Hello, I'm new to this forum but not to Ford's. The one that I am currently working on is a 1986 F-150 XLT Lariat. It has a 5.0 that is fuel injected with an auto. My question is this:
The other day it started wandering really bad, so I went over the front end and couldn't find anything. I re-packed the bearings and they looked in good condition. I just replaced all the tie rods and upper and lower ball joints as well as axle shaft joints less than a 1000 miles ago.
Went for a ride in it today and it is way worse. It was steering like it had a broken ball joint and I was really fighting the wheel. So, I laid under it and figured I had to find something. Lo and behold what i found was that where the steering box mounts on the frame. The frame is broke. This part of the frame is actually a section that is riveted to the main frame. I figured that would be an easy enough fix, just get a new "frame tower" from Ford and bolt it in...WRONG. It seems that Ford doesnt list any kind of part number for this riveted section of the frame. My question to you guys is this... Have you ever heard of this frame failure? and if so is there a company somewhere that i can get an aftermarket part to bolt on this area? I have done this with the shock towers, and the rear shackle mounts. Please help...

 

Welcome to FTE.

Pictures would be cool.

Not to rain on your parade, but I'm not familiar with any sort of sections riveted to the main frame, I suspect you're looking at something invented by a PO.

These kinds of things can happen when people abuse the things - install oversize tires and/or go jumping around offroad.

Again, pictures.........

 

I dont have any pics at the present time. But it is a factory set-up, I have owned this pickup for the last 5 yrs, and know the original owner personally. Matter of fact I have changed the oil in this truck everytime since it rolled off the show room floor since feb. 1986. Its one of the reasons that i bought it from him. That and the fact that it only has 72K on it.

 

Are you talking about the cross-member that goes across under the radiator between the front frame horns?

 

Here is what the parts catalog shows for the frame:

 

No, this piece runs with the main frame along the inside of the driver's side. Its the part that is directly behind the steering box. The box gets bolted to it. It goes from just infront of the main crossmember that holds the motor mounts to just infront of the steering box itself.

 

if you look at that pic, on the pass. side just in front of the main cross member. thats just like the gusset piece that is on the driver's side. thats the part thast i need, or some sort of kit that i can weld in to strenghten the broken part.

 

This is 2WD, correct?

Single shocks?

 

I know what you're talking about. Did it just crack, or did it completely come out? The 70's trucks had a problem with cracking behind the steering box, and I have heard of it before on the 80-86 trucks, although not quite as frequently.

As far as a kit, I haven't heard of one. You're probably gonna have to find a way to either weld the crack, or remove that entire section from a donor truck, and then transplant it into your truck.

 

No, its an F-150 4wd. And it had single shocks, but i swapped out the frame mounts and put the quad shock front end set up on it.

 

I just looked through the same almost-100-pages of the steering/suspension/axle/frame sections of the same same parts book your Ford dealer did, I can't find such a thing, either.

If you know how to weld, you could probably fab up some sort of replacement reinforcing brace to replace that component with.

Or, take it to a frame & alignment shop, they could probably take care of it.

If you can get the old one out, and it's a separate, replaceable part, it will have a Ford Engineering ID number stamped on it someplace. Give us that number and maybe we can find it.

If no such number exists, the part is included as a component of some other assembly.

 

Yep, a 1/4" plate welled over the area, after the cracks are welded up, should work fine. If your going to be running larger tires, you might want to check out the steering box brace like they use on Jeeps. It's a brace that bolts to the steering box and runs across to the right side frame rail.

 

I just found a bit more.....

E6TZ-5K130-A REPAIR KIT (FRAME) Designed for 1986/88 F150/350
Contains a liner, 2 spacers, and a bunch of nuts & bolts & washers & instructions

But I have no information other than that.

Green Sales Company has 5 of them, might give them a call (800-543-495) to get some more specifics as to what, exactly, it's for.

A place called USD Inc. in Phoenix has 1 - 602-774-4809

EDIT: Googling that part number finds more information on it....

 

This does happen now and again on here, and oversize tires seem to aggravate the problem. You will probably need to hunt around your area for a good welder/fabricator who is confident enough in his work to take on the liability of the job.

 

Hey Chris, I think this is what's being discussed.



I hope that helps.