Rubber Sub-frame bushings
 

I'm going to have my transmission done around the end of the month and would like to have them replaced too.

Where can I get them and what should I expect to pay?

Thanks,

Ed

I have researched this lately. through gmpartsdirect it came out to about $8 a piece. you need 12 pieces not counting bolts and washers. I found out I didn't need bolts or washers. I had one bad bushing. I am going to replace all of them. the total works out to $110 or so for all 12. alot more through the dealer. expect a long wait, nobody stocks them.

I've had pretty good luck with parts at the dealership by me I think I'll go in and price out the bushings for the hell of it. GMPD charges an arm and a leg for Shipping and Handling on everything.

Travis do you happen to know the size and thread pitch of those bolts?


Ed

25536051(2) 6.22 Upper insulator-front
25536050(4) 6.22 Upper insulator-center/rear
14103535(4) 7.32 Lower insulator-front/center
25533991(2) 7.81 Lower insulator-rear

1640188(6) 6.86 Lower retainer
15677731(6) 1.73 Sub-Frame bolt

no, I don't know the bolt specifics

I believe these are the correct part #'s

:D 8)

http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...=68455&start=0

I just replaced some of them on my 93. My dealer stocks all of the parts for these. Keep in mind to grease the rubber. I had to pull mine all back apart cause the new rubber was creaking so badly on my floor. I got this trick from a local body shop that said to grease everything. It worked excellent. ;)

My local dealer appears to give me wholesale friend price. I knew mine weren't stellar..but seeing one again last night reminded me how "not" stellar they were. A dealer I will go..a dealer I will go..lol

better use correct grease...
 

...or you will rot the rubber very quickly. But I suppose if you have to replace these bushings, then chances are the car is well over half worn out so even greased the car will be long gone before the rubber melts away. Keep in mind that they were not greased when the car was built, so why would they creak now? Everything needs to be fresh under there to keep it from making noise... and installed properly. Mike

Damn I wish I would have thought of this before I had my subframe dropped during my build up! I'm sure they could have used it :(

Glad to see you're thinking ahead!

Re: better use correct grease...
 

Theres only one way to install them basically, and I have no idea why the new rubber makes all the noise but it did on my car. I have just recently expierenced it after replacing the mounts and rubber. It is all brand new and was just the fresh rubber rubbing against the metal tightly. I got the greasing trick from a local body shop so they must have had the same problem. ;)

It's odd that they did that. They should be so tight that no movement is happening.

hence the reason why...
 

...my last phrase was "installed correctly" Something is not right if you have to grease them to make the creaking quit.. I'd look deeper before I just juiced them up with wheel bearing grease... Personally, I have NEVER had them make noise.. and I have replaced dozens of these things. Mike

I spent enough time smacking my head near them when I was doing the motor. So I figured I'd have them replaced when my trans was done.


As for greaseing the bushings I've always been told to do it; I've never heard or seen any ill effects for doing it so I figure I minus well.

Ed

I believe that the bolts are 12mm, 1.75 pitch. Length is probably around 5"

Good luck finding them somewhere other than a junkyard or dealer though, since they're hardened bolts with a collar on the hex head. I tried Lowes, Home Despot, Napa, Autozone, and ended up at the junkyard. The junkyard is my friend.

they are very cheap through gmpd also, like under $2/per

Thanks! Since I work in a Machine shop I have a guy I can call about hardware like that. I'll see if he can get me a good price on some.
Otherwise I'll get all this stuff off of GMPD or the dealership.
Ed

Pull one bolt and measure it with a ruler and a thread pitch gauge. Or test fit a nut until you nail it.

I had thought of that but given the state of the bushings and bolts I wanted to get my info from here before I tried to pull a rusty old bolt.

Ed

Oh yeah, I should mention: Be careful removing those bolts!

I went to remove one of mine (the washer had rusted right out from under it), and it broke loose just fine, but then it got to some rust at the end of the bolt, and snapped off. It had rusted to about 1/2 of it's original diameter.

To make matters far worse, it was the rear-most bolt, which has no top access to it's captive nut, so I had to make access. It's fixed now, but what an ordeal to just replace one stinking washer.

I think that if I had been careful, and gone backwards on the bolt occasionally when it got tough (to clear the threads), I could have gotten it out without snapping things. So... I just suggest that you be careful. PB what you can. ;)

There is some slop there, and that is normal. The nut is not welded, only held roughly in place by a sheet metal cover. It's actually a (roughly) 1.25" x 1.75" diamond shaped metal plate that your nut is firmly attached to, and that diamond is held in place by the sheet metal cap.

So, the movement you're feeling there may be fine. Just keep going, carefully. If you feel it binding up (hard to explain), reverse for a little bit, then start going again.

If you break it off, then it's probably time to start cutting access holes (either in the wheel well area, or the interior floor). Cross that bridge when you come to it, I guess. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. ;)

Thats encouraging, maybe I'll get lucky. The remaining retainers appear to be in good shape. Thanks for the info. ;)

Thanks, theJMFC, you were right on the mark. Success I did as you suggested and I got the bolt out and I finished the repair. :D One oddity I noticed, the old bolt needed a 18mm socket to remove it and the new bolt was 15mm in size. It fit the retainer hole perfectly, though. Just an oddity. The "rubber bushing pixies" smiled upon me tonight!

In my junkyarding for used bolts and washers, I noticed the same difference in bolt head size. It must have changed over the years.

Glad things worked out! It's a pain when it doesn't...

I stoped by the dealership after work; I walk up to my parts guy and tell him what I'm looking for. He proceeds to laugh and then tell me the bushings are very pricey. So I asked "How pricey are we talking?"

$485+TAX :shock:

So I stopped by Napa on the way home and no luck there.

Ed

NAPA wont have them and neither will any other parts store for that matter. These are dealer only. The price would be less than that for the whole front subframe upper and lower, cups, bushings and bolts. That sounds like he was pricing them in gold plating and platinum inserts :lol: ! My price for the lower parts (with a shop discount) at the dealer is:
Insulator $8.68
Retainer $8.14
Bolt $2.26

Let me know if you need these and I can get them to you. ;)