Radius Arm Modifaction

[x5050160]

My Radius Arm bushings are shot all to hell. No matter what way you go about it the job looks as though it is a *****. Plus my RA brackets have lost the factory protective coating and have some surface rust on them now. If I am going to do this job I'm doing all of it at once. Factory parts lasted 20 plus years. I wanna upgrade. I do not want to lift the X. Keep in mind this is all theroy as I have not had any of this apart before and Im going off of just looking at my X up on the lift and the pictures in diggity0169's write up.
How to: Ford Explorer - Ranger Radius Arm Bushing Repair
So I am thinking of doing a mod to my radius arm and radius arm bracket. I want to get rid of the "Radius Arm" type set up. Green arrows Pictures are not from any Ford Explorer.

I want to do a control arm set up. Like this kinda: Green arrows once again.

I do want to utilize the stock Radius Arm to Traction Beam setup. I do not want to shorten or lengthen the radius arm except for the necessary amount to account for the placement of the "control arm" bracket. This modification would basically serve the purpose of an ease of maintenance and strength upgrade.

My thoughts on the control arm bracket are to cut and weld it out of 3/16th's A-36 steel plate. Use the existing holes in the frame to bolt it up. I am thinking of using 2x4x.188 rectangular tubing for the fab of the cross member to connect the two brackets. I would mock it up so the pivot angle would match the angle of the factory RA bushing.
My thoughts on the Radius Arm is to leave it stock except to use .188" wall tubing to replace the stub end and then use 1" OD x .760 ID x .120 Wall 304 Stainless for the control arm eyelet. I don't really know what size tubing is going to work for the mod to the stub end of the CA. I would also like to gusset the end of the arm towards the TTB end of it.

Now I do have a few concerns
The first being losing the 360° motion that the radius arm allows. I am just assuming here, but I would guess that there is 360°'s of motion due to there being rubber bushing all around the RA stub. Thus allowing some lateral movement of the TTB???? If I were to go with a control arm like set up I figure I would be greatly limiting this movement. There would only be a very small amount of crush with the bushing in the control arm eyelet.
The second being the strength of the frame at the bracket location. A control arm as stated above should have a lot less "give" thereby exerting greater force on the bracket, cross member, and the frame.

Should I think of using bigger stainless tubing for the eyelet to allow for a thicker bushing? What if I were to box the frame around the location of the bracket? Can I even do that.

If you all have any ideas on this let me know. Any input at all would be great. I got awhile before I get to do this. (It'll be winter when the project starts)

 

[malohnes]

From what I have gathered, this mod would not be a good one for a stock length RA. First, for the amount of work involved compared to replacing the bushing with a new one seems excessive and second, the limited benefit the mod would serve on a stock length RA.

The pic you posted shows a custom RA and it looks to be lifted. Is this your rig?

I'd put in poly bushings with your stock RA and call it good. I got some Energy Suspension Poly's form Amazon last fall, a master kit, on sale and I have to say I was shocked at the difference all the poly bushing made.

 

[Brian1]

My recommendation is to just cut off the rivets and replace with bolts and then swap your stock bushings with new ones. Since you want to remove the crossmember anyway, it will save you time if you ever have to replace the bushings again in the future. For a stock setup doing what you are suggesting will not have any benefits. The reason people make new brackets and put new ends on their arm is to lengthen the radius arms to allow for more up/down travel at the wheel as well as to transfer the suspension forces further back to the frame which gives a better feeling ride.

Next, you are not getting rid of the radius arm setup and going to a control arm. It is still a radius arm because of the way it mounts to the front beam.

You do not mention specifically (that I saw anyway) what type of end joint you want to use. From what I gather you want to just use a round bushing in a tube. That will not work, the joint has to be able to rotate. Along those lines to answer your other question, no they do not need to rotate 360*, with the stock suspension you might only get 10 degrees of rotation.

Another thing I see is you plan to use 2x4 tubing as a crossmember. That is massive and your driveshaft will hit it on droop. I don't see that fitting without causing interference with your driveshaft or hanging down too low. Also 3/16" is a little thin for your brackets and would eventually wallow out the hole I would think. I would use 1/4" for that little bit of extra strength.

I have 2" of lift and made my own extended radius arms with a bracket that bolted right to the frame where the transmission crossmember was. It might give you some ideas - http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=309780

 

[Maniak]

Like [MENTION=117556]malohnes[/MENTION] said.. changing from the post style to a heim/johnny/ballistic joint probably won't work well on a non lifted rig.

First thing.. Look at where the post (RA) mounts are. You can see they are inboard of the frame. Pretty much every (if not every) time you see someone modify the end of the Radius arm they put it under the frame, including me. That alone can mess with the angles as you just pushed the pivot point to the outside. On top of that your RA may hit the frame not as the tries go up (depends on how much travel you have and the normal ride height). Also, it makes the Arms hit the tries quicker during turns.

If you want to go this route, the easiest way would be to cut the end of the arm off and weld in a tube with some reinforcement. Now you could put in whatever kind of joint you wanted. I'm using a Ballistic Joint but a Johnny Joint would work too BUT you will pick up vibration/road noise etc with a non rubber style joint. Now you need to make the mounts that will allow the suspension travel without hitting things.

Personally, I'd just order a new set of RA brackets. Last I checked it is just over $50 for a set. If you want more protection than you get on the new brackets (which isn't as good as the factory) send them to [MENTION=17822]Turdle[/MENTION] and have him powder coat them. That way you can wait until the new brackets come in and then just swap them while you put on new bushings.

~Mark

 

[x5050160]

From what I have gathered, this mod would not be a good one for a stock length RA. First, for the amount of work involved compared to replacing the bushing with a new one seems excessive and second, the limited benefit the mod would serve on a stock length RA.

The pic you posted shows a custom RA and it looks to be lifted. Is this your rig?

I'd put in poly bushings with your stock RA and call it good. I got some Energy Suspension Poly's form Amazon last fall, a master kit, on sale and I have to say I was shocked at the difference all the poly bushing made.

I agree that it would be a lot of work, but I don't mind work. I don't mind the investment in time or money. I plan on keeping this truck for at least another 20 years so I figure a couple hundred dollars and a few hundred hours isn't too big a deal.

These pics are not of my vehicles. The custom RA is a 79 Bronco I believe, and the custom lower control arm is of a TJ Wrangler.

If I decide not to go with the custom modification of the bracket to change from RA to CA I will go with the Energy Suspension poly kit. You say that you felt a shocking difference when you switched to poly bushings. I would guess that this is because the poly bushing is much stiffer than rubber. This stiffness limits the lateral movement of the front axle. The only 2 things that serve the purpose of limiting side to side movement in the stock setup is the axle pivot bushing and the RA Bushing.

Unless I am totally wrong about this, the whole front chassis underpinning can move side to side about 1 inch. Now I'm sure a fresh set of poly bushings for everything probably takes this down to a 1/4 inch but still that a lot of movement. But like I said maybe I am totally off base with this.

 

[littlebro294]

My bushings were shot too when i bought my explorer, they were easy to get off but the problem i had was since the bushing is on the inside, and the new replacement ones from orielly's was a rubber bushing with a metal plate in the middle of it, we cut it and split it open, slipped it over the post then clamped it back together and put everything back together. From what i've heard doing it this way only lets them last for a year or so but the bushings are cheap and it works. As far as i know the right way to do it makes you have to take the suspension apart on each side and slip the new bushing in. If this way is easier than i thought then please let me know so i know to do it next time but as far as i know, the way i did it is ok.

 

[x5050160]

My recommendation is to just cut off the rivets and replace with bolts and then swap your stock bushings with new ones. Since you want to remove the crossmember anyway, it will save you time if you ever have to replace the bushings again in the future. For a stock setup doing what you are suggesting will not have any benefits. The reason people make new brackets and put new ends on their arm is to lengthen the radius arms to allow for more up/down travel at the wheel as well as to transfer the suspension forces further back to the frame which gives a better feeling ride.

Next, you are not getting rid of the radius arm setup and going to a control arm. It is still a radius arm because of the way it mounts to the front beam.

You do not mention specifically (that I saw anyway) what type of end joint you want to use. From what I gather you want to just use a round bushing in a tube. That will not work, the joint has to be able to rotate. Along those lines to answer your other question, no they do not need to rotate 360*, with the stock suspension you might only get 10 degrees of rotation.

Another thing I see is you plan to use 2x4 tubing as a crossmember. That is massive and your driveshaft will hit it on droop. I don't see that fitting without causing interference with your driveshaft or hanging down too low. Also 3/16" is a little thin for your brackets and would eventually wallow out the hole I would think. I would use 1/4" for that little bit of extra strength.

I have 2" of lift and made my own extended radius arms with a bracket that bolted right to the frame where the transmission cross member was. It might give you some ideas - http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=309780

That is a very nice setup.
I don't really want to lift my X. I'm looking to make changing the bushing easier for one and for better handling. I would agree that the 2x4 size is huge but I was just throwing that out there.
I mean now this X handles like a 70's Winnebago with 400 thousand miles on it.

If I ever do any type of heavy modification to the X I will swap everything over to manual (trans, tcase, and hubs). Swap the 4.0 for a 5.0. Swap in a Mustang IRS as the track width is almost the same. I don't know if I'll ever get to do this, but its the direction I would like to go if I were to drop 20k into it.

 

[Anime]

I would agree with the above posts, you should just grind off the rivets, paint or powdercoat the stock radius arm brackets, then use some polyurethane radius arm bushings and call it good.

Part of the reason your Explorer might handle the way it does is because it has the original rubber bushings everywhere, and might have old shocks and even worn out body mounts.

You can get an Energy Suspension bushing kit for the 91-94 Explorer that has almost every bushing in there, including the radius arm and sway bar bushings. Replacing those and getting new shocks will make a big difference.

Running slightly higher tire pressures helps handling as well. Although the stock door label says 26 psi is the reccommended tire pressure, Ford later revised this after the Firestone fiasco and admitted that was too low. Try 28-32 psi and see what feels comfortable and still wears the tires evenly.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

Don't forget to check your ball joints too.

Simply rebuild the existing suspension with new parts and don't change the geometry. It will be much easier to align and will last a long time

 

[x5050160]

Ok ok I guess I should scrap this idea. I was thinking to myself that I was way over thinking the whole thing. As for the tire pressure I run 28 psi. Any more and you can feel every little crack in the road. Its really bad and I run C load range tires.

 

[smegun]

your all right its a bit of a grunt but dooable im not too happy with the front creaks altogether its too much hardware up front needs lifted out of the mud he ha

get the right grade 8 or better bolts first and grind off the heads of those rivits there are 4 you have to replace with bolts real nice and flush with the frame then drill a small hole partial way in the center and then a medium if needed and if they dont fall out tap a little remove the ra support bracket and replace i lined everything up a bottle jack to center the ra arm and get the bushing s on wish i had greased em up though with some non petroleum grease no strap needed

 

[smegun]

i have a question drivers side RA arm tendency to move down passenger tendency to move up there is disparity but there is also a pumpkin closer to drivers side my alignment is good and no weird tire wear drives straight ... i got a bit of a creek even with new ra bushings


torsion bar adjustment???

ive looked close at the radius arms hard to believe that one of them is knocked up maybe im hearing tie rod misaligned i moved the passenger side a little more centered could be a trick for sale cheating id like to see the proper orientation for the front end as well as setting the torsion