Aaaargh! I got 6 years, 70k out of the OEM set, and went with Moogs hoping to never do this job again!

Question for Dave: The control arms (lower) seem to be really soft cast iron... any chance of major damage/ failure by beating the off of the torsion bars like you have to do? I'm concerned about cracking because all the hammering deformed the metal around the bar pocket quite a bit.

 

I've beat the heck out of torsion bars to get them out and haven't noticed any problems after. I think you'll be ok

 

Why are you removing the torsion bars?

Dube

 

I could not press out the old joints with the control arms on the truck, it took a couple of 4x4 blocks and a rather large hammer to get them loose... I also decided to replace the front shocks and the right side bolt was corroded into place, had to put the Sawzall to work on the bolt to get it off.. AND since the old joints sucked to get out I couldn't imagine trying to press the new ones in without a REAL press so off to the local shop the lowers went. Whew! I get them back tomorrow, as an interesting note, I dropped them off after work today and had my '71 Riviera inspected... 32 years old, 100k miles, exhaust leak, running like **** right now and they passed it without hardly glancing at it... I guess I should have taken my truck to *that* shop instead!

 

PS, thanks Dave, I feel better! I'll clean up the pockets and bars really good and lay on a coat of grease just in case I ever have to pull them again!

 

Rather than use grease I like to use Never-Sieze.

 

Yea! Almost done with this darn project!

Anybody know the proper procedure for preloading the front bearings?

Several more things I have learned: The front hub seals are available seperately from the bearings and hub, my friendly local Ford dude hooked me up with Motorcraft part # BRS-54 (below this number is F65Z-1S190-AA Not sure if this second number matters). Don't drive your truck around the yard with the half-shafts removed, I realized later that the bearings are held into the hub by the half-shaft! Lastly, clean the surfaces on the halfshaft where the seal rides while you have them out, the seals aren't too expensive but why take chances on wrecking them? One of mine was like new, the other heavily rusted, and the seal paid with it's life! :-)

 

The bearings are preloaded just by tightening the big nut on the end of the axle. It gets torqued to 188-254 ft.lb or realllly tight with a long bar

 

Thanks Dave, you da man! :-)

 

I tackled the uppers, lowers and tie rod ends this weekend. Got the drivers side done and the uppers and tie rod ends on the passenger side. Would have gotten the lower done but cannot get the half shaft out of the darn hub. Unfortunately, I have to replace the half shaft because of the sledge hammer bending the threaded end of it.

First do you guys have any suggesions on getting this stubborn half shaft out of the hub and secondly, how hard is it going to be to replace the half shaft when I get it out?

Things I have tried to get the half shaft out.
Soaking in PB blaster
Sledge Hammer
3-Jaw Puller
Iron Piping slightly bigger than the threaded shat, being hit with sledge

Trying tonight---Air Hammer on end of Half shaft

 

Hi Thumper and welcome to the forum

Wow...I've never seen one that tight before. Usually once you take the nut off the axle pushes in quite easily.
If all else fails you may end up replacing the wheel bearing/hub assembly too. Actually with that much beating on the axle you may have damaged the wheel bearings anyway
The axle is pretty easy to remove. Just remove the bolts that hold it to the flange on the differential and it should slide out. Sometimes the sway bar end link is in the way and will have to be removed too.
The wheel bearing/hub assembly has 3 bolts that attach it to the steering knuckle if you end up having to go that route.
Let us know how it goes.

 

I finally got it off. Sure I had to buy a new half shaft but a small price to pay for success The sledge hammer and lots of PB Blaster finally worked. The end of the half shaft looked like a mushroom when I got done with it. Got a new half shaft for $80, so overall I still saved money. The truck is in for its alignment right now so we will see how that goes. The only thing I did not do was replace the inner tie rod joints or the pitarm. I also did not install the adjustable camber kit I had read about before.

Anyway I want to thank you for your advice. Because if that sledge hammer would not have worked I would have been forced to do exactly liked you said. Replace the hub and all.

Nice to know that there is a place to go to ask questions when things dont go right. I will be reading this site often as I know it is a matter of time before something else breaks.