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Swapping Radius Arms


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Hopefully going to swap my radius arms over tomorrow. Got some new ones with new genuine bushes in :D.

Any tips? things you picked up when you did it?

Obvious ones like make sure its stable on the axle stands etc.

I was thinking I need to make sure the weight of the truck is right off the springs.

Thanks in advance :)

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A small bottle jack under the nose of the diff helps to rotate the axle and line the holes up. The chocks help minimise movement of the axle - but they do seem to end up moving. A second pair of hands is really useful - to look while you jack and rotate the wheel a bit as needed.

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A great tip is to buy some QT ones,

then every 3 months when you bend them AGAIN you'll have plenty of experience of swapping them again and again,

I'm sure after a few goes you will work out the perfect method ,,,,,,,,

I have, there is only one radius arm and it's the one it left the factory with,,,,,trust me, I'm an expertmad.gif

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I swapped my bushes today for standard ones today throughout (which i've drilled).

Went from orange poly bushes at the front of the hockey sticks as well to the chassis.

and OMG i can drive to the top of our ramp (about a meter) and it articulates sooooooooooooooo much better.

the rear are gigglepin arms.

G

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I think the biggest pain doing it one at a time is the fact that I'm going from castor corrected to standard... so going to need the axle twisted :unsure:

The biggest tip I can offer is that you put all the relevant information in at the beginning and not later after people have responded.

To explain why this is annoying, I once wasted three hours helping an "engineer" fix a computer that wasn't broken! He had changed what I added before it was delivered but did not tell me until the end. It took 30 seconds to "fix" once I knew.

There are a lot of people on this forum (not me!) who know everything that you need to need to know if you give them a chance to help.

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First trouble...

Jacking is Fine, I have a disco bottle jack and a reasonable supply of thick planks for the extra height.

I'm struggling to find somewhere for the axle stands. I have these ones.

I wanted them under the standard front jacking points, but they are not tall enough to let me get the body weight off the springs with the wheels still on.

How far back is it safe to go along the main chassis rails? Easiest place for them is the flat part just behind the gearbox cross member... but is this too far back?

Do I need to buy some taller stands? :unsure:

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I usually just jack it up at the front with a bottle jack and chock the wheels, then take them out one at a time.

You can always put the stands on some of those thick planks (put two side by side, just as safe as some concrete IMO).

Sounds like you're instantly putting new ones in, so no real need for the axle stands really.

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Ah ok. I assumed that the springs would try and push the axle out.

I have the front up on the stands now. To get the extra height I've screwed two 4" fence posts together with a bit of ply at each end.

Problem number two. Probably not a problem, but something I over looked. I have to take the track rod off to get the arms out? :huh:

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Couldn't do that as I have one of the QT guards that go round the track rod.

Popped both ends off and wriggled it out of the way :)

Both old arms are off. I have replaced both arms. But only loosely at the chassis end, and only one bolt on each at the axle end (propshaft side). Will need to rotate axle to get the second set of hole.

One arm both ls lined up. Going to let the truck down notch by notch on the axle stands until the other holes line up :).

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Both arms all swapped over and done up :D. Will let it settle over night, then give it a test drive tomorrow afternoon after work. Then give the bolts a going over.

Had a bit of trouble lining up last two, and especially the last holes on the front of the axle! bit of persuasion with the bottle jack and lots of jumping on the bumper :P

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