I want to put new bushings in the entire suspension on my 67 F100 2WD. I figure I will do this while the engine is out and I figure I will clean up and paint most of the chassis while it is apart. Do any of the bushings need to be pressed in or out? Is it really hard and does it require any special tools? I want to do both the front end and the rear leaf springs. There isn't much of the original ones left you could rock the truck back and forth and hear the metal on metal contact. Thanks. Eric

 

Eric,

I just put in new poly bushings on the front end of my 71. I'm trying to chase down that last couple of inches of slack in my steering. Anyway, you really need an impact wrench to do this job unless you use lots of penintraiting oil and even then I think it will take you a while for just one bushing. I used an electric impact wrench because I don't have a compressor. I replaced the I-beam pivot bushings, radius arm bushings, new wheel bearings and put on all new steering links. Now she drives like a charm. Do you have a service manual? If not then get one from this site. It really help in the order of operations to get everything apart. Don't be afraid of this job. Our front ends are really simple. Now that I have done it once, I could probably take off the radius arms and I beams in under an 30 mins. The pivot bushings for the I beams were the hardest to do. It would be easier if you pressed them out but I did it the old fashion way. I took a small screw driver and hammered it threw the rubber, prying back and forth trying to break the seal between the center metal sleeve and the rubber bushing. When I could get a bigger screw driver in there, I would pry it to one side and spray wd40 in there. After a while, you have torn up the rubber so much that you can push out the center metal sleeve and then pull out the rest of the rubber. Make sure you clean out the outer shell really well or its going to be tough to put the new ones in. If you do use an impact wrench, let me know and I will tell you what sockets I used. They were HUGE. It gave me an excuse to buy more tools. Yeah.

Good Luck
Austin

 

Thanks for the reply. I have an impact and a shop manual. I will appreciate knowing what size of sockets are needed that way I don't have to keep looking for tools. Did you do the rear suspension bushings also? Thanks. Eric