which of these bushings do i want

[mysticclam]

looking for adjustable radius arm bushings to fix a caster problem. Rock auto has these which do i need and do they completely replace the stock ones? (stock replacements seem to have alot more parts so i thought it might replace only part) If so Ill get new stock ones to as mine have miles on them I am sure.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1119608,parttype,10211

Looks like the spicer ones are adjustable, dont know the difference between the short and the standard ones. Anyone know?

 

[mercious]

you live in WA goto a les schwab and to a bushing alignment and they'll put cams in there to fix your problem. installed, parts and alignment is around 200$ probably less than that

 

[mysticclam]

Ive got the largest bushings available to fix the camber, there is no adjustment left for caster so I need the adjustable radius arm bushings. I know it should be alignable with just the bushings with just 2 inches of lift but its not. It had oversided bushing at stock hight. I believe it was wrecked when new and isnt quite right. My folks bought it in 93 (its a 91) and both the front and rear diff had those marks junkyards put on parts on them, it had oversized bushings for the ball joints, and the radius arm brackets have already had the rivets replaced with bolts as if they were removed for something. My folks didnt have any of that done and cant think what else could create a need for all that to be worked on so early in a trucks life before it was 2 years old besides a wreck.

PS, the two Les Schwabs around here wouldnt install the oversided bushings, I did that myself and neither of them could get it aligned any better than it is right now.

 

[mercious]

is the camber off on it at all? usually caster affects the freeway speeds unless its WAY off. i dunno about the les schwabs there but the one here in woodland i work at usually does what it takes. oh well

 

[wolfnutts]

while i dont claim to be an expert i replaced my bushing an had those adj ones on their all shops i talked to say they are useless . what problems are u having other than alignment ?? if its not bad steering wise id forget it if u thk ur trk has been wreaked before start at a frame shop an have them look it over or maybe pkup a front axle from bone yard an start with freash parts bearings tie rod ends ???

 

[mysticclam]

Its not really worth taking it to a frame shop I dont think, its a pretty old truck. The rear diff is currently destroyed because the person who put the gears in for me did it badly and the ring gear bolts stripped out did some damage. It just might not be worth fixing

It drove perfectly fine stock but it had a 1 degree bushing on one side and a 1.5 degree on the other. Now it has a 2.75 on each side. Camber isnt the same for each wheel but they are both in spec and pretty close to each other. I think the difference in the two original bushings was to fix a caster problem.

Right now it pulls pretty hard by the time you get to 60mph and its into the realm of unsafe as you are always fighting it. The thing is it pulls about 90% of the time and will suddenly stop and you go diving the direction oposite of the pull. Ive had the drag link, tie rods, ball joints and wheel bearings checked and they are fine. I think it just might happen when you hit a bump, also the freeway I drive all the time has tire ruts in it and If I drive completely out of them it pulls 100 percent of the time so I think the mud tires with the side tread might be climbing out of the ruts making it seem like its not pulling sometimes.

My other thought is to install a drop bracket for the axle from JC whitney that has camber adjusters built into it so the stock balljoint bushing adjusters could be used for the caster. Probably by putting the 1 and 1.5 degree ones back in.

 

[whitetrash96]

I would stay away from the adjustable radius arm bushings if you do any offroading with your rig. I had a shop install them on my old ranger and they didn't even survive the first trip out. Your stock bushings are rubber and will absorb impact where these are a type of plastic so they just crack when you hit logs and such. I would take your truck to another shop and see if they can do any better. If they can't get it to stop pulling I think you might have to live with it, it is no longer stock and you are running off road tires which suck on road.

Whats this drop bracket from JCWhitney you speak of?

 

[mysticclam]

JC whitney has a 2 inch axle drop bracket, I dont know who makes the part but it has a cam bolt in it that will adjust camber. I figure with those I could use the old camber bushing adjusters for caster.

Here is a link.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...0355758/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:10000018960310355758

 

[whitetrash96]

I've never seen or heard of those before. They look like they would physically work but without talking to people who have used them before I wouldn't trust that they would hold up to offroading abuse. $200 isn't cheap if you're not impressed with them when you get them, I'd do a bunch of searches on other sites like therangerstation or bii.org or others and see if anyone has used them or heard how they work. Good luck.

 

[ironbandit]

Bushing replacement

I've already overhauled the rear end of my '92 XLT, I got a Prothane polyeurathane bushing set from either Performance Products or JCWhitney. The rear leaf is now damped with poly at both ends, and both sway bars are clad at all 6 pivots on each. Oh yeh, I also welded gussets into the bushing brackets that bolt to the frame.

Replacing the radius arm and axle pivot bushings is what got me started on retrofitting my '92 with front ABS from a '94 I found in a boneyard a while back.

I can tell you that the rear is way more solid than it ever was prior, and the front really needs the new bushings, along with U and Ball, Tierods, etc.

I got a forum started over in the Newbie section, but got transferred over here somewhere. It was called the '92 XLT retrofit with '94 ABS. At this point, I'm still gathering parts for the retrofit, but the front end rebuild is likely to happen in the next 2 weeks - I'm looking for the Front ABS Sensor Guards and new Dust Shields/Backing Plates. Also replacing the front axle bearings and seal in the spindles.

JCWhitless has the PROTHANE set there for $200, 30 pieces in the kit @
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/...0204263/Pr-p_CATENTRY_ID:10000022258010204263

or do a part number search there for item #ZX816171N