Hellwig Front Bushing Replacement

5280tunage said:

I managed to put the Energy suspension units on today, and a couple things I noticed. Both of the zerks were cross-threaded. Managed to get them to work by pulling them out and cranking them back in. I also noticed that I think these bushings are probably 1/8 to 3/16 inches too small of inner diameter. At least for me, when put around the bar, the insertion gap in the slot was at least 1/8". This of course closed when I cranked them down a lot but I'm concerned that this much resistance may actually cause them to wear down faster than they should.

we'll see if they are any better, but hope so.

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I agree. I just changed mine out with these as well and noticed the same thing on the size. It’s worth a shot as I had already went through 2 sets of the Hellwig ones in 1 year.

Bow512 said:

I agree. I just changed mine out with these as well and noticed the same thing on the size. It’s worth a shot as I had already went through 2 sets of the Hellwig ones in 1 year.

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I think if the Hellwig bushings don’t work for me, I will try the OEM bushings since they are about the same ID as these greasable energy suspension bushings.

wakeboarder said:

I think if the Hellwig bushings don’t work for me, I will try the OEM bushings since they are about the same ID as these greasable energy suspension bushings.

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I slipped an OEM bushing on to see if it would fit before ordering the model I got and the gap was too wide.

Did you guys notice the energy suspensions brackets didn't fit the u bolt spacing? My bolts are wider than the sway bar bushing bracket is. I'm tempted to "spread" the bracket a tiny bit wider, but I'm hoping that won't make the bushing loose or anything.

Mine was very close, I had to get the two studs in the bracket about a 1/4" to 1/2" and slowly crank the two sides down, a little each side back and forth.

5280tunage said:

Mine was very close, I had to get the two studs in the bracket about a 1/4" to 1/2" and slowly crank the two sides down, a little each side back and forth.

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I chewed the bolt holes wider on one bracket, but I'm beat lol. The kids gave me their "plague" and I'm back inside. lol

KFordEx8 said:

I slipped an OEM bushing on to see if it would fit before ordering the model I got and the gap was too wide.

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How wide?

According to an earlier post by 5280tunage, the gap on the Energy Suspension bushings was wide too...
"I managed to put the Energy suspension units on today, and a couple things I noticed. Both of the zerks were cross-threaded. Managed to get them to work by pulling them out and cranking them back in. I also noticed that I think these bushings are probably 1/8 to 3/16 inches too small of inner diameter. At least for me, when put around the bar, the insertion gap in the slot was at least 1/8". This of course closed when I cranked them down a lot but I'm concerned that this much resistance may actually cause them to wear down faster than they should.
we'll see if they are any better, but hope so."

I emailed Hellwig and they sent me new bushings and I got them 2 days later!

Going_Going_Gone said:

How wide?

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About 1/4”

Thanks for the reply. Given the quality appearance of the OEM bushings and brackets, I might have wanted to try them on the Hellwig bar, but not with that much gap.