what all is involved in replacing the radius arm bushings?


thanks

 

I have never done it on a 2wd but my guess would be you just unbolt it and put the new bushings on. you may have to put a jack on it to get it off and back on but I would think it would be prety easy

 

I have never done it on a 2wd but my guess would be you just unbolt it and put the new bushings on. you may have to put a jack on it to get it off and back on but I would think it would be prety easy

 

you know you might have to press them in im not sure

 

some have the brackets bolted to the frame, others have it riveted on. the bolted on ones are easy, unbolt and go. the riveted ones give you 2 options: drill out rivets, service it like a bolted model, and replace rivets with bolts, OR have one helluva fight moving everything far enough forward to get the radius arm out of its bracket. both styles (bolts and rivets) are described in the service manual, but IMO a riveted model is much easier serviced by drilling the rivets and bolting it.

 

thanks i did not think of drilling the rivets out and replacing with bolts.

this tells to take the front beams off and take the springs out and a lot of work.
EBSCOhost - world

 

IIRC the riveted suspension parts are on half tons only.

 

The rear spring hangars on my dually were all riveted, I'd have to take a look at the front, but I think they are the same. All the rivets on the rear brackets were 7/16", so make sure you have all the bolts you need before hand because they aren't always available at the local hardware store.

Never done bushings on the diesels, but did swap out the radius arms etc on a Ranger a number of years ago. It can be a fight to get them far enough ahead to get them in and out of the rear bracket, taking the rivets/bolts out and going that way sounds a whole lot easier!

 

i am pretty sure they are riveted on. hopefully this job won't take a month like my rear leaf hangers did.

 

All my suspension parts were riveted on

 

All the stuff on my F150 is riveted, my F250, not sure, can't remember to be honest.

Van and motorhome, both are all bolted though.

 

if you are talking about a 2x4 then jack up the front and take a come a long hooked to the beam and pull it out and then put new bushings on the put it back together !

 

My 85 F250 was riveted. However, I was able to do it without much trouble without removing the rivets.

What I did was to jack the truck up about 2-3" so that the weight was mostly off the wheels and set it on stable jackstands. I then ran a come-a-long from the axle where the radius arm joints the axle to the front of the frame, and a chain with about 1-2" slack from there aft to the radius rod bushing. Then I used a floor jack under the end of the radius rod to support it, removed the nut and outer bushing and used the come-a-long to pull it forward clear of the bushing mount on the frame. The tire supports the axle & spring, floor jack the radius rod and the chain provides a safety to make sure it doesn't go too far. It worked very well and took probably 30-45 min a side? You need a concrete pad and have to be careful, but it's very easy and safe to do.
~John

 

this is a better detailed way of what i was trying to say , I have done this many times and it always works !
never have cut the rivets and took the bracket off to replace the bushings !
only exception was if the hole was worn bigger and the bracket needed to be replaced then it came off !
and the holes always get drilled out to 1/2" and grade 8 flange bolts were used !

 

well i finally got around to doing the radius arm bushings.

i did the method with the come-along. worked good for pulling the arms forward but we had one hell of a time getting everything lined up for going back in, but we got it.