I am in the middle of basically rebuilding the front suspension and steering on my 2WD 72 F250. When I took apart the radius arm to frame connection, there was nothing but rust under the bushing. On one of them the diameter where the bushing is supposed to go is smaller than the threads. Is there any way to fix this, or do I need to find some replacements? If I need new ones, anybody know where I could find some that are in good shape?

It also appears that one of them is slightly bent. Is that possible, or is it supposed to be that way?

Gene

 

Got a pic? I just removed my entire front suspension to put in the Panther sub frame. I still have the larger parts you can have what you need for cheap if your interested. from 08068.

If the parts are rusted to where it has a smaller diameter than the threads, it would be safer to replace them for the piece of mind.

 

When you get your replacements, paint them with POR15 before you install the new bushings. They'll last forever.

 

72-F100-4V,

Here are some pictures. I don't know if you will be able to tell from these, but I am definatly interested in the arms if they are in good shape.

Rusted ends


Bent arm


Straight arm


Gene

 

Those look pretty bad!!
I will have to check out the radius arms that I have on sunday, I will be on a trip tomorrow.

My truck is a 2wd F100, so hopefully the ones that I have will work on your 2wd F250. I dont see why not.
Check your email!

 

Those rusty suckers look ok to me (from here). :)

It'd be kinda fun to straighten the bent one.
It doesn't "need" it tho, IMO.

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/straightenTube.jpg

That's the magazine tube off my 1950 Win-'94 30-30.
Drilled a couple holes then split the wood block. :)
Put some pressure on it, pulled it out, still bent, did it more, straight.
Had took it to a gunsmith and he said...
"can't be straightened, I'll sell you one". :(
Yeah, ok... "if I can't straighten it myself I'll take you up on that"
I knew how to go about it, just figured he'd already be setup for it.
Turned out he was just "setup to make money" was all. ;)

You can straighten that radius arm if you want to. :)

If you don't have access to a press frame or something similar...
There's a setup called a "widow maker" where you use a chain like this...
/i\
i = jack
/ \ = chain
Not sayin' it'll work. ;)

My press frame looks exactly like the frame under my trailer house. LOL :)
I don't believe it's heavy enough to straighten a bent radius arm tho. :/

Alvin in AZ
ps- a couple horses bent it when they leaned into each other

 

72-F100-4V

Thank you for looking at what you have. I got your e-mail but I couldn't respond to it because I can't get your e-mail address. I guess I have not been active enough to be able to get your e-mail address off of here. Anyway let me know what you find when you get a chance.

So Alvin, you think these are alright? Well they make me a little nervous. The new bushings I bought to put in just flop around on the stud. I didn't think the new bushing were doing any good at that point. Of course I had no worries about driving the truck before I took it apart. Ignorance is bliss. I have thought about trying to get somebody to build up the area with weld, and grind it back smooth. That will be a last resort.

I wonder how the thing got bent. That had to be a hard hit.

Gene

 

IMO, "72's used ones" is the way to go! :)
Especially if they are in better shape rust-wise. :)

Welding on them is a real bad idea unless you get a guy that really knows
his stuff and how to weld/repair automotive parts. And if he's familiar with
welding up rusted steel too, he'll know if it's a good idea or not.

Just because it looks like the "original steel" under that rust it really isn't
the same, just looks that way.

The rusty thing isn't scaring me, but breaking after being welded on, does. LOL :)
Between the rusty steel's hydrogen cracks and the HAZ... kinda scary. ;)

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/radiusarm.jpg

The bushings will swell to fill in the lost size when clamped into place. ;)

My "cups" and washers are stuff that I picked up somewhere. :)
I just liked the looks of them and they happen to work.
They are thicker etc so they squeeze the poly-urethane bushings harder.

The two other sets of bushings I've used were NOS Ford stuff and went bad
faster than they should have. I have this theory that the NOS rubber stuff
were old production and so they are just "old". (see? :) The second set was
squeezed too much by my thick washers on top of being old, too, maybe?

With the poly-urethane bushings they supply silicone grease to slather all
over everything, so no "need" for the special paint in that case.

Alvin in AZ

 

Ill post up some pics of what they look like on sunday. If they can work for you, they are yours for the cost of shipping.

These have the king pins that hold the knuckle, right? Ill have press these out too?

 

You are thinking of the axle to knuckle junction. :)

The front end of the radius arm is bolted to the axle where the spring is,
you can see the radius arm's fork here, above the axle and below the gear...

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/spacer1.jpg

That's a 3/4" bolt and takes a 1+1/8" wrench, if you can get at it from above,
a deep-well 1+1/8" socket will save a $%&load of time since it's a lock nut. ;)

http://www.panix.com/~alvinj/file12/toolbox.jpg

That big ol' rusty "#37A plow wrench" is what I use. :)
The other end is 1+5/16 and fits the pitman arm nut. :)

Alvin in AZ

 

Cool, thanks Alvin. Its been a few months since I took all that stuff off my truck. Thanks for the pics!

 

Yesterday 07:53 PM

I went looking around for what you were doing to your truck and found your pictures. That is very cool what you are doing. It looks great so far, keep up the good work.

I think Alvin pointed you in the right direction, but in this picture the radius arm is the part between the axle and the wire brush with the shock attached to it.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e1...m/IMG_2412.jpg

It looks like you already have it all apart.

Gene