stuccintraffic

Hey Folks,

I just got done swapping out what could have possibly been the factory set of radius arm bushings on my '96 4x4 with Moog K8361. I was getting some lovely free foot massages on tip-in/tip-out. As we say in the computer science world, "it's not a bug, it's a feature" haha. The problem is, I don't really like massages. The job wasn't that bad - bolted bracket at RF and riveted bracket at LF. A medium-heavy duty air hammer and some custom, but admittedly not very scientific, ground in tool geometry on a throwaway air chisel made quick work of the rivets. I nicked up the bracket just a touch from the chiseling - blended superficial gouges w/ an angle grinder, sandblasted, repainted. I definitely spent 3 times the cost of a replacement bracket reconditioning the OEM one, but it still had a faint Ford Oval stamped in it which made my heart smile. I think the time was was worth it, but I digress.

The question I have for you guys today: While gathering my scrap parts I noticed there was a retainer/washer on the OEM LF radius arm bushing, forward-most in the bushing stack. In the first picture it's the one top left of the picture. The second picture is just a close up. It is stamped F2TA-3B186-AA and "LEFT HAND ONLY".

What is the function of this retainer and is it even needed? I sadly, did not reinstall it, but I can. Still curious about function though, regardless necessity.


OEM Stack

Retainer

As a first post I'd like to thank this community for all the info that has been given, especially you steve83, your documentation repo on SM is quite valuable.

Thanks for the time guys.