Just changed my radius arm bushings and brackets (with pics)

First I gotta give a a big to rockauto.com. I ordered from them 2 new radius arm brackets, the bushing kit and an oil filter and they only charged me $8 shipping! Plus I ordered the parts 10:30pm the night before Thanksgiving and they showed up on my doorstep 9:00 am the day after thanksgiving.

So, when i bought my truck, there was this horrible clunk noise when i hit the brakes, or took off, my friends named it "the death clunk". A look under the truck showed some badly worn radius arm bushings:




I drove it for about a week and figured i better fix it fast. I was hoping I would only need new bushings, but i'd better look before I order parts. I got under the truck and took off the radius arm nuts and rear bushings and bam, both radius arm brackets are FUBAR'd as well:




So I ordered up the parts from rockauto.com and got to work. The whole job only took me like 2.5 hours. Of course I had my buddy's shop stuff full or air tools and a lift which made it much easier!First thing I did was use the air chisel and bust off the 2 rivits per side, don't forget to unbolt the fuel filter and get it out of the way first!



Then I unbolted the the other bolts and the brackets came off pretty easily. Look how bad the old bushings were compared to the new ones!



Now all the parts that came from rockauto.com were Moog brand. As I was reassembling the brackets, I noticed how similar they were to the factory Ford brackets, gee, I wonder why there are ground down spots on the new Moog brackets exactly where the Ford part #'s were on the original Ford brackets? Oh yeah, the new Moog brackets came with all new hardware, even bolts and nuts to replace the rivets with, that was a nice surprise.



Then I buttoned it all back up, I don't think I ever had a repair go as smoothly as this one! It drives so much better now and no more death clunk! The only thing is the alignment is off now, because the previous owner must have had it aligned around the radius arm troubles.

Yeah, I would say those bushings were wore out, lol. Thats the worst ones I have seen so far, mine were shot, but just out of round and one was split in half.
Someone let that problem go on for a LONG time!
New parts look good!

So....let's see the price breakdown. Part # for the moog bushings? Did you double up on the "cup washers?"

Aloha, Mark

PS.....Getting the new metal.....instead of the welding job.......good. 2-1/2 hours......that is really good.

I need to do this too. I don't have the shop nor the tools though. How much did the parts cost you?

Also, how much would it cost if I took it somewhere? I'm guessing a front end shop would be the best place to take it.

The RAB kits aren't that expensive.....around $15 per side (rubber)....more for the poly stuff.

http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductList.aspx?parttype=2043&ptset=A&searchfor=Radius+Arm+Bushing

The BIG EXPENSE is in the labor........as a DIY project it's doable for a guy who has a moderate amount of tools.

Aloha, Mark

PS.........

Doing the job
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums...ius+arm+bushing

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146713&page=5&highlight=RAB

http://www.explorerforum.com/Singleton/exp.html

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=49028&highlight=radius+arms+install



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Yeah, i think the brackets were like $45 a side and then like $30 for the bushings. go to rockauto.com, and you can figure out the exact cost. I think if you paid someone to do it, it would be at least 4-5 hours, around here thats at $75/hour, so...

BP_93explorer said:

I need to do this too. I don't have the shop nor the tools though. How much did the parts cost you?

Also, how much would it cost if I took it somewhere? I'm guessing a front end shop would be the best place to take it.

Click to expand...

I paid $30 for shipping and all on Energy Suspension Polly bushings.

* years ago when I went to basic, my folks took my ex in to have them done and it was $400 for both sides, alignment.

Do it yourself. Its easy!

I had a quote done on this job when I went in to have an alignment done. They wanted close to 900 to do it. There were some other things too but the majority of the work was for these bushings. Needless to say I still have not done this yet...

College student with part time job. I guess I'll have to do this myself. Are the Energy Suspension ones the best? If I'm gonna do this I want it done right. I've heard good things about them so far.

I've put this off for awhile, how can I tell if the radius arms need to be replaced? Drives straight its just loud as hell going over any bump. I've seen it turn heads driving around campus.

how can I tell if the radius arms need to be replaced?

Click to expand...

Look at the first two pics (above).........IF yours look like that........you're PAST DUE.

Aloha, Mark

I just did mine today with my Pop... I'd gone to a couple shops to see if they'd cut off the rivets with a welding torch, but two shops refused, one told me it's a stupid idea, and one told me it's the right idea, but it'd cost me $250 for about three hours of grinding to get it off... right...

Anyways, we started off at about noon by taking off the driver's side wheel and looking at the suspension/steering components... aaaaall the suspension and steering components. We started fiddling around and decided it would take too long, so we grabbed a recipsaw with a metal cutting blade and just hacked the end off the rivets... took about 5 minutes to cut each head off and about 10 or 15 to pound the rivets out with a long metal bar and a sledgehammer... the toughest bit was lining everything up at the end to get the replacement bolts in and torquing everything down. But, $80 and 4 hours later, I had brand-spankin' new radius arm bushings! Although, I've yet to test them out...

I got a bushing kit at Lordco for just under $60... I was looking at polyurethane bushings by Energy Suspension (I think...) that were about $40 or so, but they were just the bushings without the washers or the plastic cups... I bought Moog heat-treated plastic or something or other... they're pretty hard and seem fairly good. If worse comes to worst I'll just have to get a different set and unbolt everything... the rivets are the worst...

Fil

I replaced my bushings with a set of polys from Napa for $25. I used a cable puller/ come-a-long to pull the front axle forward rather than grinding off the rivets. It took me an around an hour for the first side and about the same for the second to do the whole job. I bet I could do them again in an hour and a half this way.

I'm on the market for the passenger side right now. The cats are there and eat the rubber I've heard.

I also have the "death clunk". I have to get it done tomorrow or I wont see the truck for two weeks. I hope the local parts stores have one... and bushings.

Mine aren't riveted, they are bolted.


Also, I don't see how they could have gotten and alignment with that worn. Because you are supposed to do and inspection before alignment. The machine will not read the correct measurements if thats loose too.

I have used a Hunter alignment machine at school many times....

I did mine a couple of months back the bushing kit was like 20.00. Took me close to 2 hours from start to finish. I tried drilling them out but there was not a good way to get my drill to line up right so out came the angle grinder. My brackets were in good shape so I didn't have to replace them.

How do you know if the bracket needs replacing or just the bushings? Is there a way to change the bushings without removing/grinding out the radius arm brackets and rebolting them back on? Reading above, that seems like most of the work!
Can you just unbolt the nut on the radius arm and slide it out of the bracket to replace the bushing set, and bolt it back to the original bracket?
Any input? My passenger side also seems to be worse then the driver side.
Only clunks going over big pot holes, normal small bumps it's not that loud.

pugsy said:

How do you know if the bracket needs replacing or just the bushings? Is there a way to change the bushings without removing/grinding out the radius arm brackets and rebolting them back on? Reading above, that seems like most of the work!
Can you just unbolt the nut on the radius arm and slide it out of the bracket to replace the bushing set, and bolt it back to the original bracket?
Any input? My passenger side also seems to be worse then the driver side.
Only clunks going over big pot holes, normal small bumps it's not that loud.

Click to expand...

Did you miss post #12? Yes you can pull the front axle assembly forward to avoid having to remove the radius arm brackets, but you will still need to loosen all the front end suspension components... This procedure is documented within the haynes repair manual.. also read through the repair info in my sig link below..

Ya...i did read it. Just wondering how to do it and what that thing is that was used to pull the axel fwd. I don't have a Haynes manual. Might very well be the case that my brackets need changing anyhow. Any thoughts on my question regarding that brackets?

pugsy said:

Ya...i did read it. Just wondering how to do it and what that thing is that was used to pull the axel fwd. I don't have a Haynes manual. Might very well be the case that my brackets need changing anyhow. Any thoughts on my question regarding that brackets?

Click to expand...

People use a com-a-long hand type winch to pull the axle forward. I didn't use the hand winch as I tore everything out and completely restored my front end (Dana35 Restoration). What is your question on the brackets?

If your asking about why the passenger side is worse than the drivers side then read below: The passenger side is known to go first because the rubber bushings sits very close to the CAT. The heat breaks down the rubber so that is why it is very important to use the heat shield on this side..

Thanks for the links!!
My question on the brackets is how do you know if they need replacing or not? Is there a way to tell before you get started? Stated above to remove the bolts and inspect the bracket - but what to look for? Bored out hole, play, cracks?

A Radius arm bushing is designed as a shock absorbing component between the radius arm and radius arm bracket. The main forces in play are front to back and up and down. As the bushing gradually wears it will allow the radius arm to move further away from the center of the bracket during impacts (thus causing the tell tale clunking felt under your feet). Over time continued impacts will ovate the normally circular opening in the brackets causing even greater failure (as seen in post #1 pic #3).. Inspection can be difficult because the part of the radius arm bushing which fails is located within the Radius arm bracket and mostly hidden from view. That being said you'd need to remove the Radius arm nut and rear bushing to inspect the bracket to know in advance if the bracket was compromised. You're looking for any cracks, signs of ovation, and overall component stress. If you have access to a welder you can repair the damage, otherwise you'd need to acquire a replacement part.