bushing replacement?

[hotrod ford]

what is the best way to replace the radius arm bushings that mount at the frame behind the wheel?

[fordman]

take fastest way is to take the nut off. jack the ibeam forward until the radius amr is out of the bracket. and then put the bushings back on. then let the jack off and put the rest back together. the book says to remove the spring remove the king bolt. remove the radius arm from the ibeam. and then replace the bushing.

[hotrod ford]

sounds easy. it should be safe as long as i have jack stands under it. thanks ford man

[70_F100]

To make it even easier, take out the I-beam pivot bolt.

That takes all of the "built-in" tension out of the front end, and also gives you a chance to check the I-beam bushings.

I've changed a ton of the radius arm bushings, and that's the easiest way I've found. Otherwise, you almost HAVE to take the spring loose from the I-beam. (Keyword: ALMOST)

[Montana71-F100]

I didn't jack mine up. Disconnect the front shock (That's important - I broke the shock on the first side I did.), take the nut off of the radius arm and push the front wheel forward with your foot. Mine is a 4-wheel drive so the front U-joint needed to be removed first. I used a jack to lift up the radius arm and a come-along connected to the opposite radius arm to pull the radius arm back in place. I did the fine tuning with my foot on the front tire.

[hotrod ford]

heres what i had to do . jacked up the front, disconnected the spring, shock and radius arm. could not get enough clearance to pull the radius arm out of the frame so i removed the i-beam from the cross member. lots of clearance then. got the worse side(passenger) done today and will do the other tomorrow afternoon.

[70_F100]

That's what I was talking about in my previous post.

On a 4wd, it's probably pretty easy to push the axle forward enough to get the radius arm out of its mount.

On a 2WD, things are kind of tight until you drop the I-beam at the pivot bolt.

I've tried it several ways, and found that to be the quickest and easiest.

[fordman]

the next time i do bushings im going to try the pivot bolt removal thing. thats a good idea i think.

[hotrod ford]

i didn't take the spring from the king bolt but from the frame itself. two little bolts instead of a big ole bolt. two littles are better. took about 45 minutes to remove and install everything. not bad for a fisrt timer. the other side should be even quicker when i do it.