Radius Bushings

grn93 · November 14, 2005

From reading the forums, it seems these bushings are a common part needing replacement. My truck has 210,000 kilometers on it and I have no idea if they were ever replaced. What are the symptoms of worn ones and where would they be located. Are they a simple thing to replace ?

Rick

rickthriller · November 14, 2005

they are not to hard to replace provided you have the tools there are two steel ribits on each side on the bushing bracket that you have to cut off and replace with bolts

MrShorty · November 15, 2005

As far as checking them, if the radius arm can move around inside the bushing in the frame crossmember, the bushing needs to be replaced. The radius arm (sometimes called a control arm in other vehicles) extends from the front axle to the frame and has the front shock attached to it.

grn93 · November 15, 2005

Thanks for the info. What would be a tell tale sign that the bushings were shot.

marragtop · November 15, 2005

Usually the one on the passenger side goes first since it's close to the exhaust. Tell tale signs are clunking/rattling noises when going over a bump or starting/stoping hard. If you don't get them fixed when they go bad, you run the risk of damaging the radius arms and/or crossmember. Then it's big bucks....

Rhett · November 15, 2005

grn93 said:
Thanks for the info. What would be a tell tale sign that the bushings were shot.

What marrag said, plus often you will hear a clunk or click when you are braking. Way back, before I knew about the TTB front end, I thought the brakes were going out on the truck, but it was the radius arm bushings.

darrellx14 · November 15, 2005

yeah... don't drive the truck if your bushings are gone.. i had to replace the passenger side radius arm bracket (50 bucks from the junk yard)

Glacier991 · November 15, 2005

I had to replace my passenger side bracket, but I bought it from FORD and I do not recall it costing me a ton of money, not over $50, but maybe my memory is bad.

ps. in the for what it is worth category, while there are proponents of several different ways of removing the rivets, for my money and based on trying several ways, drilling them out is the easiest way.

Center punch the middle of round rivet head so your drill bit won't wander off on you, and then using like a 3/16's bit, drill down into the head of the rivet, deep enough to get the the shaft of the rivet. Change to a larger size bit and repeat. Go up in size until you have drilled thru the head down to the shaft. Next take a punch (an air chisel with a punch is ideal) and bash out the rivet from the side you just drilled. When you reassemble replace the rivets with GRADE 8 (!!) 1" bolts. GRADE 8 is IMPORTANT!

The bushings are just big donuts of either hard rubber or poly material. They are squeezed on both sides of the crossmember between large washers and the end of the Radius Arm has a big honkin nut on it.

Noved87 · November 15, 2005

mine pulled hard to the right before i replaced them.

big_hoovie · November 16, 2005

I have to give you all a BIG THANK YOU. I've been trying to figure out what my most recent/long runing problem(s) have been. At least I hope this is it. Ever since I bought my truck, it's been pulling hard to the right. I've had it align 3 times in the last 4 or 5 months(last couple of times were free), but nothing they did fixed it. About 2 weeks after I replaced my rotors, calipers and pads, I noticed that the truck would sound like a horse galloping down the road - not all the time, but frequent enough that it is causing concern, and the sound dissapears when I step on the brakes. I figured that it was the retaining pins that hold the calipers on, that need to be replaced for the rattling noise, and that the shop that did the alignment was incompentent.

Any idea how much shops usually charge to do this??

Tony H · November 16, 2005

GRN93
Not sure what your mechanical skills are BUT if doing Brakes scares you then this job is not for you.

It is basically chiseling off or grinding off Factory Rivots and dropping the cross member that House these Bushings. unbolting the bushings and bolting in new ones . The problem is is that Emergency Brake Cable is in the way on the drivers side along with the Gas Filter. and the Catylitic Converter is in the way on the other side. The Radius arm itself gets in the way of unbolting and bolting some hardware that has to be bolted up into the frame. This is not to scare you but to let you know that it's not as simple as it should be/could be.

Darrman · November 16, 2005

I am also getting ready to replace mine, they are shot. I noticed that the drivers side has been replaced before, but the passenger side looks stock. My question is, which is easier, to pull the crossmember, or to pull the entire radius arm? I am going to be replacing the springs at the same time.

Rhett · November 16, 2005

Darrman said:
My question is, which is easier, to pull the crossmember, or to pull the entire radius arm? I am going to be replacing the springs at the same time.

Well, if you are going to replace the springs at the same time, then it would be easiest for you to do the RAB's using the "by-the-book" method...do a search on that...this method involves...roughly:
1) pull front tires
2) loosen/remove front shocks
3) your springs
4) loosen 28mm deep radius arm nut
5) loosen axle pivot bolt, maybe tie rod ends, can't remember
6) push beam forward so that you can pull off bushings
7) install new bushings, put everything back

And guess what, this involves no drilling n' punching of rivets. If you were not removing the springs then I would recommend the drilling method and Grade8 bolts, which is what I do. But if I were replacing springs at the same time I would probably just go ahead and do it the book way.

Darrman · November 16, 2005

Ok, thanks, I will probably do it that way.

jlxplorer · November 16, 2005

u might have mentioned this but what tools are needed?? i just went to the tire shoo down the street from my work and they said that my bushings are broken....and its 80$ for parts and 300$ for labor..alot of money so i was gunna do it myself...this is prolly a whole day thing huh???

bmxking5 · November 16, 2005

Yes, for a first timer it will take close to a day. My parts (bushings) were 25 dollars at Pep Boys. I also bought a $50 Makita angle grinder to grind off the rivets (since I'll need to replace them anyways for my SAS). So total of 75 bucks with parts and tools. You'll need a 1 1/8" or 1 1/16" (can't remember which) socket for the back of the radius arm.

Glacier991 · November 16, 2005

I'd concur to plan a day... and once again vote for drilling <g>.

jlxplorer · November 16, 2005

thats it a some sockets and a drill?? and of course the new bushing's...

Glacier991 · November 16, 2005

A center punch, a drill, some nice new sharp bits, a pin punch and a hammer, A big socket and a breaker bar (that nut is on there tight) and then assorted sockets or wrenches to tighten the grade 8 bolts you replace the rivets with (I used blue locktite too).

That's it.

No flames (torch) no sparks (grinder) and no come along to pull the axle apart (I never got that way to work anyway, I tried)

jlxplorer · November 17, 2005

Glacier991 said:
A center punch, a drill, some nice new sharp bits, a pin punch and a hammer, A big socket and a breaker bar (that nut is on there tight) and then assorted sockets or wrenches to tighten the grade 8 bolts you replace the rivets with (I used blue locktite too).

That's it.

No flames (torch) no sparks (grinder) and no come along to pull the axle apart (I never got that way to work anyway, I tried)

thanks for the help..its gunna be my weekend project

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