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Any difference between BA and BF rear cradle ?


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Hi guys,

 

Does anyone know if there is a difference between the rear cradle of a BA and BF?

I've noticed recently the rear end of my BF mkII makes a bit of noise, especially over speed humps and inclines.

 

Had a look under the rear last night and noticed written in blue marker on the cradle "BA". Never noticed this before and not sure if the complete cradle has been replaced at some point in time.

 

Should I be looking for any signs that a part is not fitted or seated correctly?

 

Cheers

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Where is the bolt located on the main centre bush? BA had it off centre located towards the top. BF onwards have it right in the centre of the bush.

There are differences between the cradles. Ford tried to make them stronger as they went along because they had a habit of tearing along the centre bush housing. The pick up points are all the same though from BA through to current.

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just recently I was at one of the TUNAs here in WA and they showed me a cradle from an FG.

Do you know what surprised me? The fact that the bush housing had torn/ripped all along the bottom part.

No not where the welding was, but just a tad above it.

Yep the bush housing and the bush were free floating and the owner was wondering why he was getting some knocks.

it was unbelievable that the plate could rip like that.

 

sorry to OP for going off topic, but I had to put it out there.

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BA/BF1 cradles are beefier than BF/2 & FG. The cradles are all basically the same and interchangeable (but you need use FG LCA's with and FG Cradle) But as time progressed the cradles because less solid.

 

BA steel bush cradle is the go IMHO.

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or get the diff hat that Steve got? would that fix the problem?

insport or motorsport diff hat, can't remember if that is what it was called.

That replaces the housing, doesn't it?

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On 20/06/2016 at 8:33 PM, FormulaFG said:

Where is the bolt located on the main centre bush? BA had it off centre located towards the top. BF onwards have it right in the centre of the bush.

There are differences between the cradles. Ford tried to make them stronger as they went along because they had a habit of tearing along the centre bush housing. The pick up points are all the same though from BA through to current.

 

Thanks mate, glad to know that the cradles can be used across different models without any issues.

 

Here is a picture of the main diff bushing.. bolt in the center. Looks to have the metal plate over it and the bushing insert to make it a bit stronger?

 

 

post-48314-141110481529.jpg

 

So the FG cradles only got weaker !!? What a joke !

 

Wish I had the money to play around with kit Steve got, saw it awhile back and looks great !

 

Always keeping an eye on your build there Steve to see what's next !

 

Next thing to do is get it up on stand or hoist and check to see any other suspension issues. Perhaps the the two smaller diff bushings??

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Another thought I had was the bump stops making the noise? Are they meant to be quite close to the cradle itself or should they have a bit of room between?

 

Replaced the Ford original ones a few months ago with just replacement ones (keeping the same measurements) but should I try shorter ones?

 

Only change to rear suspension is a set of rear Shockworks non-adjustable shocks whilst retaining the same height with standard XR6 springs.

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On 6/21/2016 at 0:46 PM, Ralph Wiggum said:

BA/BF1 cradles are beefier than BF/2 & FG. The cradles are all basically the same and interchangeable (but you need use FG LCA's with and FG Cradle) But as time progressed the cradles because less solid.

 

 

I needed a lower control arm (one spring sits on) for the rear of my BA xr6t sedan and at the time I found a brand new one from a FG very cheap. so I have drivers side BA arm and passenger side FG arm. been on for a few years.......seems to work so should I change it or just leave it? they looked pretty much the same haha

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