How to Service Radius Rods on Your UTV

Table of contents:

Remove the Wheel Remove Radius Arm Hardware Remove the Bushing Press in New Monoball Reinstall Radius Arms

9 January 2023

UTV radius rods are prone to wearing out like other parts of the UTV. When this happens, you easily notice from your driving experience, and the next step is to service them to restore them to their old glory.

Although you can replace old, worn-out radius rods, servicing them is a cheaper option. Fortunately, this is something you can do on your own.

However, servicing radius rods, also known as radium arms, can be a daunting task as it requires a few workarounds.

Here is a simple yet effective guide to service UTV radius rods:

Photo credit: Derek Gardner

Remove the Wheel

When a radius rod is bad and needs servicing, it is the monoball inside that is faulty. Hence, servicing the rod requires replacing the monoball. Start by removing the wheel.

Grab a socket and a wrench to loosen the bolts and remove the tires and wheel. This should be simple and fast if you are used to loosening your wheels. If you are not too familiar with this task, be careful so you don’t damage the threads.

Remove Radius Arm Hardware

The next step is to remove the radius rod hardware. Do this by loosening the bolts that secure the radius rod to the UTV’s frame. You will also need a wrench to complete this step.

Ensure to put the bolt and nut together and keep them since you will need them again when reinstalling.

Repeat these steps for all the bolts securing the hardware.

Once you remove your radius arm, you can make the necessary observations. One observation about a bad radius rod is dirt and debris inside the rod. This causes some kind of clanking noise in the suspension system.

At this point, you want to clean the debris and dirt.

Remove the Bushing

You need a tool for pressing out the bushing, and an old socket is a perfect idea for this task. Once the bushing is out, you can see more dirt inside your radius rod. While cleaning the inside of your radius arm might be hard, applying an air blower will help get the debris out. Continue by spraying some lubricant inside the rod. Lubricating the inside of your radius rods is a major tip to servicing them.

Press in New Monoball

The next step is to introduce a new monoball, which is the aim of this procedure. Since there are two sides to the radius rod, you might be confused about the right side to insert the new monoball.

You are pressing your new monoball to the side with the groove and snap ring, not the side with the lip.

Reinstall Radius Arms

Repeat all these steps for all the radius arms on your machine and reinstall them back to your UTV. Do this by following the same steps while uninstalling them but in reverse order.