get the job done. Power tools and an actual garage would expedite the process but I am just doing this in my home garage at my own leisure.

I'm currently editing the rear polyurethane bushing install video so keep a look out for "Part 2" as I should have the edited and uploaded in the next few days as well.

[98RedGTS]

Awesome! I'll have to check these out tomorrow. Also looking forward to your driving impressions too. Thanks again for documenting these things for the rest of us.

[Lemay88]

Not something I would personnally tackle, but anything related to Viper maintenance and that is posted/available is good to keep our beloved car alive.
I know how much work goes into filming and editing, thanks for taking your time to do it and make it available.

[98RedGTS]

Finally got to watch the video. Another great one documenting the process as good as reasonably possible. Some things I took away from this:
- Glad you got the press. Life saver for sure.
- Love the tip about cutting the outer part of the bushing. I didn't see that or think of it before doing my Cobra and that part of the bushing did cause things to hang up some so I'm sure it did help.
- Shocks look SUPER easy to replace. Makes me even more confident about doing the BC's as well.
- Alignment shops suck. I'm contemplating buying my own tools to do it at home. Looks to be about $300 worth of tools for a caster camber gauge as well as some toe plates. I wounder if anyone else does it themselves...
- Since the sleeves have to come out it makes things easier as you can just push those out with the bushing still intact.
- 15/16 socket is the right size (assuming an autozone socket) to push the sleeves out.
- Pressing out the bushings inner sleeve first. Sounds stupid but I also didn't think of that on my cobra. Really wish I would have seen this before tackling that car. Would have saved some heart ache for sure.
- I would have pooped myself when I hear the snap as I would have immediately thought the control arm snapped which = $$$
- Where did you source new Cam bolts? I'm assuming they aren't auto parts store available.

Front didn't look too bad. Diffidently labor intensive but nothing showed like it was super complicated. Looking forward to seeing if the rear goes as smoothly so I can decide if I'll pay to have it done or tackle myself as well.

[Geronimo]

Well done!

[ZZ SRT]

Nice job!

Now just change the title so it doesn't say "SUPERCAR". It's a 450hp dodge viper. Not a supercar by any means.

[Double0fox]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I have looked into changing out to polyurethane when it is time to go through the suspension. The insight from you will help a lot I am sure.

[GTS Dean]

Nicely done how-to.

At ~7:07, your alignment adjustment cams and pickup point ears are obviously bent way out of whack. This comes most likely from some yay-hoo alignment "specialist" who loosened the nuts too far and did not lift the car off its tires before trying to rotate the bolts. The cams got out of the stops and bent the ears inward, requiring you to drop the lower wishbones down, instead of out to remove. The cams are supposed to lay flat on the ears and stay within the square stop tabs. They don't have to be loosened very much to adjust, and are a breeze to twist with the weight off them. Just snug them a little before checking the results on the rack. Torque to spec when done with the weight on the suspension.

[Boosted Motorsports]

Not something I would personnally tackle, but anything related to Viper maintenance and that is posted/available is good to keep our beloved car alive.
I know how much work goes into filming and editing, thanks for taking your time to do it and make it available.

Thanks man!

Finally got to watch the video. Another great one documenting the process as good as reasonably possible. Some things I took away from this:
- Glad you got the press. Life saver for sure.
- Love the tip about cutting the outer part of the bushing. I didn't see that or think of it before doing my Cobra and that part of the bushing did cause things to hang up some so I'm sure it did help.
- Shocks look SUPER easy to replace. Makes me even more confident about doing the BC's as well.
- Alignment shops suck. I'm contemplating buying my own tools to do it at home. Looks to be about $300 worth of tools for a caster camber gauge as well as some toe plates. I wounder if anyone else does it themselves...
- Since the sleeves have to come out it makes things easier as you can just push those out with the bushing still intact.
- 15/16 socket is the right size (assuming an autozone socket) to push the sleeves out.
- Pressing out the bushings inner sleeve first. Sounds stupid but I also didn't think of that on my cobra. Really wish I would have seen this before tackling that car. Would have saved some heart ache for sure.
- I would have pooped myself when I hear the snap as I would have immediately thought the control arm snapped which = $$$
- Where did you source new Cam bolts? I'm assuming they aren't auto parts store available.

Front didn't look too bad. Diffidently labor intensive but nothing showed like it was super complicated. Looking forward to seeing if the rear goes as smoothly so I can decide if I'll pay to have it done or tackle myself as well.

- Yeah I didn't intentionally press out the bushing inner on the first one. I was playing it safe with the socket size and it ended up being too small and didn't catch the lip of the bushing sleeve and just hollowed out the bushing lol.
- 15/16 was the size that seemed to be a really good fit but I am sure something similar or metric would of course work too.
- Shocks are definitely easy to swap out but the lower bolts on the front shocks from the factory are installed in such a way that it hangs on the sway bar end link trying to remove the bolt. Once you reinstall the bolt in the opposite direction its a piece of cake to change them.
- Its just a matter of taking your time and making sure you are pressing and supporting on the appropriate spots. There truly isn't much of a lip outside of the sleeve to catch though which was a bit challenging at times.

Well done!

Thank you sir!

Nice job!

Now just change the title so it doesn't say "SUPERCAR". It's a 450hp dodge viper. Not a supercar by any means.

460hp*

Thanks man love the TT build your putting together as well!

Thanks for taking the time to do this. I have looked into changing out to polyurethane when it is time to go through the suspension. The insight from you will help a lot I am sure.

No problem thanks for the response! Its a pain in the ass but hopefully worth it. I'll post my review of them once its all back together and aligned.

Nicely done how-to.

At ~7:07, your alignment adjustment cams and pickup point ears are obviously bent way out of whack. This comes most likely from some yay-hoo alignment "specialist" who loosened the nuts too far and did not lift the car off its tires before trying to rotate the bolts. The cams got out of the stops and bent the ears inward, requiring you to drop the lower wishbones down, instead of out to remove. The cams are supposed to lay flat on the ears and stay within the square stop tabs. They don't have to be loosened very much to adjust, and are a breeze to twist with the weight off them. Just snug them a little before checking the results on the rack. Torque to spec when done with the weight on the suspension.

Yeah I mention that somewhere around there in the video about a previous owner most likely taking it to some like you say "yay-hoo alignment" spot. I agree you definitely have to watch out where you take your car. I straightened all the mounting ears before re-assembly so shes all back in order now!

[PrincetonTT]

Nice work man - was looking at those 12 ton presses the other day with the 20% coupon cant beat it. PS you don't curse enough.

[Boosted Motorsports]

Nice work man - was looking at those 12 ton presses the other day with the 20% coupon cant beat it. PS you don't curse enough.

I know! For f*ck sakes!

[mackzilla]

Thread revive - I just broke off one of those washer majiggers installing my front lower control arms. They're fragile, especially in 20 degree temperatures.

Now we wait...

[RyanLS.GEN2]

when i did mine 3-4 broke off before i even really got started. i ended up reusing the stock bushing caps on quite a few. 2 were broken in the package, 1 broke during install, then another 2 broke later me when i tried to adjust the cam bolt.

[ViperTony]

This video has been a YUUUUGE help for me, big thanks to Boosted! Doing the bushing replacement now. Only thing giving me issues is the harbor freight press....keeping those !@#%#@ plates from moving has been more difficult than the actual replacement itself, LOL. Thanks again for doing this video. Tony

[Boosted Motorsports]

Heck yeah! Thanks Tony! I know those videos from a few years back are a bit hard for me to watch now but the info is definitely good! LOL

[ViperTony]

Heck yeah! Thanks Tony! I know those videos from a few years back are a bit hard for me to watch now but the info is definitely good! LOL

They're great!!! I figured it out...the Harbor Freight press has too much side-side movement so, for me, it was painful to get it all to line up. So I installed two pieces of nylon material 1/8" thick on either side of the press bar. It eliminated any side-side slack and presses straight. Essentially, if my family heard me in the garage up until now it'd be something like this:

[GTS Dean]

:lol: So true!

[My98RT10]

too funny ;-)

[Fatboy 18]

100% True,

Just wait until you Try fascia alignment