Right Radius Arm or Bushings????

[riverposie]

I just got my explorer back from the Ford garage..It failed Pa. inspectiom because they told me I needed a right radius arm or bushings. Now what is it? why did they say OR? How difficult is this to do myself and what parts do i ask for? I checked with Auto Zone and they dont have a part by that name listed...The Ford garage also said i needed Left front and lower ball joints...can i put these in myself? Do i need special tools for any of these and if so, what? The ford garage gave me a price of $900.00 for the work..I think this could be a rip off..What should it cost for all this if i do it myself? .i have a friend who is a motor head and he believs he can do this job in one day in his home garage but he has never done one on an explorer...please give me some advice on all of this, i need the car and i am on a very fixed income,,thanks Bob

 

[MrShorty]

Ball joints can be easy or hard, depending on how badly the spindle and ball joints are seized/rusted into the knuckle. Chilton's/Hayne's are mostly adequate in describing this procedure, including tools required.
FYI, autozone will usually call it a "control arm bushing" rather than a radius arm bushing. Usually just the bushing is bad, but if it's been bad long enough, the metal to metal contact between the radius arm and the radius arm bracket can erode them away until one or both needs to be replaced. You'll need to get the bushing off to determine how bad of shape it's all in. A few different approaches. By the book, you'll remove the radius arm to get at the bushing. Others grind off the rivets that hold the radius arm bracket on and get at the bushing that way. Others loosing the axle pivot bolt and pull the beam forward with a come along.

 

[riverposie]

Thanks so much for the info..Do you think it will cost me near $900.00 to do the work as quoted from the ford garage?

 

[MrShorty]

At a dealership, $900 is probably about right. Figure $200 for parts which leaves $700 for labor (7 hours at $100/hour or whatever).
Go to an idependent shop and use aftermarket parts and you could conceivably get your parts down to $150 then 7 hours at $60/hour puts you in the $600 range. You would have to call around and see what other shops actually quote you. Just remember that when you pay someone to do the work for you, the bulk of the cost is usually labor. These guys have themselves and sometimes families to feed. If you have someone do it for you, you have to be willing to pay for their time. I would suggest getting a quote that breaks down the repair into parts and labor so you can see where your money would be going. Then you can decide if it's worth a few hundred dollars to let someone else do the work, or keep the money and "pay" your time to do it yourself.

 

[riverposie]

WOW? I am really thankful that I joined this..You have been so much help....I am retired and on a very fixed income and really thought i would have to drive it without being inspected for a very long time, but i believe after reading you're advice, I may only ahve to drive without inspection for a month or so..Thanks, Bob

 

[RangerX]

Just wondering, how do ball joints and radius arms factor into a state inspection? What all do they test and check?

Here in CA, they only worry about emissions. When I lived in Mass, they checked lights, tires, glass and brakes, I think.

 

[Robb]

In Va, we have "safety" inspections, yet no emmisions testing in most counties. Any worn out steering or suspension component can lead to inspection failure. It is just a safety thing.

 

[riverposie]

pa. inspection

in pa. they literally go over the whole car...all front end parts must be fine, tires are measured with a guage...entire exhaust system must be in perfect order....no holes...all lights must work,all brakes are put on a guage for specified tolorance, all brake hoses are checked, there cannot be any body rot, wiper blades cannot be worn or cracked, windshield cannot be cracked,or clouded, and the list goes on.....

 

[RangerX]

Wow, no junkers on the road there, huh.

 

[DHB]

radius arm bushing

i went to pepboys and got some for 10 dollars a side. pretty easy to put in. Haynes manual was a big help

 

[riverposie]

it didnt seem easy from what i have been reading..it said i needed special tools from the manufacture and it took over 6 hours oh hard work....how can that be easy? thanks Bob

 

[MrShorty]

I don't know what you've been reading, but, even by the book, I don't recall no "specialty" tools are needed to remove the radius arm. Double check what you are reading. And if you try one of the alternative techniques I suggested above, it's really not difficult, because you get around completely removing the radius arm from the suspension. A little time consuming but not really too bad.

 

[Brandon1993Sport]

Here this link should help you with the radius arm bushings. I really doubt you need a new arm, just the bushing. Also you should probably do both sides at the same time because you'll need to get an allignment after doing it so do both now so you don't need to do another allignment later for the other bushing. Also get a heat shield for the passenger side bushing if it's not on there already, the reason the passenger side bushing goes out so fast is because of the heat from the exhaust system, the shield fits over the rear part of the bushing and helps prolong the life of it. You'll need a very large socket or wrench for this btw, 1 1/8 or so I think, not positive on that.
Dead Link Removed

As for the ball joints, you can get a ball joint press tool at autozone as a loaner for free, you get your deposit back when you are done with the tool. It's a pain to do this job, the caliper, hub assembly/rotor and spindle all have to come off. If you can find some ball joints with grease fittings on them (Moog brand) you can grease them periodically and they'll last longer than the rest of the truck will. As far as I know, both ball joints run about $60 total and the radius arm bushing is under 30 for sure if you just want to do one side. Then of course an allignment for around 40. It'll take you a ton of time but you'll save a sh#@load of money doing it yourself.

And buy a Haynes or Chilton repair manual for 13 bucks, it pays for itself in half an hour. Good luck

 

[Infragate]

Depending on how far you want to go, and what kind of tools etc you have available to you. I would recommend just ripping both beams right off the front of the truck! Now hold on hear me out. With the beams (TTB or front axles) off of the truck, you can now do your axle pivot bushings as well. Just keep in mind, they are pressed in. But you can work them out with a pneumatic hammer, just look up the procedure on this site. Along with that you can check all your other bushings, bearings, seals and u-joints etc for wear or failure. If you plan to do your balljoints as well just follow the hanes manual, it is right on the money. The balljoints are actually pretty easy to do if you have the right tools. Make sure you have the balljoint removal/installation tool cause it will make life a lot easier trust me. Then before you put the beams back in the truck, put the radius arm bushings on the end of each arm and put the beams in the truck and reassemble. Just devote a couple days to the project because it will be a bit time consuming but once its done and you get a wheel alignment, the truck will ride like new. I did the rebuild and am very happy i did. oh yeah, get a torque wrench if you don't have one cause it will come in handy. And 1 more thing, when i put my radius arm bushings on i doubled up the amount of washers that go on before the bushings to take up the gap between the bushing and the bracket. Doing so really helped make the front end alittle more stable. Depending on what yours look like now, you may want to do the same.