I installed Energy Suspension polyurethane upper control arm bushings on my '78 Monaco. The kit comes with the bushings and inner sleeves; the original outer sleeves remain in the upper control arm and are re-used. So far, so good.

When I torque the nuts on either end of the UCA shaft to factory specifications, the inner sleeve locks to the shaft. That would mean that as the upper control arm moved up and down, the bushing would rotate around the inner sleeve, while the inner sleeve remained locked stationary to the shaft. This isn't right, is it?

For now, I have them torqued as tight as possible while still allowing the bushing and inner sleeve to rotate as a unit on the shaft as the control arm moves up and down. I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do, and I figured I'd better ask.

Thank you.

You do not want the metal sleeve rotating on the metal shaft. This will squeak and wear the shaft. Energy Suspension bushings do not twist like a rubber bushing. They have to rotate. And they like to squeak doing that if put together dry. Use the lube they supply.
While they are a handling improvement over rubber, I just don't care for them in control arms, and would never use them on a lower control arm. I use them for strut rods and sway bar links

hi
i used all polygrafite in my cuda upper and lower 20 years back , still work like new and no squeek !

Hi Demon, would you mind elaborating on what you don't like about them? Just trying to get as much info on them as I can.

Thanks!

I would never use them in lower control arms. Not safe in my opinion.
A stock rubber bushing is pressed into the control arm, and the pivot shaft. Together, it is as one, and effectively locks the lower control arm from moving fore and aft.
With the urethane bushings, the bushings do not press in place. The control arm can actually move back and forth. The torsion bar and its little snap clip do not control fore and aft movement, nor should they. Slop in the lower control arm? No thanks.

On my '73, I tried the poly upper bushings and ended up going back to rubber.

On a factory big block '73 B-body, the passenger side inner fender has a HUGE cut out unlike small block cars which have the smaller opening like the drivers side. Because of this huge opening, there really is nothing between the hot exhaust manifold and the control arm.

This extreme heat cooked the poly bushing. It kept squeaking on me no matter how much I lubed it, then I noticed the bushing was actually starting to break down.

Your '78 has a different inner fender structure than my '73, but if I remember correctly, it leaves the upper arm exposed. If you have a big block car and/or are running headers, I'd keep on eye on the upper bushings.