Radius arm bushing replacemant.

[Nuggethead 420]

I need any advice and pics of a replacement of radius arm bushings on a 91. Any body got any help before the weekend.

I have heard of 2 ways to do it but want to know what "the peeps" have to say about it.

Thanks, as always I know you will all come through, probably.....Opera house.

This Site Rocks!!!!

 

[CodePoet]

Seems like most people here agree that grinding out the rivits that hold the mounts on the frame and replacing them with bolts (I'm not sure what grade). This is what i'm going to do this spring, in addition to a butt load of other things I want to do. Where did you get your RA bushing?

Good Luck
CP

 

[Nuggethead 420]

Napa I bought the ±2° bushings.
Grinding or drilling out the rivets seems to be the easiest method.

Thanks for the help.

 

[engera]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80953

I followed the procedure listed in the attached post when I did mine and it went pretty well. If you do a search on "Radius arm bushings" there is a lot more information too.

 

[Nuggethead 420]

Where did you get the f150 spacers and how easy and what did you need to put them on??

 

[CodePoet]

You can get the spacers from FPN
I got mine from a junk yard, i pulled them myself in 110 degree heat on "gravel" that was as big as rip raf...not fun, or the intense nausea that followed. Anyway they were pretty easy to put on..you just need a breker bar and a bunch of extensions to get to the retaining nut. Pretty easy and there are tons of threads around describing the procedure.

Good Luck!
CP

p.s. If you order them from fpn then you'll want to look for/ask for a set of "lower spring seats" from a 1995ish F150 2 wheel drive.

 

[Nuggethead 420]

Success!!!

I did my radius arm bushings this weekend and it took about 3 hour total.

Ground out the rivet heads and replaced with grade 8 bolts. one was completly gone and wore a slightly egg shaped hole in the bracket. on the passenger side. drives real nice now no more clunk.

took the 2° bushing back and got the exact replacment bushings.


No Pressure No porblem!!

 

[dougintahoe]

what tool to gt radius arm nut to come off ?

I am having a real time getting a grip on that radius arm nut. any suggestions are appreciated. wrench ? socket ? waht size ? I have searched a lot of these threads but that is one thing a lot of people do not mention.

thanks,

D in T

 

[jasonscottw]

radius arm bracket

hey nuggethead-

i also have an egg shaped hole (with some cracks) on the bracket that the radius arms attach to- do you know where to purchase a new bracket other than the dealer?

thanks

 

[Bashman]

I am having a real time getting a grip on that radius arm nut. any suggestions are appreciated. wrench ? socket ? waht size ? I have searched a lot of these threads but that is one thing a lot of people do not mention.

thanks,

D in T

First of all, I am assuming your problem is straightened out by now.
When I did mine I found on the driver's side I used my 1 1/8" wrench but on the passenger side (baked by the exhaust and salt induced rust) I had to use a 3/4" drive impact gun with socket to get it. For us Canadian folks there is a metric equivelent but I can't remember what it is.

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

on the pass. side when i had to removed the axle housing (cause i bent it) to put on a different one from this parts explorer i bought, i just soaked it with PB blaster and then applied some heat and some body weight and got it loosened, thank god i only had to loosen one side,

and that was a ***** getting everything to line up right when putting it back together

 

[DeRocha]

It is exactly 28mm 6pt deep. This size fits without any slop, 1 1/8th is close but is a little sloppy. Unfortunately this size is rare and you may have a hard time finding one. I ordered an impact version from S&K. This size is used on the radius arm upper and lower bolts, as well as the radius arm nut.

Note: You should get a std propane torch and heat these nuts to 500 deg F (2-3 min / bolt). The purpose is to remove the permanent (RED) loctite that was used to install them. If you don't you will need to use tremendouse force to remove the nut and possibly ruin it in the process...

 

[Rhett]

what is S&K

It is exactly 28mm 6pt deep. This size fits without any slop, 1 1/8th is close but is a little sloppy. Unfortunately this size is rare and you may have a hard time finding one. I ordered an impact version from S&K.

What is "S&K"? I found:
http://www.skmenswear.com/skmenswear/0010_index.asp

But some how I don't think S&K Menswear carries a 28mm 6pt deep socket...

 

[DeRocha]

Sorry about that... The company name is SK (but with a dot in the middle). Anyway here is their web site.. SK Tools

 

[Opera House]

From the lunatic fringe of the Explorer forum. There is a third way to do the RA bushings. If you unbolt the anti sway bar at the frame, the radius arm can easily be pulled foward almos an inch. The old forward bushing can be cut off and a new poly bushing that is cut to the center can be pryed on. I had big chunks of the bracket missing and the poly bushings are tough enough to keep the arm in place. I have 70K on mine since doing this with no problems.

 

[Rhett]

Sorry about that... The company name is SK (but with a dot in the middle). Anyway here is their web site.. SK Tools

Ah SK Tools. Thank you. I've always used a 1 1/8" deep socket for the RA nut and I am aware of the slop you referred to when using that size. I just ordered some Energy Suspension black poly RAB's and want the proper size socket this time...