Hey guys, I own a 1986 4x4 Bronco II and it has started developing a pretty serious problem. I have noticed that the steering has started to play around alot and squeak whenever I hit a bump, especially on the highway. I just played off the problem and thought it may be the steering getting old but the other day when I crawled under the truck I saw that the radius arm bushing was bad. I went to Autozone and bought a pait of radius arm bushings, one for each side, and thought this may be a simple task that I could fix on a weekend. I was wrong though. After reading my Hayes manual I found out that this reapir is gonna take some serious work and time.
I also asked my mechanic how I should go about and repair the problem, he told me that I should go to a wrecking yard and pull off a radius arm and radius arm bracket from another B2, because if the radius arm bushing is damaged then the bracket will be also.
He also said if I didn't want to spend my whole weekend up there removing the parts then i could buy them directly from Ford, but we all know how much Ford factory parts cost .
I was just wondering if any of yall guys have been through the same problem. If so how do I go about and repair this problem.
I would really appreciate yalls help.

Chris

 

I hate to tell you this, but I don't have much good news for ya. I went through the same thing last year with my B2. Your mechanic is probably right. When my bushing went, so did the bracket. In fact, a little chunk of the radius arm had been whittled away. To keep the clunking and unsafe steering to a minimum, I put on a new set of bushings. To avoid following the repair manuals complex instructions, I simply drilled out the rivets holding the brackets to the frame, removed it, and dropped the radius arm. This way, I avoided having to take apart the wheel/brakes/coil, etc.

This didn't solve my problem completely, though. As I said, I had part of the radius arm worn away and the bracket was still 5 times as large as it needed to be. I ended up biting the bullet and taking the B2 into a Ford dealership to replace the radius arm & bracket. When I got it back, I was somewhat dismayed to see that they only replaced the bracket (something I could've easily done myself) and left the radius arm as is. They said that the arm should be alright; that the missing chunk shouldn't weaken the overall arm. Yeah, right. I have my doubts. I think they were too lazy to change it out. But changing out the bracket was expensive enough and I think I'll be fine for now. Good luck!

 

changed mine a couple of years ago.It wasnt to hard of a job it took me a couple days just taking my time.just follow your manual and you will be allright...good luck.

 

Do yall think I may as well just get a whole new suspension lift for the B2 since I'm about to go through all this heck?

Thanks for the help,
Chris

 

Now's a good enough time as any, especially if you're going to follow the manual and disconnect the coil spring. Kinda wish I would've done that, come to think of it.....

 

The radius arm bushing is not that hard to replace. Takes some time mostly because the bolts will be hard to remove. Mine took three days even with a smoke wrench and a couple gallons of PB and WD-40. After that, it was clear sailing.

Once the bolts are out, the secret is to use the jack that came with the bronco to spread apart the front independent axles - the coil springs may not drop out on their own so you need to spread the axles. In other words, after you have the coil spring compressors on, jack one axle up or the other down. Don't over do it. All you need is an inch or so, at least on my 86 B2. This is not the time to put your heart and soul into the jack. Think of a brain surgeon teasing apart blood vessels under a microscope.

I didn't bother with the brake business.

If you don't count the bolt time, it should take an hour or so, a couple at the most.

 

I did this on one side last year - only the outer bushing was bad, and I didn't have the time to replace the inner (plus it was good).

All I did was use a floor jack and got the wheel up, took the wheel off, used a BIG OPEN END WRENCH and took off the retaining nut.... played with the floor jack and got the bushing in place -- put it back together and haven't had any problems with it since....

The suspension mech where I was going to have my rear done would have done the same work for about $150 for both arms.... they cut the rivets and use frame bolts as replacements - easier the next time.

SAFETY FIRST, ensure you got it braced and blocked so you can tell us how it went.