So I finally got to test drive my 75 F100 4x4 and I discovered that while the drive train all seems to be in working order, there is a massive slop in the steering. As in I can turn the steering wheel from about 9 o'clock position all the way to 3 or so before actually turning the truck. I get back home and start diagnosing and discover a pair of issues. There is quite a bit of slop in the left side hub/ wheel bearings. I'm not too worried about this as it should be a fairly easy to tighten down or just replace the bearings. The other issue is my right tie rod is so worn that the castle nut on top is moving as well as the joint on the bottom. Moving a LOT on both sides. As in I was lucky to survive my test drive kind of movement!



I have the Garrison style power steering and the 75 4x4 right tie rods seem to be made of unobtanium or solid gold depending on where you look. Wait, did I just say Garrison style steering? On top of that, I already have about half of what I need to convert to disc brakes, which will mean new linkage anyways. I have everything hub and brake wise from a 1978 F150 (except the rotors which I will buy new) and have been slowly looking for the matching tie rods, adjusting sleeve, and drag link. Rather than find and replace a 75 tie rod that is going to be converted later anyways, I am hoping to just do the disc/ steering linkage conversion now. I already know that I need the full set of steering linkage to match the new 78 disc brake knuckles. My question is the steering box and the rest. The best I could find while searching was that the 78-79 box was different and set back further towards the cab. I found some references mentioning a possible sector shaft change to use the 75 box, but I could not locate a thread with any details as to how that actually works. Does anyone have any more details on this and how would it compare durability and reliability wise to just converting to a 78-79 box? If the sector shaft doesn't pan out, I assume that I will need to drill new mounting holes for the new box and replace the steering shaft with one from a 78-79 or is there more to it? Last question is whether the pitman arm needs to be replaced too if I swap boxes?

 

Visit the tech info compilation sticky. There is a links for'doing exactly what ya wanna do.

 

Sigh...all that searching and it was in the most obvious spot? Checking now...

Edit: Yup there it is plain as day. If you need me, I will be reading and hiding in shame, lol.

 

It's there to save ya time and from using the less than stellar FTE search function!

I did the work so you don't have to.