1/2 done.
Took me a month to get around to it but I finished the Driver side this evening. Not too bad for the do-it-your-selfer.
Here were my findings:
Grim at best.
I noticed that when Les Schwab did the RA bushing replacement 4 years ago they put two washers in front of the RA bushing. IE they left the stock Ford washer AND put on the new washer. I left it this way because I read that this can help prevent shaking at High Speeds. My explorer used to shake at 55+ before Les Schwab did this, now it only shakes at 75+. I assumed it was improved just from having new bushings and new tires until I noticed this tonight.
My Process for the LH bracket/ bushings with Rivets previously replaced:
1) Wear gloves for the knuckles and safety glasses for the eyes. My 'Splorer was constantly dropping crap on me. And I still have scars from the frame last time I worked on it.
2) Buy/ Barrow an impact gun, It's worth it.
3) Remove the two 1/2" nuts on the fuel filter bracket inside the left frame rail.
4) Loosen the 4 bolts that connect the two RA brackets. Mine had nifty psuedo weld nuts/ nut plate on the back side so it was just a matter of VVVT! VVVT! VVVT! VVVT! from the bottom with the impact wrench and they where loose.
5) Loosen the nuts that were rivets in the side of the frame. I could get to the forward one with the impact gun by deflecting the wheel splash shield forward but I could only get to the rear one with an open end wrench.
6) Use a breaker bar to get the RA Nut loose then the Impact gun to remove it. My Nut was a lock nut (the pinched type).
7) Remove the rear portion of the RA Bushing.
8) Chock rear Tires
9) Jack up at Center Diff until Left Wheel is just of the ground.
10) Support Left side of truck with Jack Stand
11) Remove the two bolts directly above the Radius Arm. Again mine had a nut plate so I didn't have to put a wrench on the back side. I could get a 3/8" drive ratchet on the front one but had to use a combination wrench on the rear one. I removed the front one first so that the rear one didn't run into the RA bushing as it came out.
12) When you remove this last bolt the RA bracket and RA should drop down. The wheel may go with it which is why I only jacked it far enough to be just off the ground.
13) Remove the front part of the RA bushing from the RA.
14) Clean and regrease the RA bracket.
15) Install new RA bushing to Radius Arm.
This is where it gets a little tricky. My Radius arm didn't want to fall right back into place on the frame. Here is my process.
16) Get a buddy you trust to operate the floor jack on the front dif while you put the bracket into place on the frame. You don't want some idiot dropping the truck on you. :thumbdwn:
17) Raise the truck off the jack stands and remove. Slowly!!!!! have your friend and/or trusted relative lower the truck back down until the bracket lines back up with the holes in the frame.
18) Put the jack stands back in to hold it in place.
19) Start the two side bolts to hold it loosely in place.
20) Then loosely put in the rest of the bolts so the bracket isn't going to fall out but is still loose.
At this point I found the radius arm was in place but not far enough back to put on the bushing washer and nut. Here was my crazy idea:
21) Jack the truck off the jack stands and remove them. Your Radius arm is still in the right place but too far forward to get the nut on.
22) Get the wheel off the ground and put a piece of 2" angle iron under the front half of the front tire. Have your buddy SLOWLY lower the truck down onto the angle iron.
Because the truck is in park with the parking brake on and the rear wheels are chocked the front tire will roll down the angle and force the front axle rearwards. This pushed my Radius arm right into place. I was able to start the nut on the rear. Jack the truck back up and put the jack stands back and started to bolt everything back up.
23) I started with the bolts that where rivets first since the rest of the holes had slots either in the frame or RA bracket. This would align the bracket where it needed to be.
24) Then I did the 4 bolts in the center.
25) Then the two bolts above the Radius Arm
26) Then I did the RA nut.
27) Finally I torqued every thing down.
28) I used 85 ftlbs on the RA nut, and butt-pucker tight on everything else that I couldn't get my torque wrench onto.
Note: all of the new hardware provided with the Moog RA brackets use Lock Nuts.
I only did one side so far because I was pressed for time and my passenger side RA Bracket isn't cracked. My old bushings came out in decent shape too.
Numbers should go with steps above:
My Radius Arm Placement tool:
The one side alone took about 5 hours including:
Cleaning the garage, moving the truck in, Removing the old bracket, Eating Dinner, putting the new bracket into place, Dessert (mmm, pie), Torquing everything down, cleaning up, taking a 20 min test drive and inspecting for any loose hardware.
The truck rides a little firmer and hard braking is much more solid and straight.
