Thread: Polyurethane Bushings For Rear Lateral Bars

Just wanted to share the part # for the polyurethane bushing I used for the rear lateral arms. Energy Suspension Universal Flange Type Bushing part # 9.9108.

I was doing a complete suspension overhaul to my 01 Special Edition last year and planned to replace/upgrade all bushings and wear items. The only upgrade option I'm aware of for the rear lateral arms are the BMR bars which are pretty expensive and are probably a bit overkill. Digging for replacement bushings I came up with Moog K6577. There are listed on RockAuto.com as Rear Lower; Lateral Rod Bushing and on Moog's site is listed as 2 sets needed for a vehicle. These don't fit anywhere on my car that I can tell.

So after having my lateral bars off and the bushing removed I started looking for alternatives. Taking measurements and looking through Energy Suspension's catalog the part # above looked to be a near perfect fit. So I ordered 4 of them to do all the bars.

These fit the bars great. However the inboard bushings that mount in the “crossmember” is a bit wide and will need to be narrowed by a small amount. This can be done quickly on a bench grinder to take a material of the outside faces of the bushing flanges and sleeves. **Would recommend measuring the old bushings before removal with dial calipers to get the amount needed to remove. I didn't note my measurements and don't remember them. But it only took a couple of minutes to have all 4 bushing ready. I used the side of the grinding wheel to keep the flange faces and sleeves flat. Work great.material of the outside faces of the bushing flanges and sleeves. **Would recommend measuring the old bushings before removal with dial calipers to get the amount needed to remove.

I should also mention this part # is for the stock bars and not replacement bars have different sized bushings. Crazy reason I know is that when I ordered the Energy Suspension bushings, I also ordered some ACDelco replacement bars as a backup in case there where issued with the ES bushings. While taking out the the old bushing and measuring, I had overlooked that 1 of my stock bars was bent and didn't notice until i was painting them. So ok, I use the new bars I bought and put the ES bushing in them as I would rather have the polyurethane over the rubber and this was not a stock overhaul of the suspension, but a performance upgrade. So after taking out the bushings of the new ACDelco bars, the ES bushing would not fit. The tubing used had a different I.D. and O.D.

In case you're wondering. I used a hydraulic press to straighten the 1 bent stock bar. It was only a slight bend and barely noticeable. I was able to get it back straight and installed.

In case anyone is interested. I'll list my complete list of parts.
GMPP strut tower braces (already had)
KYB AGX struts, with ZZP gen. 2 lowering springs and all new Monroe mounting hardware.
ZZP front & rear swar bars (already had). Used the stock rubber bushing that came with the sway bars, but will upgrade to polyurethane soon. Moog problem solver rear end links.
Rebuilt front lower control arms with Moog problem solver bushings & ball joints. Polyurethane rear and ball-in-socket front.
New Dorman subframe bushings & Moog steering rack bushing. Moog problem solver outer tie-rod ends.
ZZP Chromoly rear trailing arms.
Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings in rear lateral bars.
New BFGoodrich g-Force COMP-2 A/S - 400 TW on refinished 17x8 Bullet wheels

Living in the mountains of NC there is little straight line driving. Since the overhaul, I spent a day riding the tail of the Dragon HW129, and another day riding a stretch of road referred to as the snake US421 in TN and US58 in VA. I have pushed the car pretty hard and have been happy with the performance.