1973 F-250 steering coupling replacement ...
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From: Fontana, Ca
1973 F-250 steering coupling replacement ...
I bought my 17 year old a 1973 Ford F-250 for his birthday. He's learning to work on the truck. I know how to work on it somewhat ... I used to have a 75 chevy that I worked on all the time.
Right now he's trying to replace the steering coupling (also called a Rag-Joint by the guys at the auto parts store). The old one is some layered cloth thing that has disentegrated. The new one is all rubber with cloth in it.
Anyway ... he's having a heck of a time getting all of the bolts out of the coupling. I have never had to replace one of these before. The box that the new parts came with have little to no instruction and the Haynes manual isn't helpful at all.
Has anyone replaced one of these buggers before? If so do you have any ideas or suggetions you can throw my way?
Thanks in advance
Andii
Right now he's trying to replace the steering coupling (also called a Rag-Joint by the guys at the auto parts store). The old one is some layered cloth thing that has disentegrated. The new one is all rubber with cloth in it.
Anyway ... he's having a heck of a time getting all of the bolts out of the coupling. I have never had to replace one of these before. The box that the new parts came with have little to no instruction and the Haynes manual isn't helpful at all.
Has anyone replaced one of these buggers before? If so do you have any ideas or suggetions you can throw my way?
Thanks in advance
Andii
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From: corbin ky
i had to replace mine, on a 77 f100 and it used the same style rag joint. you just gotta play with them and take your time. once i had the nuts off the bolts i used a 9/16 wrench to tap the bolts out since they had never been removed before. other than that its all prying and tapping (gently).
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From: Fontana, Ca
so the piece we are having a heck of a time with right now is this one:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v3...=IMG_03751.jpg
I'd embed it but it doesnt want to let me. (gotta love vbulletin forums)
Is there something that's holding it in there? The two of them are just turning and turning and won't come out. I was suspecting that it might be stripped but my son said they are both doing the same thing ... just turning and turning.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v3...=IMG_03751.jpg
I'd embed it but it doesnt want to let me. (gotta love vbulletin forums)
Is there something that's holding it in there? The two of them are just turning and turning and won't come out. I was suspecting that it might be stripped but my son said they are both doing the same thing ... just turning and turning.
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From: Fontana, Ca
it just twists in. There was no nut on the bottom. I'm not sure the vice grip thing does much. We tried it already.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to pull the whole steering shaft and wrestle with it.
So much for a 1-day weekend project.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to pull the whole steering shaft and wrestle with it.
So much for a 1-day weekend project.
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From: Fontana, Ca
There is no slot in it. I know some of them have 'screw heads'. This one is solid just like the one in the photo link posted above.
Here is another shot with a red circle around the offending part.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ercoupler2.gif
We got the other two out okay. These two just spin and spin when we turn them and won't come out. I don't believe it's anything that WD40 is going to handle since it's turning. It's just not pulling 'up' or 'out'.
Here is another shot with a red circle around the offending part.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ercoupler2.gif
We got the other two out okay. These two just spin and spin when we turn them and won't come out. I don't believe it's anything that WD40 is going to handle since it's turning. It's just not pulling 'up' or 'out'.
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From: corbin ky
yeah i remember which 2 of them your talking about now. those 2 that you cant get loose are not supposed to come compltely out, opr atleast they didnt on mine. on your steering shaft there is a couple plates that fit around them as guides. on mine i had to loosen the steering shaft inside the truck at this point and pry the 2 apart, after i had removed the nut from the main bottom on the shaft of the steering box. BTW getting the rag joint back onto the steering box was a PITA.
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From: Fontana, Ca
Basically Ford, in it's infinite wisdom, smashed the bolts so they didn't have to use a nut to put them on. We had to grind the bottoms off and tap them out.
Ugh.
But ... we got it done.
The other ugly thing was that there were two kits at Auto Zone for this project. It ended up we had to use parts from both kits. Neither single one was the right one. THAT sucked.
I can't say this was an easy project but it wasnt horribly bad. On a scale of 1 to 10 it's a 4 because of the angle and having to remove the booster and master cylinder.
Amazingly enough just this small repair made a HUGE difference in the steering. It's tight now. No play at all.
Thanks for the tips!
Ugh.
But ... we got it done.
The other ugly thing was that there were two kits at Auto Zone for this project. It ended up we had to use parts from both kits. Neither single one was the right one. THAT sucked.
I can't say this was an easy project but it wasnt horribly bad. On a scale of 1 to 10 it's a 4 because of the angle and having to remove the booster and master cylinder.
Amazingly enough just this small repair made a HUGE difference in the steering. It's tight now. No play at all.
Thanks for the tips!
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