On my 73 F100 I'm noticing an increase in the amount of noise coming out of the front end. When you turn the wheel at low speed or go over an area of different elevations a knock is heard. Would worn radius arm bushings cause this?

 

Yes it could. Just have a peek under there and look at them....if they are missing it will surely clunk.

 

they'll clunk before they are missing
if they are cracked replace them. they wear on the top, if they wear to much the holes in the frame mount will start to oval out.

 

Worn out bushing would cause a clunk. Check the frame of the truck as well, check the frame at the steering gear box and under the cab on both sides. Check your cab bushing and the bushing under the radiator support.

 

Even if they are off-center in the bushing, they could be bad. I would get a large screw driver and or pry bar, and start testing everything to see what moves. It is possible it is a loose shock, bad ball joint, etc.

If it is the Radius arm, rather then dropping the I-Beams or unbolting the Radius Arm from the I-Beams to change them take a grinder or die grinder and knock the Rivets out so you can remove just the Mounts on the Frame. Just make sure you replace the Rivets with Grade 8 Fine Thread Bolts. Much easier and faster this way. This will also allow you to remove the cross members should you want to remove the Trans at some time.(Auto)

 

On my 78 the rubber bushing was very worn down on the drivers side and was so bad on the passenger side that a big chunk was missing and metal to metal rub started. After replacing with new rubber bushings and some silicone spray the front end is much more quieter, less harsh road vibration comes into the cab, that infamous 'clunk' is gone, and the lateral movement is greatly reduced when I hit potholes and such. The new bushings are relatively inexpensive and might take about an hour to change out.

 

Another way is to have someone in the truck with it runing hold the brake and put it in rev. and let it back up a little and stop. STAYING on the outside of the truck look to see if there is a gap between the rubber and braket.

 

one other way of checking them is to try and push the wheel forward or backward, if it moves either way (without the truck itself moving) the bushings are shot....if you do like stated above and remove the frame rivots (if it wasnt already done) changing them is pretty simple....i dont even jack my truck up to change them since there isnt any force on them when parked....i have changed them without removing the frame bracket, but the Ibeams make it a PITA,so it really is worth the effort to remove the bracket.....ive done this several times on my 76 F-150, a long term powersteering leak caused premature failure of a few bushings....make sure you at least check your arm bracket if you dont remove it...the first time i had an issue with my radius arms i noticed the truck pulling funny while i was doing about 105 mph on my way to work one morning, when i got to the jobsite i looked under the truck and discovered that only two little bolts where BARELY holding the bracket up!!!! one good pothole would have caused me to have a serious wreck at the speed i was traveling that morning, all i can say is that God had my back that day......

 

i would also avoid using rubber bushings. use the poly bushings.

 

Well, my bushings are shot too, and last time I had her on a lift, I took a look at them. When I saw the rivets, I thought "how the heck am I gonna replace them?" At least if they were bolted on, I could do it...but with rivets...so I grind off, (or how about air chisel?) the rivet head, pull down the arm, replace the bushings, (with POLY!) and use bolts to re-install the arm brackets? Almost sounds too easy...any drilling a pilot hole for the bolts? and tapping?

 

What am I looking for at the steering gear box? A loose steering box? Box seems tight. Cab bushings and radiator support bushings are only a few years old. The radius arm bushings are cracked big time. Maybe that's the problem. They have been getting louder little by little the past 2 years,

 

Listen to the gashog replace with poly bushings you will love the new non wandering FORD that you have created .Remove the brackets and put them back on with bolts as stated.Make sure you retighten them after a few miles and again in a week.You should not need to drill and tap anything just get good nuts and lock washers.

 

You have a very nice pickup - looks like it's still new... Keep in mind that a 2wd has both radius arm bushings and axle pivot bushings (where the I beams pivot in the frame). The pivot bushings are often forgotten but get more wear and are more critical to the alignment and driving than the radius bushings. I recommend replacing both at the same time - here's how I did mine:

Pull the entire I beam and radius arm as an assembly. Just pull caliper from rotor and hang out of the way with wire (no need to disconnect the brake hose). Then remove the lower shock bolt, upper spring retainer, radius arm nut and axle pivot bolt. Then you can slide the I beam out of the frame and pull the radius arm out of it's frame mount.

To replace the pivot bushing, use hammer, chisel, screwdriver, torch - whatever works to get the rubber bushing out of the metal sleeve (do not remove the metal sleeve from the I beam). Mine were so worn they pushed out by hand. With poly bushings you just slide the poly into the old metal sleeve and you are done. Don't get rubber ones, you would have to get the metal sleeve pressed out and press in new ones - too much work...

It cost me about $50 for poly pivot and radius bushings (Auto Krafters) and a Saturday afternoon, but it's DEFINATELY worth the effort. Before this, my front end was tight and it drove reasonably well - but was like a new pickup with the new bushings, you will be pleased.

Marty

 

I have used both red poly urethane and the black poly urethane with graphite on front raduis arm bushing. Either one of these replacement bushing will work excellent for these bushing. I used on my 1978 Ford F150 the black polys with graphite with its added lubrication property and these bushing are very quiet and durable. They two type of poly urethane bushing are made by the same company - Energy Systems.

 

I want to make sure I understand this, when removing the rivets, is there a hole to screw the bolts into? And what about threads, or are we to use a self threading bolt?