Originally I wanted to keep the straight axle and just put on lowering springs and sway bar. It is hard to find someone to replace king pins. Has anyone used the sub frame from a ford LTD? Does it have the same issues as the other ford car that has been talked about here? What is the best Mustang II ifs to use?

 

Rebuilding the beam axle, king pin replacement and springs is well within the scope of a willing DIYer with low-average mechanical ability a decently complete set of hand tools, jack, jack stands and a long weekend. A willing extra pair of hands are helpful but not necessary. This is a great first bonding with my old truck experience project!
I would be willing to walk you thru it, and/or there is ample info on here and you tube.
Forget the sway bar with the stock front suspension, it's not needed and only marginally effective.
An IFS install is much more complex, expensive and difficult to find a competent installer. There are a number of good IFS kits out there, just be sure to select one from a name US manufacturer, avoid any made in China, sold without name or source on ebay, use any salvaged MII parts, or sold under Helix or any other Hoffman group member name Like Johnny Law. Also remember that the IFS unit is only the tip of the iceberg, a lot of other parts, mods, and changes are required and come along with it.
Don't know what year LTD you are asking about, but if you are considering a donor IFS swap, then the skill set and expense required just increased exponentially.

 

Not sure what problems your area has with king pins, but I replaced my own on an F4 and I'm no mechanic, and I would think it would be a little easier on an F1.

After taking the spindles off, having a machine shop press and ream the bushings is the only part I couldn't do, as I don't own the equipment. But I'll bet there's a shop somewhere near you that can do it.

 

My truck ha a 1970 LTD front clip grafted to the original frame; I bought it that way. This was a popular swap some years ago.
I would not do that today as there are many other options available. Depending on what your plans are for the truck, rebuilding what is there may be a better choice.

 

Pappy where at in Missouri do you live? There are a lot of FTE'rs from Mo that lurk on this site. I would think someone would help. I live in Ozark and am getting ready to put king pins in. I just hooked up power steering and also going to put in the down and forward springs and sway bar. If you close I would help.I have all my parts except the king pins which I am going to try and get local am sure there are some to be had in Springfield. I was going to go the route of volare then tci and after cruising around on this site and posting questions I decided to keep stock axle with just new parts and am glad that I am /did. The people on this site love helping anyone. Can't say enough.

 

My 53 has a 87 Town Car frame clip on the front. If the PO hadn't hacked the front frame rails attempting to install a Volare, I'm not sure I would have gone this route. But I have to say that I love the way it rides and drives.

 

My first 55 had a 78 ltd clip and it was great handling and the ride was very good. What I did not like is that the brake peddle was on the left side of the steering column so you had to use left foot brake. I know that a lot of people still use left foot to brake but I don't but I did get used to it. Then sold it get daughter through school. What ever works for you

 

Pappy what year were you considering? My 55 is setup just like Mechmagcn, 1987 FOMOCO front clip (Crown Vic). Rides and handles good for what I use it for cruisin. Keep us posted with what direction you decide to go Stock, Aftermarket IFS, or FORD clip..

 

Pappy,
Years ago I owned a brake & frontend alignment shop. We use to take the spindles off and take them to our local machine shop for the above mentioned treatment. One day one of my employees came up to me and said the machine shop had screwed up because the pins wouldn't fit. Come to find out the young guy had picked up the pins and for some reason had put them in his pants pockets. The lint in his pockets had clung to the pins and they would no longer fit the spindles. A little clean up and everything worked fine. Why Am I telling you this story? You want the machine shop to have your king pin to bushing fit VERY close. If you have made up your mind to remove the straight axle look into a 2003 to 2012 Crown Vic (panther platform) front cradle exchange.

 

Also look into Lexus SC300/400 front cradle/IFS. Mounts very similar to the Crown Vic without the width problem.

 

AXracer, did you take the axle off to replace the king pins? Are you still running the straight axle on your truck? what did you use for springs? I am really thing about doing it myself. I need to check with my cousin he said he had all the tools to do it a year ago. Hope he still has them. He may even offer to help. I have already put on Toyota pwr steering so I really don't want to change it all now. The only other thing that bothers me is I had a guy at a truck show this past weekend tell me that the tie rod ends that LMC sells do not fit. He said they have had over 90 returns on them. Anyone else had this problem? WHat did you do?

 

artscott61 I live in Independence, MO

 

Pappy, yes I still have the beam axle on my panel, and am quite satisfied with it (this comes from a guy who is a student of high performance suspension design and races autocross nationally, and has the equipment and know how to install any IFS I desired, could even design/build my own). No, the axle does not need to be removed from the truck to replace the kingpins. The bushings are in the spindles the kingpins are locked into the axle with tapered pins and do not move in the axle. You can remove the spindles and kingpins easily with basic hand tools and take the spindles, new bushings and kingpins to an automotive machine shop to have the bushings replaced and align honed.After honing, no special tools only a wrench is required to replace the spindles and kingpins in the axle (and a grease gun to lube them).
I have reversed eye lowering springs from Mid Fifty (the panel doesn't seem to have the wheels too far back in the fenders look like the pickups, otherwise on a pickup I'd use their down and forward springs and extended drag link for better visual appearance). I also have the HD tie rod and tie rod ends from MF. With lowering springs or OEM springs with every other leaf removed also put in two sets of tapered caster adjustment shims to give enough caster to prevent wandering. Depending on the springs you may need to swap in a set of extended head spring centerbolts to extend far enough to key into the axle with 2 sets of shims. I can also walk you thru doing your own front end alignment (MF uses my alignment procedure in their employee classes). I really prefer working with Mid Fifty over any other supplier.

 

Thanks AXracer. I am going to replace the kingpins now. I will have to do something with the springs later. I need to get the repair panels bought and find someone to put them in. I am not a body man. I can get through the mechanical stuff. I use my truck for my Santa Claus gigs so I need a good elf(s) to do the body work and paint.

 

if the springs are OEM, at least replace the eye bushings and pins (likely worn) while working on the kingpins. Worn bushings and pins can affect steering and ride as much as kingpins.
Rust repair is not much more difficult. Come on down for a weekend and I'll set up a workshop just for you and teach you how. Yes, you can learn the basics in a weekend!
There used to be a good shop just outside St Louis I visited a couple times. Haven't been there in last 5 years so I don't know if it's still there. Rather large place that also bought and sold hotrods and collector cars. They had about 30- 50 cars in their showroom each time I visited.