Idler arm question

Hey guys. Found my idler arm to be looking pretty second hand. What are my options?
1. Replace the bushes only? (Preferred to keep cost down ) Are they difficult to extract and replace into the arm?
2. Just get a new arm? I have read on here that there are early and late ones and to be careful. (Least preferred)
3. If I did just replace the bushes, are they the same for all years? They don't seem to be year specific but the arms are. Makes it cheaper for me and I maybe able to use Ford Australia bush or a mustang one that are pretty easy to come by out here.

 

I would spend the money to get a new arm. I believe it will outlast a bushing replacement. At least that was my experience with an idler arm issue on a 1966 Chevy II I once owned.

 

Appreciate that thought although shipping it out to Australia makes it way more expensive and I'm already testing the wife's patience!

 

Sounds like you have a bigger issue than the cost of the idler arm.

 

Look closely at the arm, has a pin that fits into the bushing that's pressed into center link... Sooo a new arm won't solve your current problem, you're going to have to replace the bushing...

The bushing presses out/in and can be a PITA... Years back I've cut the metal sleeve with hacksaw and it comes out fairly easily, really should have a press to reinstall...

 

Krazy Comet is correct, your issue is not the idler arm but rather the bushing in the center link. I should have looked at the pictures rather than go by your description of the concern.

 

The following website link for Auto Zone here in the US will take you to a listing of other Ford vehicles that use the Maverick Comet idler arm bushing. There are 777 Ford applications including 47 Mustang.

http://www.autozone.com/suspension-...8-cylinders-f-5-0l-2bl-ohv/6908_106530_12005/

 

or if you would like MOOG K-8103

 

Here are a couple pics of my custom fabricated "rollerized" version of same center link bushing that I designed and fabricated to go along with my rollerized Opentracker UCA/LCA/Spring Perches. Also custom fabricated same for the Idler arm too. Last pic is whole set up installed, center link still had the MOOG outer sleeve, which I just "rollerized" the inner portion.......
David

 

Can't wait for that!

 

Impressive. That is some nice work. Thanks for making me feel inferior!

 

And why I used a '75-'77 type center link on mine(same as Granada), has pin in center link and both bushings are part of idler arm...

 

Well I don't know how I did it but I did. Didn't take too much effort at all. Bit of WD40, hammer and some sockets and bam. They came out eventually. The centre link end sleeve fell out and the rubber was easily levered out. The only problem was the support end bush and getting if off the arm. Using a socket and putting the arm and bush on top I bashed it down until the middle rubber came out. That left the outer sleeve that was again bashed out over a slightly smaller in diameter socket that drove it up and out. Have the bushes on hand soon as well as the rest of the moog suspension gear I've been waiting on for a couple of months. Cannot wait to get her on the road again.

 

That must be an original Idler Arm, with the MOOG K8199, it is impossible to hammer or even press out the bearing assemble in the body (end with the shaft that attaches to the passenger frame). When I rollerized my Idler arm, I had to machine out the top portion of the body to remove the inner workings and it is a spherical bearing, not a rubber bushing.
Are you getting a new MOOG Idler arm?? should be K8199 and new bushing kit for Center Link is K8103, which I had posted a picture for you earlier in this thread. As far as I know, there is no kit to rebuild the idler arm.....

attached picture shows inner spherical bearing(after nearly 30 years, still like new!) of MOOG K8199, then new MOOG K8199 and the Center Link end bushing MOOG K-8103, which is pressed into the Center Link End.....
I installed my MOOG K-8199 back in 1985 and was my daily driver in my 74 Comet for 15 years and then on and off until it bit the dust 3 years ago, when I removed it and checked it out, still no play, it outlasted my 74! I just wanted to see if it could be "rollerized", which is why it was taken apart. So long as the K-8199 is greased, it should last a lifetime.......
David

 

Thanks David. I have had to read this a couple of times to make sure I understood, maybe I still haven't! I went through rock auto and purchased the Mevotech MK8103 for the centre link end and the MOOG K8094 for the support end. I went this way because I wanted to just replace the two bushes and it appeared to me Rock Auto suggested this was what I needed. Thought it also looked like what I needed.

Can this work and if not why? I am confused as to why Rock would list them as a support end bush and a centre link oem type one and they not actually be able to be used. I realise the original centre link one i removed was only rubber with a metal sleeve inside and the new one now with an outer sleeve but it wont fit?

The Mav will only do weekend stuff once or twice a month if lucky so your fantastic solution is a bridge too far for for me.

Sorry if I'm missing something here but I am now a bit confused.