Have a question on this Radius Arm Bushing

[big91explorer]

Use a punch and a hammer and hammer the rest of the rivet out of the hole.

Ya, well I will keep hammering away, haha. 'cause that's what I was doing.

 

[MichiganLarry]

Air tools are a god send for this kind of work. I am in the middle of a 4wd conversion and have ground and air hammered out a LOT of rivets in the last few days!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My plan of attack is the torch the heads off of the rivots, then air hammer out the remainder.

Ford probably rivoted them because there was no chance of them coming loose and given that it is located right behind the tire the removal procedure will be similar for a rusted to heck bolt as it would be a rivot.

 

[Ranger#1]

Use a punch and a hammer and hammer the rest of the rivet out of the hole.

that makes more sence

 

[Downey]

I did this back in march. it took me and a buddy 4 hours to change them out with a lift. we used a torch and air chisel to get the rivet heads off. The worst part i think was getting the damn bracket to line back up

 

[BlackBII]

I've always just used a grinder to get the head off, then punched it out with a punch and a hammer. Didn't take more than two hours to do all of 'em on the last truck I put I lift on...cake.

 

[wavector]

I'm getting ready to do this on my 1994 4.0L 4WD and need any and all help so that I don't make a mistake. I'm thinking about going the route of removing the bracket as it looks like someone has done this before on this truck; the rivets are replaced with bolts and nuts (I haven't investigated it that much, so I assume they used lock-washers with nuts or locking nuts). Passenger front side bushing is gone completely which is why I discovered the problem. Driver's side is crack and about gone, so I'm changing both sides in the front and will be checking the rear too. I just bought the truck and it didn't make a noise during the test drive. It wasn't until I pulled up on uneven ground and came to a stop that the clunk sound got my attention. It's cool though, cause I got a very, very good deal on the truck. The engine is strong and it's loaded with every option including on the fly 4WD. Slight hesitation in the transmission from dead stop to first. I'm almost certain this is due to neglect, but I'm planning on that one. So, far the truck seems pretty solid.

 

[dhinch279]

I am in the middle of doing this and ball joint replacements(and wheel bearings and everything else that I see needs replaced). I have been taking pictures and will be sure to post up the info when done. Have you gotten any further. My truck is a 94 4wd, same as yours.

 

[TheDangerRanger91]

Ok just to be clear on this all who are asking questions about the radius arm bushing replacement, you DO NOT have to remove or cut any of the rivets or bolts, if you know someone with a come-a-long just hook it to the side of the ttb that needs the replacement bushing and anchor the other side to something stable and that wont move. then remove the bolt on the radius arm and ratchet the come-a-long and changer the bushings and then just slowly reverse ratchet the radius arm back into the bracket and put the outer bushings back on and your done. simple as that.



And for those asking how you know if the bushings are bad or not when you get under and look at them if its easy to push them with your finger than its bad or if its ripped or split its bad and needs to be replaced.
also if the bushings have been bad for a while you will probably need to replace the radius arm bracket or weld two plates on either side and drill a hole the equivalent size of the one originally there and youll be fine with that.


Oh and the guy that said you can put grade 5 bolts in the radius arm bracket, dude your trying to get yourself killed because thats a high tension area you need grade 8 or case hardened bolts not anything less.

 

[aspevacek]

Ok just to be clear on this all who are asking questions about the radius arm bushing replacement, you DO NOT have to remove or cut any of the rivets or bolts, if you know someone with a come-a-long just hook it to the side of the ttb that needs the replacement bushing and anchor the other side to something stable and that wont move. then remove the bolt on the radius arm and ratchet the come-a-long and changer the bushings and then just slowly reverse ratchet the radius arm back into the bracket and put the outer bushings back on and your done. simple as that.



And for those asking how you know if the bushings are bad or not when you get under and look at them if its easy to push them with your finger than its bad or if its ripped or split its bad and needs to be replaced.
also if the bushings have been bad for a while you will probably need to replace the radius arm bracket or weld two plates on either side and drill a hole the equivalent size of the one originally there and youll be fine with that.


Oh and the guy that said you can put grade 5 bolts in the radius arm bracket, dude your trying to get yourself killed because thats a high tension area you need grade 8 or case hardened bolts not anything less.

Actually a quality grade 5 bolt is plenty strong enough for the application. you want to have sheer points when settign anything up. The sheer points are there as a saftey measure.

Grade 5 = 120,000 ksi tensil strength
Grade 8 = 150,000 ksi tensil strength

I will also add my JD kit that is currently installed on my truck is installed using the supplied Grade 5 bolts. As long as they are installed and torqued properly a grade 5 is more then strong enough for this application.

Now the axel pivot brackets are installed with Grade 8 as that is what was used when I did my sky jacker kit back in the 90's. With the number of fasteners holding the brackets to the frame I would say a grade 8 may be over kill for the application.

 

[cvar]

There's a few photos of the process here: http://imgur.com/a/BkzJc

 

[An Audio Guru]

Got 2 inches play in radius arm after a pot hole...rainy. Can shake the whole front back n forth w one hand. I think I got the gist of this so my only question is how bad is alignment after a on like this? Any more suggestions since last post on the 7th. By the way good write up cvar. Thanks!!!

 

[An Audio Guru]

OK got the radius arm bushings replaced. Ya'll are right that this a PITA!! Took some pictures. The cum-along was only $30 and I thought it was more $$.

 

[An Audio Guru]

Then I went to the annual New Years Day Mud Bog sponsored by Rough Country in Dallas, GA

 

[coopab]

torch?

Torch is the only way to go for removing rivet heads

It'll work but I'm always skeptical about using a torch near frame or frame components. DOT doesn't like that since excess heat can weaken the frame.