mattplumber
Full Access Member
Spent all day yesterday swapping in my dana 60 that i picked up a couple of months back and replacing several other well worn componets as well.
I was truly in shock at how bad the front end was in my truck. I had been without power steering for a little over a month, and the truck wandered the road like a drifter high on drugs. The steering box was beyond shot as well as all the steering linkage, ujoints, ball joints, brakes, pivot bushings, springs, basically everything under the front end was garbage. It all "fell" apart relatively easily and went back together fairly smooth with the exception of some frozen brakelines that took some massaging to get apart and back together.
I would have never been able to get this done, at least by myself without the assistance of Rick, the only other member on this board who is local here and whom i've ever met face to face.
I truly didnt realize how terrible my truck was until i got to drive it home last night! The steering is like a dream! The truck doesnt shake, vibrate, rattle, or worst of all bottom out anymore like it did with the d50 stuff. Why o why Ford ever installed the junk under a 3/4 ton truck is beyond me. It probably worked ok when it was brand new, but it seems to me that due to its inherent design, once one component fails the rest of the associated components are EXTREMELY short lived which leads to a labor intensive and costly rebuild.
The best part is that i thought the front end was going to sit noticiably higher than the rear which turned out not to be the case. It is higher, but only by an inch at the most. It really sits level in my opinion.
The only problem that I noticed is that when I went to take the truck to the alignment shop this am, i has a puddle of gear oil under my passenger tire. Im guessing that one of the axle seals had dried out from the axle sitting on the shelf for so long before i acquired it. Any idea whats involved in replacing these?
I was truly in shock at how bad the front end was in my truck. I had been without power steering for a little over a month, and the truck wandered the road like a drifter high on drugs. The steering box was beyond shot as well as all the steering linkage, ujoints, ball joints, brakes, pivot bushings, springs, basically everything under the front end was garbage. It all "fell" apart relatively easily and went back together fairly smooth with the exception of some frozen brakelines that took some massaging to get apart and back together.
I would have never been able to get this done, at least by myself without the assistance of Rick, the only other member on this board who is local here and whom i've ever met face to face.
I truly didnt realize how terrible my truck was until i got to drive it home last night! The steering is like a dream! The truck doesnt shake, vibrate, rattle, or worst of all bottom out anymore like it did with the d50 stuff. Why o why Ford ever installed the junk under a 3/4 ton truck is beyond me. It probably worked ok when it was brand new, but it seems to me that due to its inherent design, once one component fails the rest of the associated components are EXTREMELY short lived which leads to a labor intensive and costly rebuild.
The best part is that i thought the front end was going to sit noticiably higher than the rear which turned out not to be the case. It is higher, but only by an inch at the most. It really sits level in my opinion.
The only problem that I noticed is that when I went to take the truck to the alignment shop this am, i has a puddle of gear oil under my passenger tire. Im guessing that one of the axle seals had dried out from the axle sitting on the shelf for so long before i acquired it. Any idea whats involved in replacing these?