The unsung hero of mating the body to the chassis are body bushings! While we tend
to ignore these little suckers, they could be the source of squeaks, pops/bangs and
body panel alignment issues. Don’t feel bad, I ignore them just as much as you do.
Recently I was cruising along wondering,” what is that thumping sound?” You got it, bad
body bushings.
When I put together my rock crawler “Mandy” 18 years ago, I re-used the body
bushings. My current self is asking “what was I thinking?” Time for an update!
It’s a straightforward process to change your bushings.
1. Make sure you are wearing your safety glasses because you are going to get dirt
in your eyes.
2. Take out the 13 body bolts from the bottom (don’t forget the center grill bushing).
3. Jack up the body one side at a time. You really do not have to lift it very much,
just enough to get the sandwiched bushing and flat body washer out and
replaced with the new one.
4. I recommend brushing a little white grease in the hole of the flat bushing to aid
the tubed body washer insertion.
5. Push the tubed washer with the stepped bushing up into the flat bushings. You
can align the holes the best you can with a pointy bar and start the bolts/lock
washers.
6. Make sure you dress the threads with some anti-seize to keep these bolts from
seizing in the captured nuts in the body tub.
7. Let down the first side and repeat on the other side.
8. Switch out the grill bushing assembly.
9. You can now measure side to side to make sure the body is square to the
chassis and then tighten down the 13 bolts.
Partsdude manufactures our own proprietary body bushings. They are not as hard as
polyurethane bushings, but a denser, harder rubber material. Jeeps were designed for
rubber bushings, which is why I do not suggest generic polyurethane bushings. Those
can cause undue stress on the sheet metal, causing cracks (and yet more squeaks).
I used our full kit #991669MK that includes the 24 body bushings, 2 grill bushing
(special size with metal tube and special sized bolt), 12 body bolts/lock washers, 12 flat
body washers and 12 tubed body washers which replaced everything. It took me about
4 hours.

Now no more thumping and my passenger door closes without slamming it! These
bigger (and less glamorous) projects really make a difference in the overall ride quality
and enjoyment of your Jeep.

Here’s a shot of the new versus old bushings and washers. The old bushings were
really squished, misshapen and actually kind of sticky soft. Most of the flat washers
were all bent and had several broken tubes from the washers. The new body washers
are much thicker and have welded tubes.