that's exactly what i did the first PPI said i needed just the thrust arm bushigs and wanted 750 then i went to a second shop and they said i needed the bushings and might as well change the ball joints and charged me 900 for all oem parts

:thumbup:

Since they were changed with OEM parts, I would go back to the shop that did the work and ask them to check it out as you have the same issue as before. Then do just what you did before except in reverse for the second opinion. No way that OEM bushing should fail this soon, I would be suspicious.

The bushing connection to the truck's frame needs to be tightened with the weigh of the truck on the tire. If the shop the tightened that connection with the truck on the hoist, that will leave to premature failure of the bushing.

x2 this!

x3

After only two months?

yes it can be that quick if bushing was torqued in air instead of with weight of car on it.

I have never torqued in the air so I don't know how big a mistake that is. How many miles do you think would have to be driven those two months?

If torqued in the air, the weight of the vehicle just stationary is stressing the bushings quite a bit. Driving would just add to the stress.

http://www.autohausaz.com/secure/Par...1121096372.jpg

That's one of the thrust arm bushings. The bolt that goes through the center and holds it to the frame also keeps that center metal insert in a fixed position; it doesn't rotate. The metal ring on the outside of the bushing is bound tightly to the thrust arm, and rotates with the up/down movement of the thrust arm as the vehicle moves over obstacles. The rubber connecting the center to the outside ring is designed to flex a bit, and allows up/down movement within a given range.

BUT... If the center of the thrust arm is torqued down without first loading the front suspension, the center starts out rotated down. When the vehicle is lowered to the ground and the weight of the vehicle is on that corner, the rubber will already be stretched almost to its designed limit. Thinking about that it's easy to see how the bushing will fail pretty rapidly.

One alternative I'm looking into is using spherical bearings instead of bushings. They are pretty widely used on other vehicles, especially offroad vehicles; one of the guys on the mye28.com developed a set for the e24, e28, e32 & e34, and has pretty good success with them. They do transmit a bit more road noise to the frame and cabin than OE bushings, but their longevity is much improved over OE, and replacing the wear parts is far easier than replacing the entire bushing. They also have a lot less flex than OE, so steering response is far improved as well. Since they are a spherical bearing instead of a rubber bushing, they don't require the suspension to be loaded before torquing down the center bolt.

Right now he's working on a variant that would fit the e53, which should also fit the e39 and a couple of other models. I'm thinking the pricing would be similar.

Moosehead Engineering Spherical Upper Control Arm Bushings

http://images.ecwid.com/images/525075/15262624.jpg