My truck is a 1993 F150, 2WD, 6 cylinder 4.9L motor.

That said, I am having some steering/ noise from front end issues. The truck pulls pretty meanly to the right when driving forward. Then it makes a popping noise when I turn left. The steering is loose, about 3in back and forth on the wheel while driving.

I just jacked it up, and am going to check the ball the joints tomorrow (need a metal rod). But while I was under it I was looking at the tie rod ends, pumped some grease into them and some/most of them are shot. The boots around them are rotted.

I am wondering a rough procedure to replace the tie rod ends. I sprayed some PB on the castle nuts to help with their removal tomorrow. Are there any tools that will help me, or even better money saving techniques. I am sort of wondering if I need to replace the whole rod or just the ends? What is the deal with the center rod as well?

thank you for the help.


Keeping this old rig on the road one part at time!

 

If you look closely, the left and right "inner" pieces have the end ***** permanently attached. If these ends are bad you will need to replace the whole rod in each case, that's the only way they come that I have seen. Same thing with the left and right "outer", although that is just the ball with about a 6 inch threaded end in each case.

Usually nothing really special for tools needed. Big hammer, two or three size different sockets, ratchet, maybe a breaker bar, needle nose to remove cotter pins, big channel locks or small pipe wrench to twist the connecting sleeves and separate the inners from the outers (spray those sleeves with PB as well before you get started). Unless you have a BFV (Big Friggin' Vice) to work on, I have found it's easier to separate the inner from the outer while the whole assembly is still on the truck, that way you have a little help gripping the ends while they are still attached. They do make a special tool for separating the actual ball from where they are connected to the hubs and also to the pitman arm but you will only need this if they are REALLY stuck and especially with the pitman arm because there's usually little room to get in there with a hammer. Some people refer to this tool as a "pickle fork". I think Autozone and Advance Auto have them for about $10 and are called something like "tie rod end separating tools". Go figure.

Also, don't forget to count the threads that are showing before you start twisting the connecting sleeves to separate everything. When you put the whole thing back together try to install the new ends with the same amount of threads showing. This will help give you an approximate alignment to get you to the shop that will do your alignment. If you are doing the ball joints too, you will want to wait until you are done with those before you go for an alignment, of course.

Let us know how it turns out.

 

Thank you for the reply. I have also searched the forum and found some good info along the way for tie rod and ball joint replacement.

I do have 2 other questions, what part is the pitman arm? I have heard it referred to numerous times. Also do you think I should purchase new bearings while doing this?

I am going to procure the parts and tools this evening, and start the tear down.

 

Pitman arm is connected to the steering gear.....Kinda in the shape of a window crank lol.

 

The pitman arm is, like brett said, a window-crank looking thing that hangs off the bottom of the steering gear box. Your main long "inner" tie rod connects to it with one of those "crown" nuts you talked about in your first post.

If you look under the front and have someone turn your steering wheel left and right you will see the pitman arm go left and right as well, in turn moving the tie rods and ends, which moves your wheels left and right.

There's really no way to tell for sure whether or not you will need new bearings and such without taking your hubs apart and taking a close look. Don't forget to inspect the bearing races as well. That's the shiny surfaces inside the hub itself that the bearings ride on. Run your finger over them (carefully, if they are messed up there may be sharp edges) and se if you can feel any irregularities, bumps, cracks, scratches, etc. If you feel anything other than smoothness, you may want to consider replacing the races as well, or having them done at a local shop. It can be tough sometimes to get those in there correctly without messing the new ones up in the process.

 

Ok well the repair went well. New ball joints on the passenger side (driver side was done 2 yrs ago). They were tough but a big hammer and a rented press and they eventually gave.

The tie rods, all the grease boots were shot on all of the rods, so I replaced them all. Was very easy to do. I had to kick the socket wrench to break some of the nuts as they were rusted on nice and tight.

With every thing replaced I am still hearing the noise I heard before I did the repair. I was certain that it was the ball joints and steering cause of the condition it was in, but I was played and am now stumped.

When I turn left or hit bumps, I hear a clunk clunk noise form the passenger front side. Could it be the radius arms or bushings? I need to get it aligined cause the repair jacked it up, should I hold off and replace the radius arm bushings, or can that be done without messing with the alignment?

 

Have you considered that the noise might be one or both of%2