94 XLT RA bushings

[goobenet]

So my "binding metal" sound is getting worse, took it to a local shop, they say that the radius arm bushings are pretty much non-existant. Few questions, how hard are they to replace? Is it something i can do myself? (keeping in mind this truck lived most of it's life in Minneapolis, more rusty vehicles than one cares to think about) Is it more feasable to take it to a shop? Is there a specific brand i should get?

Thanks!

 

[Rhett]

How comfortable are you with wrenching? If you've done suspension work beyond replacing shocks before, and you have some tools, then you can do it with a Haynes or Chiltons manual.

As far as the bushings go, you have 2 types:
Rubber. (like OEM ones)
Polyurethane.

I'd recommend a quality polyurethane bushing, not the polys you can get just anywhere. Not all polys are the same. Look into Daystars, look into Performance Suspension.

Poly bushings will give a rougher ride. Rubber bushings will give the best ride quality. Their only drawback is that they will wear out faster. They'll still give you 50,000 miles easily, though.

I run polys.

 

[Chew_12]

Its not that complicated to do, just takes some time. I hardest part is removing the rivlets. Do a search for RA bushings and you should find a ton of information.

 

[Bashman]

It's not really hard at all depending on tools/equip you have access to. I did mine with grinding the heads off the rivets for the crossmember then punching them out. The hardest part, since mine was full of Ontario rust, was cracking the RA nuts loose weven with coating them every other day with liquid wrench for 2 weeks. I got one side quite easily with a half inch drive air gun but had to use the big mother 3/4" dr one for the other. The minimum you will require is jack stands, floor jack, wrench and socket to fit nuts, grinder for rivets, grade 8 bolts to replace rivets, torque wrench, punch and hammer.

 

[Chew_12]

You could replace the grinder if you have a dremel..Thats what I used. I just cut and X in the rivets and punched out.