Aftermarket vs OEM Control Arms Bushings

Hey all, I’ll be replacing the lower control arm bushings soon and wanted some opinions on OEM vs aftermarket. I’m not one to skimp out on important components (I.e LBJs), but I’m having a hard time justifying the $80-$100 that’s being asked for the OEM bushings when all 4 need replaced.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

You check out any poly bushing options?

 

I can potentially make this easy for you. Every single member I've seen on this forum over the last 5 years that chose to replace OEM rubber products with aftermarket found the aftermarket rubber cracked to hell within 2-3 years. That's been true for UCA and LCA bushings, CV axle boots, swaybar bushings, and steering rack bushings. Anyone I've seen who opted for OEM rubber hasn't had the same problem, some as far as 5-6 years out. There's a reason the OEM rubber commands the prices it does, it's extremely durable, long-lasting rubber, it's not a band-aid fix like the aftermarket has to offer.

That said, if you can handle poly bushings, the stiffness, potential squeaking, and other quirks that come with it, I believe I've seen people on here recommend Siberian. Make sure you use poly-safe lube anywhere they'll touch metal.

But you're in for a big ass chore if you choose to press out the bushings, and may find you need to melt out depending on what equipment you have on-hand. That said, a lot of guys on here simply replaced their stock lowers with OEM lowers. And whatever you do, don't bother with aftermarket on the LCA cams, the tubes are all plastic and smash after 1-2 adjustments. Folks have been looking for a decent quality aftermarket part that's steel for a while. There's a cheap mainland China part some have found, but questionable on quality.

 

I looked into swapping bushings in my LCAs, and it is a chore to press them out / back in. I saw a lot of videos of people having to burn the old bushings out. I ended up buying new OEM LCAs instead, wasn't much more money over buying the bushings.

 

Thanks for the write up. That’s what I figured, I was just hoping someone had found a better.

The bushings are basically non existent at this point so it looks like I’ll be picking up some LCAs soon here.

Thanks for the help everyone, now it’s time to go price shopping, haha.

 

Can I help save you some money getting OEM parts?

 

I have the same truck as you and believe its time for mine to be replaced. How long ago did you do them? Just wondering where you found the best price?

 

OEM only - look how long those lasted - it'll be the last set.

 

Sure, what did you have in mind?

 

I never expect anyone to tell me wherabouts they are, but if you can cough up a telephone area code near you (for general geographic location), I can run some numbers on where to find replacement arms cheap.

For your '07, your p/n are 48069-34040 (driver) 48068-34040 (pass), come with bushings preinstalled. Bushings are 48654-34010 and 48655-34010 (need two of each, four total, to do both arms).

All four bushings (retail) cost about the same as one complete arm, or roughly the cost of a pair of aftermarket arms. OEM arms cost twice as much as aftermarket (slightly less if you factor in shipping), but last 3x as long as anything you'll find aftermarket.

Members have had issues with Mevotech, specifically, failing within 1-2 years of install, gotta be careful what you choose on this part.

 

I just made a video with Mikey from TC talking about this. If you skip ahead you can see how much deflection is caused by the stock bushings. Might help you make your decision:

 

Thanks for being willing to help, just sent you a dm.