Front end on this bronco I bought is shot. Ball joints, i beam bushings, someone did replace the radius arm rubber bushings at some point in the last few years and one of the radius arm brackets is new but its all still shot. I don't have the time, parts horded, and money to do a SAS just yet. I have a 78 bronco axle but still needs rebuild and all lift parts.

So I drove an hour south and picked up a TTB dana 44 3:55 gear ratio with only 60K on it out of an F-150 (kids burned the truck.....sad). Came complete with steering and radius arms. He even threw in an A/C compressor I needed (actually whole AC with cables). I know why waste my time but I want to wheel this season and honestly it will take a couple years before I get around to doing the SAS. I took a crow bar to the ball joints and they seemed okay but I am not a mechanic. The I beam bushings looked straight too, rubber was cracked on the surface but it was dead center still. Think I should take it down to the alignment shop and have them check it out? I am torn since I don't want to throw more than the $300 I paid for the axle but I also think since the axle is out might be worth paying to have I beam bushings replaced that way I don't ever have to worry about it while the axle is in the truck. What do you guys think?

 

The rubber is cracked so now is the time to replace them. I replaced mine with poly using my ball joint press. The hardest part was removing the outer shell.