How to: Ford Explorer - Ranger Radius Arm Bushing Repair

[92exp4x4]

I found it irritating that ford did so. I mean Red Locktite?

One word - Liability

Thats the only reason, and it sucks for us do-it-yourselfers.

 

[mechjames]

Thanks for the photo writeup! I'm going to be attacking this next month, I already picked up the more expensive Moog Thermoplastic bushings. It's just been sitting in my garage a couple months.

 

[atxexplorer94]

Forget removing rivets,first I put the car on jackstands and removed front wheels,disconnected the radius arm,l-beam,and sway bar and put some muscle in it to get the arm out and had my bro slip the new bushings on,took like 15 minutes per side.

 

[willisan]

I used the pull the radius arm forward method on my son's 93 Navajo - I needed a come-along to pull the arm far enough forward to clear the radius arm bracket. I didn't need a lot of pulling power, but a steady strain, as I was working alone. Once I figured out how to rig it, the job went smoothly. Those rivets looked pretty intimidating to drill. Hopefully my replacement bushing will last the remaining life of the truck!

Did you have to disconnect anything else or were you just able to pull it forward?

Found the answer...

1) remove the bolts from the anti sway bar
2) remove the nut from the shock
3) remove the wheel and jack up the front end and let it hang with full droop (use jack stands under the frame)
4) remove the radius nut

 

[Drednaut]

just had to do my pass side bushing today but i didnt have to remove anything accept the bracket, all i did was grind the rivets and pulled it off and replaced the rivets with the grade 8's was fairly easy to do just time consumeing

 

[jake122288]

now that i've done the research im ready to tackle this job? is there a certian brand i should go with? does anyone know a place i can get well built ra bushings at a somewhat cheap price... i can get the moog ones from oreillys for like 45 but im checking my options. thanks in advance

 

[Iron Weasel]

Rockauto has a full set of Moog's (bushings for driver & passenger side) for $35 and I can probably dig up a 5% off coupon code somewhere.

Autozone has the bushings for around $20 per side, but they're just some generic rubber bushings. Moog might be a little pricey, but you'll get what you pay for either way you go.

 

[jake122288]

getting them tyhrew rock auto with a 5% discount would still put them at the same price after shipping. well i'll probably end up getting them from oreillys because its a local place i can pick up the parts. but im also browsing other websites to try and catch a deal!

 

[willisan]

FYI i got a cheap bushing set (one side) for 13 dollars from pepboys. It's obviously not the quality of Moog, but they are working well.

 

[eblightning]

Back in my younger years, I worked as a Ford tech. MFG did not recommend drilling the rivets. Thus, we were not permitted to do the grind and drill method. It is actually quite easy to do the pull method. Disconnect the shock, disconnect sway bar, and loosen the coils spring retaining bolt. You do not have remove all of the way. Simply loosen enough until you can spin the spring and remove from the coil bucket leaving the lower end attached. Loosen the radius arm nut, use a big pry bar to move the arm forward and using down pressure to 'drop' the arm out of the bracket. Replace the bushings and use pry bar to lift up, back, and then in and reassemble. If you are not experienced or are uncomfortable with the pry bar, use a come along to pull the axle forward. Hope this helps. Once you get the hang of it, 15-20 minutes a side.

 

[jake122288]

Back in my younger years, I worked as a Ford tech. MFG did not recommend drilling the rivets. Thus, we were not permitted to do the grind and drill method. It is actually quite easy to do the pull method. Disconnect the shock, disconnect sway bar, and loosen the coils spring retaining bolt. You do not have remove all of the way. Simply loosen enough until you can spin the spring and remove from the coil bucket leaving the lower end attached. Loosen the radius arm nut, use a big pry bar to move the arm forward and using down pressure to 'drop' the arm out of the bracket. Replace the bushings and use pry bar to lift up, back, and then in and reassemble. If you are not experienced or are uncomfortable with the pry bar, use a come along to pull the axle forward. Hope this helps. Once you get the hang of it, 15-20 minutes a side.

my question is why is it not recommended to do the cut/drill method? what if u turn around and gotta replace the bracket its the only option if u have to replace the bracket (unless by chance u have the option of new rivits which i do not) i just dont see why bolts instead of rivits would matter as long as u get the good strong grade 8 bolts?

 

[eblightning]

That is a good question. You are correct in that if the bracket needs replacement, bolts would be necessary. I would think that Ford's position was related to liability as bolts could potentially loosen up whereas the rivets could not. We were simply following the directive of the mfg which forced us to find a way in which to quickly replace the bushings without grinding off the rivets. Fortunately, the method I described was much quicker and less labor intensive than grinding off the rivets. With practice, you could have the bushings replaced in the time it would have taken to grind and drill out the rivets.

 

[jake122288]

That is a good question. You are correct in that if the bracket needs replacement, bolts would be necessary. I would think that Ford's position was related to liability as bolts could potentially loosen up whereas the rivets could not. We were simply following the directive of the mfg which forced us to find a way in which to quickly replace the bushings without grinding off the rivets. Fortunately, the method I described was much quicker and less labor intensive than grinding off the rivets. With practice, you could have the bushings replaced in the time it would have taken to grind and drill out the rivets.

yea that is a good point...imho tho i think the rivets are just a PITA! either way i think im going to grind out the rivets anyway...and save me the hassel later lol

 

[huntman58]

I did mine some years back and I do not remember removing any thing but the bracket it's self. I ground off the rivets then knocked them threw changed the bushings and then replaced the rivets with grade 8 bolts. The longest and hardest part was laying on the ground grinding but it still did not seam to take long and I had no help doing it also.

 

[mechjames]

Here is what my passengers side looked like. I didn't take a look at the drivers side because it was pretty decent, but I still changed it:

And here is the new drivers side Moog Thermoplastic:

All i did was grind the rivets, had axle stands on the frame, and unbolted the brackets, one side at a time. Only took a couple of hours total.

 

[gwjorg]

87 Ford Bronco II Service shop manual says to 1) loosen axle pivot bolt. 2)Loosen upper shock absorber pivot bolt and compress shock. 3)Remove nut & washer attaching the radius arm to radius bracket. 4) remove outer insulator and spacer. 5)Move radius arm and axle assembly forward out of the radius arm bracket.

 

[backfrmcolorado]

I f**king hate those damn radius arms and bushing. i recently just replaced bushings and the brackets. Royale pain in the ass when itts not done on a lift. In 60,000 miles ive gone thru 3 sets of bushings and for some reason the bolts on the radius arms keep losening. Very good post tho..wish i had seen this befor i tore my front end apart the hard way.

 

[gwjorg]

I just finished the right radius arm side yesterday. I had to removed the right shock top nut to allow the right axle to drop below the left axle pivot bracket as I pulled the right axle forward with come along. I also had to remove the sway bar U bracket to allow right spring/sway bar end clearance. The Right radius arm came out with outward and downward preasure. I borrowed another hydraulic jack and come along to correctly position the radius arm bolt in front of the bracket. I then used a comealong from the front axle to a rear bracket to pull right front axle / radius arm back into position.

 

[Carguy3J]

So, I'm wondering what happens to the end of the radius arm, if you remove the bracket/nut, with the full weight of the vehicle still on the suspension? In other words, it's much easier to jack up, support the vehicle on jackstands on the front pumpkin/beams, rather then finding somewhere on the frame. Doing this, will the end of the radius arm want to rotate up/down, move forward/backwards, or not move?

 

[Robert Nick]

I just replaced mine with Moog Parts. They were beat up pretty bad. This fixed all my unusual underbody noises.