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Building my own radius arms

SuperEx91

Well-Known Member
Joined
January 25, 2006
Messages
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City, State
Toledo, Ohio
Year, Model & Trim Level
91 XLT EB
I'm picking up my axles for my Ex Thursday so i need to plan out my radius arms. I am aiming for 38's on this when all said and done.
radiusarm.jpg

I need some help with the design. I am planning on using either 2" OD .120 wall or 1.75" .250 wall DOM. the only things i am not sure about is if it will matter how i clock the axle brackets when i weld them. i dont want them straight up and down because of obvious clearance issues. my picture is what i was thinking. i would like to angle them forward a little to keep the bottom from getting hung up. Also is the 6" distance between the holes too much/not enough? then comes the length. i have read of people extending stock R/A's 12". That just doesn't sound like a lot too me. in my head when you lift something it is gonna pull some of that length down and pretty much shorten the distance from axle to frame mount. make sense?:confused: I was hoping to incorporate the R/A mounts with a new trans crossmember. to me, that looked like a good mounting location. I measured and it looked like about 34"from axle to center of trans crossmember but that is at stock height. any feedback is appreciated.
so far i have ordered a few things.
I am going to be using Johnny joints at the frame end.
jj.jpg

These are actually Summit Flex Joints but are almost exactly the same. They offer 30* of movement and are completely rebuildable.
At the axle end, i found brackets designed for the dana 44(which is what im using)made by blue torch fab.
traction_link_bracket.jpg

They are 5/16" thick, the two holes are 5/8" and are 6" apart. the notch for the axle is sized for the dana 44 at around 3".
The bushings are polyurethane. the outer shell is 1.75" x .25 wall tube and is 2.5" long.
bushing_boss.jpg

Both the bushings and the johnny joints are made to be easily welded to. So far i have ordered the two johnny joints, 4 of the bushings, and 4 of the axle brackets. I have also ordered some small pre-cut 90* gussets for the axle brackets and frame mounts.
Thanks for reading, and any replies.
 



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1.75" .250 wall DOM....6 inch isnt too far apart... as for the crossmember.. its a good idea to incorperate the jonny joints into the new c-member...gives the axle a better range of motion.
 






alright-that helps. Has anyone used these johnny joints here and have any good/bad stories?
 






i beleive Izwack and RedRanger4.0 have...
 






I was going to go with heim joints on my truck, but i think bushings are a better way to go for on-roadability. where did you find that bushing package at?
 












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