Question on radius arm brackets

[Lt1Burb]

I picked up my frame from shop and want to assemble and paint. I have wild horse stock style radius arm brackets as mine had been torched off, I have 57 and 7/8”on one side and 58” on other. Is this acceptable as measured from front frame rail.

 

[armynavy17]

I would guess that 1/8" would be well within spec coming from the factory.

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in here.

I would think if you really needed it to be perfect you could place a fender washer on the "long" one to shorten it up that 1/8".

 

[jamesroney]

I picked up my frame from shop and want to assemble and paint. I have wild horse stock style radius arm brackets as mine had been torched off, I have 57 and 7/8”on one side and 58” on other. Is this acceptable as measured from front frame rail.

Wait, what? no!!! and STOP!

Why are you measuring to the bumper mount? The front frame horn is a totally irrelevant feature and it has absolutely no business in any measurement for any suspension component. (maybe useful for mounting a bumper?)

You are locating a critical suspension mounting bracket. It needs to be "true" to the other suspension components. The ONLY feature that you want to reference is the front perch on the rear spring. That's what makes the Bronco go straight down the road. Put a bolt in the spring hanger and loop your tape measure around it. measure carefully on both sides, and diagonally. The measurements from left side to right side should be exactly the same when using a tape measure. This will ensure that the Bronco will go straight down the road.

Sure, 1/8 inch doesn't sound like much, but you are taking up ALL of the suspension tolerance in one bracket. So don't.

The front frame rail is a noodle with no credibility. Your reference datum needs to be the rear spring front perch. (since they are already welded on.) If you want to verify your frame rails and validate that they are true to the suspension, that's great. But you can't assume that the front frame rail is a good datum.

 

[Lt1Burb]

Perfect, that’s why I asked, front frame perches it is.

 

[armynavy17]

Sure am glad I threw in the sentence about someone more knowledgeable commenting... Hahaha.