Radius arm c bushings problem?

[joshua]

I’m mocking up my frame/suspension , and I’m to the part of installing the c bushings. I have one arm attached to the axle. All seemed to be going fine. But when I tightened the c bushing bolts all the way down, I noticed one part of the bushing is slightly off.

I believe these are the polyurethane type. But Idk for sure. I bought them local as a sacrificial bushing for mock up. I believe they are for stock suspension as I don’t see any numbers on them.

I noticed when the 2 pieces of steel joined together on the radius arms that they were slightly off. And that got me to looking at the actual bushing. 3 of the 4 sides look perfect. But the top rear looks a little off.

Wondering if this enough to mess the coil spring cup location? And should it be redone, even if the spring cup location would be fine. I did slightly loosen them, then put a big channel lock on to try and even it out. Changed nothing.

But if it’s fine for mocking up I’m not going to touch it. Just wondering for future reference would this be considered acceptable to run with or would mess with the caster?

Last thing is I bought this lift from another member in 2009 It is an unused 3.5in Duff lift. I think he had it a couple years before he sold it to me, so it’s old.

The c bushings are 6 1/4 and I thought for a 3.5in lift you need 4 degree c bushings? Wondering if this kit was packaged wrong. Or is that the correct degree for up front. 6 1/4 would make sense to me as the rear shims are 6 degrees. I just saw an old wild horses video where he said 4 degrees for a 3.5 lift.

But I’m getting kinda close to putting this back on the road and trying to get it right.

First 3 pics are the issues. 4th and 5th is what the rest looks like. Rest are the difference of the bushings.

 

[DirtDonk]

So it’s not the bushing that is off, but the radius arm cap mating surfaces?
If so, try swapping them left for right.
Even though many of us have used different ones over the years, they were generally considered a matched set.

But also, like you were thinking, if this is just mock up, how precise do you need to be for it? What exactly are you setting up? Just the general layout? If so, shouldn’t cause any problem.
Things on Broncos aren’t always that precise.

 

[joshua]

Basically shock hoops, steering, different tie rod set up. I’m going to run dual shocks up front because the kit came 2 for each corner. Need to weld on shock support for radius arm cap. So Eventually will ditch the extra shocks for sway bars. I think I read somewhere that the extra shocks help with body roll.

Thanks

 

[DirtDonk]

Sounds like the only thing you need to be concerned with is your lower front shock mounts then.
I would still try swapping the caps side to side, to see if they match up better. Are these the original radius arms for your Bronco? If so, they should mate up better than that I would think.
Unless someone swapped them from other vehicles some time in the past.

Spring-wise, I'm pretty sure that there is enough leeway (factory tolerance) that even if the spring cups were rotated slightly to one side or the other, the springs "float" a certain amount. And the lift is going to twist the coils anyway, basically trying to bow them outward towards the front.

You don't even need springs when it comes down to it. Just place wood or better yet, steel bars between the axle top and the frame. Set these to 7" long, PLUS whatever your expected lift is. So if it's a 3.5" lift, you set them to 10.5" and then build everything off of that.
But don't do too many custom steering mods, until you have your permanent C-bushings in place. The axle tilts according to the bushing offset, so some things may change slightly.
Personally, I'd probably just use the final bushings right up front. They can most likely be re-used a number of times, but even if not, new ones are not super expensive when compared to other things you're putting on the Bronco. Just make sure you lube them up good with either petroleum jelly, liquid hand soap, or that special yucky/sticky silicone stuff that they sell for poly bushings.
Are you going to be painting the radius arms and caps after the fact? If so, then I guess you don't really want the silicone on there. But the hand soap should not leave anything that would effect painting.
Or paint them first...

Speaking of C-bushings... Notice the little round stem thingy in the middle of the groove at the curve of each bushing? The casting entry point it looks like. I would "nibble" them off before installing. Unless it fits into a hole in the arms/caps that I'm not remembering, that's just one more point of compression that takes the bushings and creates more of an environment where they tend to ooze out of the sides of the caps.
Those are Duff bushings, so do not ooze as much as some others, but anything you can do that would reduce the compression of them is a good thing. They're going to be good and tight no matter what you do. But if you have ANY rust scale, or powder coat or undercoat buildup on the pads where the bushings ride, or inside the caps and arms, it has to be removed or you risk over squeezing the bushings.
Yes, they're such a tight fit, that even rust or powder coating is thick enough to put the squeeze on them.

If you're going to powder coat the arms then, please re-think it. Or wait for others that have done it to see if they had any problems. We know it's happened in the past, but no real way to tell just what was at fault. Or if multiple things were at work.
Basically, the cleaner the surfaces are of layers of anything, the better the bushings fit.

Paul

 

[joshua]

I completely cleaned the bushing surface and treated them with acid. Then sprayed one coat of engine paint on them. The rest will be covered in por15 BUT not the mating surfaces. As that stuff is thick.

Thanks!

 

[DirtDonk]

Exactly! Good planning.