Just went to a tire shop to see about my allighnment on my 96 250. Walked out with a $900 estiment. All my tie rod are bad. only thing still good is the mud on it. (and thats flaking off as well). lol trucks 4x4 with over 150.000 miles. Is that normal? Looking to do work myself with help of a back yard mechanic friend. He say's it's simple enough. I hope so, my first time. I'm having trouble locateing a center bar though Any good parts store i can check out? Too bad my 79 bronco parts truck won't work. Or will it? hmmmmmm

 

Is this what you are looking for?

http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/i-..._1_ton_ttb.htm

 

Yea just change them yourself, buy a separating fork they're cheap enough.

Once you have them all on set the steering wheel straight and lock it in place by turning off the key.
then set the toe to a 1/8 of a inch.
Take the first measurement at the back as high up on the wheel as you can, then take a measurement in the front of the wheels at the same point, set it so the front of the tires are in 1/8 of a inch less than the back measurement.
Take it for a ride as see if the steering wheel is straight and it runs down the road straight if you let go of the wheel. It should very slowly drift off the road to the right if any, not to the left into oncoming traffic.
If it pulls to one side try again.
If the steering wheel is one way or the other while going straight down the road reset the wheel straight and the move both tie rods a half turn or so in the direction you need to bring the wheel straight and double check the toe is right again, adjust as necessary and test drive again.
It may take a few tries to get it right but thats all the alignment shop will do anyway.

 

Tie rod ends are one of the easiest jobs you'll do on these trucks, all you need it a pickle fork, hammer and a few sockets. My suggestion is to replace everything necessary and then take it in for an alignment. If you are replacing the whole tie rod assembly, just disconnect it at both sides and the stearing box, and build the replacement to copy it as closely as possible.

 

After you put them in, don't try and align it yourself. You'll never get it right, and you'll just wear out your tires faster with a bad alignment. Even if it doesn't drift it can still be way out.

Take it to an alignment shop after. Get it as close as you can, but let the pros do it right. An alignment shop does *not* test drive your vehicle over and over until it drives right.

 

I've been aligning my trucks for years just as I stated above and my tires do not wear down because of it, I rotate my wheels and get the same mileage out of them anyone else does.

Ask the alignment shop what exactly they're going it set on it, if the answer is anything other than "set the toe" for the 25 30 bucks they're going to charge ya they're lying.
But you do what you want.
Trucks don't need much more than a toe set unless they have been hit in the front end or front wheel. Then its time to shim the spindle as part of the job.

And yes they have a rack to set the toe with so it doesn't take as many repeated tries, they still need to test drive it as see how it runs out. However after getting a couple of cars back it was obvious they hadn't even bothered to test drive it.
I've very picky so it takes me 3-4 tries until I'm happy with it. I want the steering wheel straight and it to run straight down the road when I'm done. I won't settle for anything less.

How many times have you got a car or truck back from a "professional" job only to find the steering wheel is cocked to one side when going straight?
I've had many a alignment done on cars, (I don't do cars with a tape after a strut change or like repair) at several different places around here only to have to take it back so they can try again. Wheel cocked or it even pulls to one side or the other.

 

Thanks for your responses. ALz i checked on the graveyard site. And thats perfect. I need the truck if at all possible by this weekend, so i'm going to visit the wreacking yard and see, if any good parts until i have more time to order new parts and install.