Busted anchor arm on 86 Pickup
 

Greetings,

I just bought a somewhat beat-up 86 Pickup - short bed, 22R, 4-speed. Apparently I didn't notice until after I bought it, but the left torsion bar anchor arm is splayed out, and the front left corner is riding on the gradually crumbling bumpstop. The arm is splayed out enough that it's catching well inside the frame crossmember, which is now slightly dented. I tried bending it back, but couldn't get enough leverage.

I've heard that the 89 anchor arms are a plug & play replacement. Where can I get them (any forum members have any laying around?), and what year did they change enough to be incompatible?

I can't seem to find a writeup on how to actually remove the anchor arm, especially a bent one. How's it done? Any tips on how to bend the arm back enough to at least get it out, if not just fix it outright?

How bad is it to ride around on bump stops, anyway? Or rather, how bad is it to ride with a bottomed-out corner with no bump stop?

Thanks

Also, pardon the newbie question...but how do I get the spare tire down?

IMHO - dont drive it.

Also - is the arm on the FRAME bent or the arm on the the A Arm or the arm "inside" the frame that is linked to the bolt?

If its the arm inside the bolt - its a plug and play deal.

The question is how it got bent and what other damage there is.

Pics would help..

The piece circled in red is bent out (they both are). I'm not sure what you mean by "arm inside the bolt", but there's indeed a bolt that is supposed to keep the arm pivoted at a certain angle to the frame crossmember. The bolt is now just rattling around, because the arm forks are spread out too far.

The crossmember is dented slightly, and the bumpstop is cracked, but I can't see any other damage.

I don't know how it happened. My first thought was that the bolt's washer pushed the arms out over the years, but I'd expect some big scratches on the arm, and they're not there. Plus they're spread out pretty far, and the sheetmetal is quite thick. If I didn't know better, I'd say it were intentionally done, but I can't imagine why anyone would do that.