I need to build a wristed arm setup for my EB. At the hinge point what did some of you use? A brass bushing, Bearing, Poly bushing? Does anyone have good instruction on how they built theres? I was going to go with a long arm setup, but decided against it. Im just having troubles getting this thought up. Any help would be appreciated. Oh and i cant afford Cobys so keeping it cheap would be nice. Thanks

Here you go, as quick and simple as it gets.

http://www.greatnorthern.net/~fearme/tech/wristarm.jpg

Fill the center of the rear portion of radius arm with two 1/2" plates, us a couple of 1/2" plate "Y's" and a 7/8" pivot bolt. Us a 7/8" bolt to pin the arm when you want stock performance. This arm as been on my truck for over 3 years. Longest trip was 350 miles coming back from SOB last year, unpinned on the coast highway.

Here is how much mis-alignment you can get.

http://www.greatnorthern.net/~fearme/images/Arm extended.jpg

Holy damn that rocks. Have you thought about lengthening the arm so that bushing doesnt have to travel as much, or putting a heim joint back there?

Originally posted by FearMe
Here you go, as quick and simple as it gets.

http://www.greatnorthern.net/~fearme/tech/wristarm.jpg



OMG that one is Pretty, using the plate to go all th way to the C, i am jelous!

Never have considered either one. Both are not needed and won't help travel one bit. A longer arm will be better than a wristed one for certain types of driving. However it won't be an easier mod. You have to lengthen both of them and move the mounts back on the frame, plus you loose ground clearance. The heim joint won't do anything the rubber bushing won't do except make more noise, cost more, fail sooner and require more modification.

Cool Mark, I see you got a goat fetish too:D The "Y" configuration was Quinns idea, and a damn good one.

Set aside the week of July 28th for a Con trip.

Roger, are there any pros/cons of building them the way you did with the Y's verses an inverted version. Both pivot at the same point, but yours will require a little more fab work. EBSteve was kind enough to loan me an arm, so all I have to do is make one. I'm not quite sure how I want to build it though.

http://www.greatnorthern.net/~fearme/tech/wristarm.jpg


http://home.earthlink.net/~mikiteb/bb/wristedarm.jpg

It really doesn't make any difference as long as it works. I prefer using the filler piece on the rear and making it that way gives more bolt bearing surface for the hinge pin and the locking one. It's not that much more work. One thing I would do are use a 7/8 bolt for the locking part, that pin is IMO to small for the job. If it goes halfway through a hard turn on pavement your going to roll. Yeah I know it's probably one that you use to hold on a trailer hitch and blah blah blah:D but agian it's just what I would do. It never hurts to make it bigger if it doesn't matter.

Matt the second picture where is that from? When are you going to get moving on yours? you are welcome to come down next week and we can get moving I am unemployeed after Friday.

Originally posted by EBSTEVE
Matt the second picture where is that from? When are you going to get moving on yours? you are welcome to come down next week and we can get moving I am unemployeed after Friday.

I grabbed that pic off the net somewheres.
Being unemployed is great for about the first 3 months. Just be careful, and don't let yourself slip into lazy mode. It's a sunofabitch to get youself motivated again. I'm still trying to clean up my garage a bit. Everytime I start to make progress, another task comes up and I mess everthing up. This time it was the wifes clutch.

Anyway, I pretty much have everything to do it, just need to quit wheelin so much and work on my junk.

I think my j-shifter fell apart the last time we went wheelin, so It looks like I'll have to fab up a twin stick, which means dropping the t-case arrrrrrrrg. Which to do first, wristed arm or twinstick? And then I still need to hook up the york, fab new rad support add EB grill and new fenders, front driveline, back window, and that's the shit I can afford.....then theres the almighty d60, new oil pan, powersteering, drag link, doh!

I got a bench grinder for christmas, and I can't even use the thing cuz I can't get to my damn work bench.:crybaby2: :crybaby2:

Do you use the wristed joint on both sides or just one?

just one, unless you want to build a 4 link.

Originally posted by FearMe
Cool Mark, I see you got a goat fetish too:D The "Y" configuration was Quinns idea, and a damn good one.

Set aside the week of July 28th for a Con trip.

Hmm the 28th a Sunday, is that when your going in?

Also here is another link for building a Wristed arm, a little differnt, more ugly, but it will help explain it
http://www.wt4wheeling.com/tech/wristfront.htm

http://sidewlk.homestead.com/files/1uglyranger/Wristed_arm_12-31.jpg

Here's the one my friend and I made. I sleeved the rear porion of the arm with 1/8" sheet, then doubled it for the last six inches or so. Used a 3/4" bolt for the pivot, and some sleeves from Orchard to stop any side to side slop....seems to work great. Without being pinned I have put about 200 miles on it on the street, and it doesn't handle that bad, but it will be pinned shortly anyway.

http://sidewlk.homestead.com/files/1uglyranger/F-L_12-31.jpg

Brian--

You only do it to 1 side? I forgot about that. Good thing someone brought that up. What about using it in conjunction with the Heim joint Draglink from Performance Unlimited? See any problems with that? Does anyone use any time of busing, sleeve or Bearing in there wristed part of there arm?

Hey Matt and Steve, if you guys are having a wristed arm party maybe I should join you. I got an extra arm sitting in my garage waiting.....but I also really need to tackle my tie rod flip conversion, I bent it all to h*ll again.

Let's wheel soon though!

Cheers
Dale

Originally posted by FearMe
It really doesn't make any difference as long as it works. I prefer using the filler piece on the rear and making it that way gives more bolt bearing surface for the hinge pin and the locking one. It's not that much more work. One thing I would do are use a 7/8 bolt for the locking part, that pin is IMO to small for the job. If it goes halfway through a hard turn on pavement your going to roll. Yeah I know it's probably one that you use to hold on a trailer hitch and blah blah blah:D but agian it's just what I would do. It never hurts to make it bigger if it doesn't matter.

Roger agree with all that but would like to point out that if a filler plate had been used in the front half of the arm in Nobodys second picture then he would have the same "bolt bearing" surface as yours.

Originally posted by StoopidMonkey
You only do it to 1 side? I forgot about that. Good thing someone brought that up. What about using it in conjunction with the Heim joint Draglink from Performance Unlimited? See any problems with that? Does anyone use any time of busing, sleeve or Bearing in there wristed part of there arm?

mine has a 1 1/8" pin category 2 weld in spherical bearing from a tractor supply house. It cost $14, allows the two degrees of freedom, and is rated for an incredibly high load. It's been on for a while, and is showing no signs of looseness yet, even though I've never put the pin in since I built the arm.

Originally posted by tiessen
Hey Matt and Steve, if you guys are having a wristed arm party maybe I should join you. I got an extra arm sitting in my garage waiting.....but I also really need to tackle my tie rod flip conversion, I bent it all to h*ll again.

Let's wheel soon though!

Cheers
Dale

We might have to do that. EBsteves already built his though:( I need to do my tie rod flip as well. I bought a snap-on reamer, but still need a custom drag link. I got all the TRE's used at a junkyard. Anyway, those snap-on reamers are suppost to be good for a couple trucks. So after I get mine done, Steves going to do his, and then you'd be welcome to use the reamer if anything is left. It has a 1 year warranty, but I kinda doubt that snap-on willl replace it. I guess you just need to take it slow , use lots of lube, and they will last while.

Is there a drawback to using 2 wristed arms? Any gains in using 2? What about Caster? Do you use drop brackets to fix the problem or what? Im going to be running the 5.5 inch springs.

You can't run 2 wristed arms. The solid arm controls the caster. If both arms were wristed, the axle would twist. One wristed arm gets the job done great. In stock form the radius arms act like a sway bar. By wristing one arm, it relieves the bind. Wristing a second arm wouldn't help. Besides, as mentioned above, you'd have to build a 4 link.

Don't worry, it will use up every bit of your 9012's.

Thats what i thought. But i was making sure beacuse in that other thread about wanting someone to make wristed arms there was a link in there and there were 2 wristed arms in his picture, i wasnt sure if he was showing them wristed and pinned or that he builds 2 arms for his rigs.

You must be refering to coby's twister arms. He designs one with adjustable caster, and the other is a high speed wristed arm. Nice to have, but not necessary. Unfortunately I couldn't justify the money for the twister arm when you can build one for the cost of some scrap steel and couple bolts.

Originally posted by FearMe
Never have considered either one. Both are not needed and won't help travel one bit. A longer arm will be better than a wristed one for certain types of driving.

And those types would be?????????

So is everbody drilling a larger hole in the radius arm and welding in a bushing or just drilling the plates and the raduis arms and bolting through that? Follow?

They do it both ways. I would like to use some sort of bushing, but odds are, I'll just drill a hole and stick a bolt through it.

Originally posted by clc900


And those types would be?????????

I would think if you looking for pure articulation just wrist an arm. If your concern is a daily driver with occasional mild trails, but you want some better articulation than stock, lengthen them.

Some bolt, some bearing, some bushing, i was the first i have seen to use a 1 inch OD DOM with a 7/8 inside and slave it, then run a 7/8 bolt
Its all about how much time you want to put into it, with a bearing it has to be a press fit hole and you CAN NOT WELD the bearing
Sleeve and forget about it

Ok this is some what on and off subject. Now, my truck has a 4" lift already, and instead of getting a lengthened arm, just got the 4" drop bracket. Now could this be benificial to help with some drop? Or is it a bad idea to use this with a wristed arm?

With or without a drop bracket it will work the same.

Anyone have a spare radius arm they want to sell or give me :D My friends and I have all thrown or given our spares away. I just need one so i can start getting this fabbed up.

I believe you can use any radius arm from 78-79 bronco, 77-79 f150 or eb. Anyone??? Correct me if im wrong so I know too. Thanks

Originally posted by brocbronc
I believe you can use any radius arm from 78-79 bronco, 77-79 f150 or eb. Anyone??? Correct me if im wrong so I know too. Thanks

Correct, arms are same length just make sure to get the cap with it since they have different bolt spacings

Originally posted by MIke Mondloch


Correct, arms are same length just make sure to get the cap with it since they have different bolt spacings

And check the spacing on the lower coil mounts also. They are different.

here's a pic of my wristed arm with my dana 60 in my 70 bronco. It uses a 1 1/8" pin weld in spherical bearing, and is plated in all the way to the top. The pin is out in these pics, I rarely put the pin in...

Ok, now I was thinking, could you figure out what the maximum angle your rad arm is going to be at when the tire is fully stuffed up, and then angle your rad arm bracket downwards so that they are the maximum angle to the upward rad arm, as to possibly add to the amount of drop it has?