The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks Wow, I put in Prothane Panhard Bar

bushings this morning on my 65 C10. Hard part is breaking the nuts loose from the panhard bar to frame and axle. I think I'll just take the truck arm bushings and shackles into the shop and let the fellas with the air wrench put them in!

So....got the pan hard bar off. had to drill a small hole in the bottom of each bushing loop to allow the air out between the bushings....maybe later I'll go back and tap them for zirk fittings....otherwise the bushings are forced back out and makes it very difficult to slip the loop up into the frame bracket.

Started by using a bolt, washers and a socket to start the original inner metal sleeve out of the bushing. Once half way out, grabbing the sleeve with vice grips allowed me to twist it out the rest of the way and then the rubber just slides out of the loop. There is no outer sleeve on the original panhard bar bushings to worry with.

The prothane bushings seem good, a slight squish fit but nothing that can't be handled with a nut bolt and some washers to pull them in. And, just enough silicone grease in the tube to get everything lubed up.

After cleaning up I greased the loop, prothane bushings and the new inner metal sleeve and started them in with a few light taps of a hammer with the assembly sandwiched between two boards.

Final compression was with the bolt, washers and nuts.

After that it was a simple matter to grease up the bolts and nuts on the frame and axle, slide the new panhard bar in place and retorque the nuts.

Overall, about 1.5 hours work and no tourch needed.

I did use a jack though.....one nut was so tight that w/o an air wrench I was able to break it loose by using the weight of the truck and a jack to push up on the end of the wrench....bang, then that really tight nut just spun off neat and easy.

It's been my experience that the hard urethane bushings result in a harsher ride and sometimes will start squeeking.

The OEM rubber bushings work great as long as you're not building a canyon carver or race car / truck.

Yeah, yeah, I know... a guy named "Hot Rod John" suggesting the use of OEM rubber bushings...

As the saying goes " A smart man learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

Shouldn't bother the ride to much, its just for the left right control of the rear axle.

Now, harsh I do agree. Put polyurethane front and back on a 62 impala once.....Big mistake! Hard ride and constantly squeaky!

I have oem up front. Prolly go OEM out back on the truck arms too but that'll be a job for a shop with a press and an air wrench and a flame wrench backup.

Now, if ya want to see "hard ride" try solid aluminum control arm bushings sometime! That's what we ran on the race car on the 5/8 mile Nashville asphalt track. Rubber, or even polyurethane allowed for too much give and not enough control over the weight transfer with the spring jack bolts. Gong to metallic bushings with no other modifications cut 1/2 second off our lap times! "Not suitable for street use" for sure!
Jerry

I can highly recommend the prothane bushings for the panhard bar. Overall very worth the $12 in parts and the hour or so worth of work to make this job a success. Not harsh at all.

Makes a noticeable difference in the feel of the truck. Smoother and steadier out back and lots less noise on the rough spots on the roads. No more wiggle over the big flaws in the road. An easy job and worth the time.

Next I'll have to R&R the truck arm bushings and shackels. (Don't know if I'll post it up thought....way to hard to log into this forum and stay logged in. I'll give it one more try though.)

"Not suitable for street use" for sure!

Why not? The factory front upper and lower control arm bushings are steel on steel and ride pretty well - not too harsh.

Gotta agree with Jerry. And I think most would say they do indeed ride harsh... & likely why GM changed the design in '73 and have used elastomeric bushings ever since.

It's also a big reason why most folks swap out the entire front end out of 63-66's and replace them with the newer design.

I haven't though, I sometimes question why I haven't

I rebuilt the steel of both my trucks with OEM style steel. Ride seems fine - its no car ride but fine for a truck.

On the impala going to urethane was stiffer but the real headach was urethane squeeking no matter what grease was used.

Ah well, no plans to butcher mine with a suspension swap to late model or after market and its already rebuilt with oem style steel up front so, I'll just ride on!

Thanks. I might rent an electric impact wrench and give it a shot....would likely let me do the job without total removal of the truck arms.