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Thought since I was installing the rebuilt engine, C4, power brakes & power steering I might as well install the front axle and disk brake set up I bought a few years back.
Removing the old axle was a breeze.
installed the axle with the disc brakes. Installation went well. Then I decided to pack the wheel bearings.
Soooo I'll be reinstalling the old axle that I had already installed new kingpins in.
Yes I'm in the process of removing the inner bearing adapters from the bad spindle and installing on my old spindle. Just sucks to have installed the other axle before I realized the spindle was bad. Guess I ought to be glad I decided to repackage the wheel bearings now. I could have been out on the road when the spindle messed up on me.
Well good ole Rockauto just sent me new bearings, races and seals. The stuff on the old spindle was Chinese. Clearly marked on both the races & bearings. Opted for some good ole US of A built stuff.
Also ordered some caster shims and new draglink covers to complete the job. Thanks to Mid Fifty
Got the ole trucks front end back together with new disk brakes. Rebuilt the drag link and replaced the boots. Also replaced the front chassis bushings for the leaf springs.
Got a little more done today and ran across something a bit puzzling. According to Midfifty's ride height calculator Lowering Calculator - Mid Fifty F-100 Parts I should be at 16 1/2" to the top of my frame. I'm barely pushing 12 3/4". The only change I made was changing to the mono front spring
This leaves me with a little less than 2" upward travel.
I agree on the USA stuff 100%. A few months ago I had to replace the axle bearing and seal on my 98. All they had was a Chinese bearing. Needed my truck the next day so in it went. Had to replace that one just last Saturday. Put Nationals in both sides this time.
Job well done, sometimes I just have to smile at myself for thinking there weren't any worms in the can b4 I opened it. Well your truck now has a snazzy looking axle with new bearings/races, brakes, and shocks(?) that will improve the ride and stopping power for some time to come, that's a pretty good project is in my book. Plus look at all the fun you had, plus things like this build character. Many people spend hundreds of dollars an hour to some therapist to get the same results. Congratulatins
