Radius arm bushings

[dfrome66]

I know this has been posted a few times so please bear with me. My son's Navajo just lost the drivers side bushing. The last chunk just fell out. I read the post on replacing the bushings by removing the rivets holding on the arm brackets.

On his truck, the brackets have already been removed once before by the PO. The brackets already have bolts instead of rivets. So if I understand the posts correctly, all I should have to do is 1) remove the bolts, 2) drop the brackets (both sides) and then 3) remove the large nut to replace the bushings.

Is there anything else I need to do? What about getting the radius arm back in the bracket? How hard is it to align the arm in the hole and compress the bushings enough to put on the nut?

Thanks for any help!

 

[FIND]

You are correct, that is all there is to it. If you have the truck sitting still, the radius arms won't really even move when you take the bracket off, and even if they do, it doesn't take much to swing them back since it should only be sideways movement.

 

[siguaw]

awesome, this is the next job in line for me and after looking at it a few months ago i was wondering if it was possible. The manual says it takes more work than i am willing to do for an $8 part. Thanks for answering my question before i asked it

 

[dfrome66]

Thanks for the reply! Would you recommend having the truck on jack stands or just on the ground?

 

[FIND]

Whatever works best for you.

 

[Tony H]

Thanks for the reply! Would you recommend having the truck on jack stands or just on the ground?

Give yourself some height to crank the Big nut. put it on Stands and let the suspension hang.

The Gas filter will get in the way, take it out of it's bracket so you can work around it.. on the other side The Cat adds a bit of excitement too.

 

[dfrome66]

Thanks for all the help. Going to tackle this on Sunday. Hopefully everything goes as planned.

 

[Tony H]

after the brackets are back up and tight, Rest the front wheels on the ground OR jack both side up under the front suspension before torquing up the Big nuts on the back of the bushings. You want the Truck sitting in it's Neutral position before setting the bushings.

Enjoy

 

[dfrome66]

OK - It's done. I was able to repalce the bushings on Sunday. The only problem I had was my jack stands weren't tall enough to support the frame in the front so I had to ge get taller ones. Otherwise it went as planned...
My son and I jacked up the front and removed the wheels. Didn't even need a deep 1 1/8" socket to remove the nut.
The only thing in the way was the fuel filter bracket. The Cat didn't interfere too much on the passenger side.
We removed the bolts holding the arm brackets -we had to jack up each radius arm to get more play to remove some of the hardware.
Once the bracket were free, they wouldn't come out with both side bolted together. So we unbolted the arms, then it was easy.
We then installed the new bushings put the brackets back on and tightened all but the radius arm nut.
Put the wheels back on and lowered the truck.
Then we torqued the nuts to 100 ft-lbs.
Test drive was good. No more clunking sounds and the front end feels much tighter.
Defintely worth the $14 for new bushings...

 

[Tony H]

Perfect.
Yeah, I separated the brackets from each other too.
I have 6 ton Jack stands, they sit very tall. They work well for all my 4WD vehicles and the other cars sit on them whne they are in the Full Down position.
I have a few vehicle that have high ground clearance so the 6 ton stands work for me.

Good job