Axle C Bushing Wedge Question

[NJBronk]

I’m cleaning things up while I have the front end apart and I wanted to get the axle wedges as clean as possible to make the C bushing install as smooth as possible.

There was a bit of flaking, which I assume is rust, but I scraped most of it off and everything seems pretty solid.

The one question I have is: on the bottom of the front passenger wedge there is a small vertical ridge that looks like it’s part of the metal (almost looks like a welding bead), is this supposed to be there for some reason?

I don’t see anything like it anywhere else.

Here are some shots of the other wedges, do these look ok?

 

[DirtDonk]

Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before. None of mine have had it that I remember, but I certainly haven’t paid that close attention to every other one I worked on. Could easily have missed something like that.

If it were mine, I’d probably try to take it down a little bit with a grinder. Either that, or once you know exactly which busing is going where, maybe cut a little bit extra out of the crown with a knife.
Remove a little material where it will hit that bit, and go from there

And don’t forget to lubricate things up pretty good. Either very soapy water, or liquid dish or hand soap, or something smooth and slippery to allow the bushings to slide over as good as possible.

 

[NJBronk]

Can’t say I’ve ever seen that before. None of mine have had it that I remember, but I certainly haven’t paid that close attention to every other one I worked on. Could easily have missed something like that.

If it were mine, I’d probably try to take it down a little bit with a grinder. Either that, or once you know exactly which busing is going where, maybe cut a little bit extra out of the crown with a knife.
Remove a little material where it will hit that bit, and go from there

And don’t forget to lubricate things up pretty good. Either very soapy water, or liquid dish or hand soap, or something smooth and slippery to allow the bushings to slide over as good as possible.

Thanks, if it’s not supposed to be there then I’ll figure out how to get rid of it.

Yes, I plan to lubricate with dish soap and take my time to get the arms level.