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Radius Arm Bushing Replacement

99EB4x4

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April 20, 2002
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City, State
Jacksonville, NC
Year, Model & Trim Level
1992 EB 4x4
Has anyone replaced their Radius Arm bushings before?
I think it seems pretty straigt forward but thats what you always think until you start working! Can anyone give me some tips or advice on this?:hammer:
 



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Replacing the bushings can be a simple job, or one of the most unnerving experiences of your life. Having the proper tools is the deciding factor.
Here is a list of the minimum tools needed to complete the job (if you don't have these tools, or can't get access to them, I wouldn't recomend attempting the job)

Solid, level work aera.
Floor jack and minimum of 2 jack stands.
Grinder and a lot of grinding wheels (or my preference a cutting torch)
Wrench that will fit nut on radius arm
Hammer and Punch
Pry bar
13mm wrench

What you need to do first is remove the heads of the rivits that hold the brackets to the frame, then you need to knock out the remainder of the rivit. Once all the rivits are removed you'll need to remove the bolts that are still holding the bracket to the frame. Next remove the large nuts on the end of the radius arms, then the bushings and crossmember. Install new bushings and reverse removal steps. You will need to replace all the rivits you removed with bolts, tighten everything up and all thats left is to get it realigned.
 






:chug: Hey MRBOYLE thanks for the help, I had no idea about the rivits. Any idea what size the replacement bolts have to be?
 






I can't remember, 3/8" or 7/16" (I think). You don't need to worry about using grade 8 bolts, grade 5 are plenty strong enough. I do recomend using ny-lock nuts as opposed to lock washers though.
 






eh

Well, I actually just got done doing this myself awhile ago, and its a fairly straightforward job with a good 28mm 6pt socket (you'll need a deep size and regular size) and a good flex handle. I took the "normal" route and popped out my front springs, shoved the TTB forward to get the radius arm out from the crossmember to remove and replace the bushing, and reverse to finish the job. I actually completely disassembled the entire suspension for my own purposes, but the RA bushings were part of the job.

IMHO, grinding out the rivets and going through all that just to replace bushings is alot of extra trouble. I also think its a hassle with the close quarters created by the exhaust system on the right side and the fuel filter and fuel lines on the left.
 






Yank the coils, pull the sway bar off and take the radius nut off and pull that sucker out of there! Or you can grind them off.... :D

Here is me doing that on TwoToneX's truck.

P5040133.JPG
 






But we did the rivets on mine while installing a lift. Would you have to grind out the rivets if you were keeping the existing brackets and just replacing the bushings? I would think you could keep the existing bracket on there...
 






Your bushings had been replaced once before. All you do is drop the springs, shocks, and anti-sway bar out and you should be able to pull the axle forwars enough to get the old ones out and the new ones in. :)
 






rpenner54, you're pretty brave to be only wearing safety glasses and a t-shirt while grinding those rivets. I used safety glasses for the first rivet and by the time I was done that I had burnt my face, ears, hair and wrists from the all the sparks. I put on a full face shield and wrapped myself in shop towels to keep the sparks off for the remaining three. :D
 






They aren't that bad, just sting a little when they hit you. It only sucked to get one in your ear (which did happen to Ryan) and I got one in my eye. It got caught in my eye lash though, so I was good. My arm burned for a little while, but after that, it wasn't too bad...
 






So where are the pictures of the finished product? I wanna see......
 






Originally posted by ajevenson
rpenner54, you're pretty brave to be only wearing safety glasses and a t-shirt while grinding those rivets. I used safety glasses for the first rivet and by the time I was done that I had burnt my face, ears, hair and wrists from the all the sparks. I put on a full face shield and wrapped myself in shop towels to keep the sparks off for the remaining three. :D

LOL Oh its really no big deal now... You get all kinds of cool red spots all over your arms after a while of doing that. You get used to it. The one in the ear did sting quite a bit though LOL.... I have saftey glasses, plus my regular glasses on too... :D Some of the other folks that were there whined a bit about the sparks and had to put stuff on their arms. It just doesn't bother me that much I guess. Now when I slamed my hand between the hammer and the wrench that hurt like a mutha fawker! Still hurts now! LOL

Trckmagik So where are the pictures of the finished product? I wanna see......

http://bart.is-s.com/~explorers/madams/dotyslift/
 






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