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Car Forum / Ford / Ford Trucks / November 2006Rebuild front-end? 94 F-250
Is this a shade tree job or best left to a front-end shop? I plan on getting a poly bushing kit. TIA >Is this a shade tree job or best left to a front-end shop? I plan on getting >a poly bushing kit. > >TIA With air wrenches, a good jack and stands along with a little determination, you can drop the whole front end and rebuild it in an afternoon if nothing goes wrong. It helps to get it a couple of feet off the ground to get under it. A helper is nice but, save the cold adult beverages until finished. Keep in mind that the alignment will need to be checked immediately after a rebuild. If you only replace the strut bushings, the alignment will not be so immediately critical. It has been so long since I was under that vintage F250, I don't recall if it has ball joints or king pins. If it has king pins, you will need the help of a machine shop to install the bushings. Lugnut "lugnut" <lugnut@bellsouth.net> wrote in message > With air wrenches, a good jack and stands along with a > little determination, you can drop the whole front end and > rebuild it in an afternoon if nothing goes wrong. Good to hear, as I'm also needing to do some front end work on my 92 F150. A couple of questions: When I recently took it in for alignment and tires, they said there was too much play in the front end, an alignment would be pointless. I cancelled the new tires and stepped back to reevaluate. They specifically mentioned the steering box, but I get no wandering on the road. There is some "softness", I'll call it, in the steering, and I can feel and hear every little bump right through the front wheels, so I think there's a lot of wear on all those joints. The steering wheel sits a full quarter turn to the left when running straight. Does all this make sense to those who know? I look in online parts catalogs, and find most ball joints in the range of 25-40 bucks. Then, in rockauto.com I find ball joints by Spicer for 7-8 bucks. Are these even worth considering? Why so cheap? Thanks. JG my 89 ford btronco wandered all over when i bought it from my friend. i found that the pitman arm was loose on the steering box. i replaced the pitman arm and it has not wandered a bit since. worth checking. old john ps: the wear may be on the steering box shaft also Hello, John! You wrote on Fri, 17 Nov 2006 01:29:34 -0500: JG> "lugnut" <lugnut@bellsouth.net> wrote in message ??>> ??>> With air wrenches, a good jack and stands along with a ??>> little determination, you can drop the whole front end and ??>> rebuild it in an afternoon if nothing goes wrong. JG> Good to hear, as I'm also needing to do some front end work on my 92 JG> F150. A couple of questions: JG> When I recently took it in for alignment and tires, they said there was JG> too much play in the front end, an alignment would be pointless. I JG> cancelled the new tires and stepped back to reevaluate. They JG> specifically mentioned the steering box, but I get no wandering on the JG> road. There is some "softness", I'll call it, in the steering, and I JG> can feel and hear every little bump right through the front wheels, so JG> I think there's a lot of wear on all those joints. The steering wheel JG> sits a full quarter turn to the left when running straight. Does all JG> this make sense to those who know? JG> I look in online parts catalogs, and find most ball joints in the range JG> of 25-40 bucks. Then, in rockauto.com I find ball joints by Spicer for JG> 7-8 bucks. Are these even worth considering? Why so cheap? JG> Thanks. With best regards, ajeeperman@comcast.net. E-mail: ajeeperman@comcast.net <ajeeperman@comcast.net> wrote in message > my 89 ford btronco wandered all over when i bought it from my friend. > i found that the pitman arm was loose on the steering box. > i replaced the pitman arm and it has not wandered a bit since. worth > checking. > old john > ps: the wear may be on the steering box shaft also Thanks for that. My truck doesn't wander, but the steering is very light, almost as if it were overboosted. Also, I have maybe 10 degrees of freeplay and a rather loose feel toward the left when at speed, but almost no freeplay and a much firmer feel to the right in the same circumstance. I'm presuming here that I will replace all joints and bushings, replace the Pitman arm, and repair or replace the steering box and column. I'm just working up a cost, and trying to learn and understand the trouble shooting symptoms. Thanks. >"lugnut" <lugnut@bellsouth.net> wrote in message >> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > >JG Spicer is a decent brand of parts. My personal preference is for Moog or premium line of TRW. If your plan is to keep the truck for a few more thousand miles, use the higher quality parts. If you are going to replace the ball joints, you will probably need a press for them. Harbor Freight has a press set that goes on sale occasionally for about $30 which is OK for DIY use - not frequent pro use. If you have slack at the gearbox, you will need to determine if it is the box or the Pittman arm. There is also a good possibility that the slack is wear in the column. It isn't hard to track down the wear in the other parts. Lugnut "lugnut" <lugnut@bellsouth.net> wrote in message > Spicer is a decent brand of parts. My personal preference > is for Moog or premium line of TRW. If your plan is to keep [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > a press set that goes on sale occasionally for about $30 > which is OK for DIY use - not frequent pro use. Thanks for that tip. My truck has 180K on it now. If I keep it, I'll do another 25-50K easy. > If you have slack at the gearbox, you will need to determine > if it is the box or the Pittman arm. There is also a good > possibility that the slack is wear in the column. It isn't > hard to track down the wear in the other parts. If the column itself is worn, is that a DIY replacement? Expensive? If the column is worn, is it then pointless to invest in the rest of the steering/suspension gear? Thanks again. JG >"lugnut" <lugnut@bellsouth.net> wrote in message >> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > >JG If it is in the column, it is almost always the rag joint which is readily available for about $10 and easy to install. It is a fabric joint in the shaft just above the gearbox. Most have a plastic cover over it. Should be able to slip the cover up, remove the 4 nuts and collapse the shaft upward to get room to replace. Slip it back together and install the nuts - done (unless you turned the shaft 180 deg. in which case the wheel will be upside down.) I have seen a couple that were diagnosed as needing a complete overhaul that this fixed the problem. Lugnut "lugnut" <lugnut@bellsouth.net> wrote in message > If it is in the column, it is almost always the rag joint > which is readily available for about $10 and easy to [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > seen a couple that were diagnosed as needing a complete > overhaul that this fixed the problem. Thanks! I never even heard of that! |
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