People with first gens and rancho radius arms ...need your help!

So I scored an old set of rancho radius arms from the junkyard, installed them according to the instructions here: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/Rancho_Install_Instructions.shtml and something is very off. Both front wheels are pushed back at least an inch or so. The front driveshaft is sitting nearly all the way plunged in and the tires are rubbing the back of the wheel wells hard.

I triple checked that I lined up the front mounting holes exactly 12" back from the stock radius arms rear hole (on center). Only think I can think of is maybe the explorer and ranger frames are different and I was following ranger instructions.

Anybody that has a rancho lift, do you recall where the radius arm bracket holes were drilled, or by some chance does anybody have instructions laying around?

Thanks

...Just a thought but you might have the ra's on the wrong side.

...even though they are not marked right or left..

Ted, I think those arms are ambidextrous.
Bulldozer, I can go take some measurements if you want, but I have a Ranger...

..My thinking is the caster is built into the arms..

..A check of the angle between the upper and lower bolts (Rangerx's light be at 1o clock) on the ttb beams might show the difference (and if reversed arms might be at 5 o clock guessing)

They are definitely on the correct sides. I wish it was something so simple. Would be a lot easier to fix than welding in the misplaced bolt holes in my frame.

RangerX said:

Ted, I think those arms are ambidextrous.

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They are. There is no left or right with those arms.

Ranger 4WD, Bronco II, Explorer, the frames are the same from the transmission crossmember forward.

Is it possible maybe you have the bushings assembled the wrong way? That or the brackets are simply too far back.

Unfortunately it was so long ago since I had those arms on mine, I don't have any pics of them or the brackets.

RangerX said:

Ted, I think those arms are ambidextrous.
Bulldozer, I can go take some measurements if you want, but I have a Ranger...

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Might want to show him the spots to reinforce on the frame mounts and the arms as well.

As others have said, there is no left or right arm - they just need to be turned out toward the wheels.

When you measured for the radius arms, did you keep the tape measure on (along) the frame, following the curve? If not, that could be why the wheels are so far back.

I do have my original instructions for the Ranger, and I think I have the instructions for the Explorer (which are just about the same.) Radius arm bracket placement is the same.

Could you post some pictures of the mounts (such as where they are on the frame) and the radius arms (specifically the ends that go into the mounts)?

If the mounts are in the correct location, you could have a bushing problem. Since Rancho no longer makes those bushing, the previous owner could have substituted a different sized bushing - thus moving the wheels.

RockRanger said:

Might want to show him the spots to reinforce on the frame mounts and the arms as well.

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I have reinforced my mounts - where do you reinforce the arms?

Here is one of my old pictures

Scott B. said:

I have reinforced my mounts - where do you reinforce the arms?

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http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133614&highlight=corral+canyon

Have to ask Bill for a fixed picture. He is still running the arm we welded back together with a piece of angle iron welded back on.

Taking a pic would involve scraping off the mud, oil, and rust enough to even see the repair! So I'll just describe it.
Matt took a piece of 2"x2" angle iron that was maybe 6" long, nestled the two pieces together in the valley of the angle, and fully welded it along both sides of the tubes. The angle iron was super thick, maybe 3/8 or 1/4!
I still run that same arm with that repair on it, nine years later, even though at the time, I did have two spare Rancho arms at home.

Thanks for the replies guys. Looking jrgaylor's pic above it definitely appears mine were a good 1/2" further back from there. I took them off an threw the stock setup back on for now so I can't really get pics. I did measure along the curve of the frame rail though, just like the directions stated.


I suppose there is a possibility I have the wrong bushings but I've seen a couple other explorers with the rancho lift on them and they looked like the same bushings, but I wasn't examining that closely. I think I'm going to either extend the arms a little or make mounts with different geometry as I don't really want to put any more holes in the frame rails.

Just discovered via this page http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PDFs/Rancho_part_numbers.pdf the ranger and explorer definitely use different mounting brackets, so presumably the proper hole locations are also different. Also I noticed the ranger uses 2 brackets with the same part # where as the explorer's are different from left to right. Hmmmm maybe I can get ahold of rancho and see if by some chance they still have instructions laying around.

Bulldozer said:

Just discovered via this page http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/PDFs/Rancho_part_numbers.pdf the ranger and explorer definitely use different mounting brackets, so presumably the proper hole locations are also different. Also I noticed the ranger uses 2 brackets with the same part # where as the explorer's are different from left to right. Hmmmm maybe I can get ahold of rancho and see if by some chance they still have instructions laying around.

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The brackets on the Ex are slightly different to account for a small frame variation. IIRC, one of the mounting holes is in a different location, and a sleeve is used in the frame.

However, you can use the Ex brackets on the Ranger with no problems.