IFS Heavy Duty Upgrades!

[mounty71]

Camburg

 

[Greg_DonWindsor]

Wow, funny that this Raybestos LCA issues was brought up, I installed a set a few months ago, and was standing back from the truck the other day, and thought to myself "hmmm, the front end seems to be sitting lower than I remember...". I also noticed a kind of "clunk" sound when going over sharp bumps, even on the highway, and also experienced the problem of rubbing on my inner fender wall. I'm guessing the diameter of the hex must be the issue. AHodges, do you have the part #'s for the new stiffer Ranger FX4 torsion bars that you installed? I too am thinking about reverting to stock Ford LCA's, and will do both torsion bars at the same time just to completely renew the front end. Thanks for any help in this!

 

[ahodges]

I don't have those wrote down anywhere that I can find. If you are getting a new set just ask for them off of a FX4 and they will be correct. I want to say are #1 bars. There are other threads on here that talk about which to get.

 

[mounty71]

Also the torsion bars off of a 4x4 Sport Trac are #1, that's where mine came from.

 

[Rich91]

i happen to miss the post about the LCAs problems and purchased a set and now im going through the same mess. 0.:thumbdwn: What would be the best replacement complete LCAs , im looking for something beefy since im running bigger tires and suspension lift. was thinking Moog. how have the motocraft ones held up ?

 

[ahodges]

The only LCA's I know of that will retain the stock ride height characteristics and hold up are the Motorcraft's. If your stock LCA's are still around and don't have anything wrong with them I would recommend keeping them and replacing the lower ball joint with a HD Moog or similar. The Motorcraft ball joints are holding up fine.

 

[gavin]

The only LCA's I know of that will retain the stock ride height characteristics and hold up are the Motorcraft's. If your stock LCA's are still around and don't have anything wrong with them I would recommend keeping them and replacing the lower ball joint with a HD Moog or similar. The Motorcraft ball joints are holding up fine.

the Moog LCAs are fine, too.
I've had Moog, replacement Motorcraft, and the HD Raybestos parts without any issues.

I'd be more interested as to where everybody's been buying their Raybestos HD LCAs from. Wonder if they all somehow came out of the same bad batch, or if Raybestos just has that horrible of QC?

I got mine from a local shop that had to order them from their distributor. Decided to help out a local shop since the price wasn't much different from Rockauto or Amazon.

 

[Rich91]

I wanted to go with a complete control arm because my bushings were shot and i didn't want to fight with them . So i cant find the complete Motocraft control arms was gonna go with MOOG, but has anyone used the moog complete arms?? or where can i get the motocraft ones , i really don't want to run in the same problem as last time.



Edit- turns out i have Mevotech lower control arms , and Ray upper , i got them mixed up . but my torsion bar still doesnt fit perfect in the Hex of the arm. It is slightly off. Should i still look into replacing them?

 

[Rich91]

Pass side

less blurry dri side

I, personally, would be comfortable saying that's about what it looked like with the original bars and OEM LCAs.
But these are the Raybestos LCAs.

And I cannot see that tiny amount causing a ride height drop of over an inch.

mine look the same as yours actually , so maybe the control arms arnt the problem?

 

[ahodges]

If that's all the worse yours are then you don't have a problem with the hex. Look back at the pictures I posted and you should be able to tell right away if yours are bad or not. What problem are you having? Extremely low ride height?

 

[Rich91]

If that's all the worse yours are then you don't have a problem with the hex. Look back at the pictures I posted and you should be able to tell right away if yours are bad or not. What problem are you having? Extremely low ride height?

i would say im and inch to 1.5 lower then i was before i changed my front end parts out. and i put my bars back in the same way i took them out . so i order some 1.5 lift keys to see if i can get my height back . if this doesnt work then im ordering new bars.

 

[ahodges]

Maybe the hex is welded in at a different angle than the stock ones? The slightest difference can make a big difference in ride height. I got my motorcraft ones from the local dealer who cut me a break on them. I want to say I paid $85 - 100 or so each.

 

[gmanpaint]

Installing the new arms can be tricky. If installed with the wheels in the wrong place (droop/compressed) you will get an undesirable outcome.

You need to have the vehicles front wheels sitting where you want them to ride using a floor jack under the front cross member. Then insert the hex head, then install the rear bolt. Snug that bolt up tight then lower the jack slowly. Tighten (or loosen) the bolt to your desired height/lift, and measure the gap between the top of the tire or center of wheel to the bottom lip of the fender directly above. Drive it around the block and remeasure. Adjust the bolt again accordingly.

Good luck!

 

[gavin]

Installing the new arms can be tricky. If installed with the wheels in the wrong place (droop/compressed) you will get an undesirable outcome.

You need to have the vehicles front wheels sitting where you want them to ride using a floor jack under the front cross member. Then insert the hex head, then install the rear bolt. Snug that bolt up tight then lower the jack slowly. Tighten (or loosen) the bolt to your desired height/lift, and measure the gap between the top of the tire or center of wheel to the bottom lip of the fender directly above. Drive it around the block and remeasure. Adjust the bolt again accordingly.

Good luck!

I'm going to have to disagree to an extent.
On the 3 sets of bars I've had, the hex is the same orientation front and rear.
Therefore if it either end was "out of sync," it would be so off you couldn't even get everything back together.

ie, if I remove and rotate the adjuster arm either way, I would not be able to get the adjuster bolt back in because the arm would be rotated way too far up or down.
Of course, same applies if I try and rotate the arm up or down one notch; there would be no easily feasible way to get the arm re-mounted or, if you got the arm bolted back up, the adjuster arm would be at too excessive at an angle to get the adjuster bolt mounted back up.

But, that's from my experience with 3 different sets of bars and numerous sets of arms.

Also the several arms I've had, the hex on the arm itself has been the same orientation on every arm.

 

[gmanpaint]

There has been other members that have installed the t bars with the front wheels at full droop and it came out all wonky. My post was just insure his was not done that way is all.

 

[J_Train]

here's a complete camburg steering setup. I may get this eventually. maybe if I get a second explorer one can be a trail rig with IFS and the other will get the SAS.

http://camburg.com/store/98-12-ranger/ford-ranger-heim-steering-kit/

 

[DriveshaftJoe]

Does anyone know the thread size of the inner tierod ends. Found these and think they could make a great start for a steering upgrade.

http://www.emfrodends.com/EMF-Ball-Sockets-s/1831.htm

greaseable, rebuildable....

 

[99SportX]

I am planning a suspension rebuild with the upgraded raybestos parts. I want to replace the lower control arm bushings by using the assemblies to avoid having to mess with pressing them out. However, I am weary about purchasing these assemblies based on the problems I have read about in this thread due to the sloppy hex in the arm.

Any recommendations? Right now I am leaning toward torching out the stock lca bushings and carefully cutting through the outer sleeves with a hack saw if pressing doesn't work. I am just not sure I want to risk getting a bad set of aftermarket arms.

 

[gmanpaint]

Knowing there have been problems with the raybesto lca, I would try a set of motorcraft replacements if I had to replace them.

 

[ahodges]

I still have the set of raybesto LCA's if you would like them! Cheap, just the price of what the ball joint is worth plus shipping! I bought Motorcraft LCA's and as expected, work great.