Fixin' up my trusty DD (late model, not ratty, hopefully a little sleepy)

[clamor]

You know what it's like when you have a truck as your daily driver, you use it like a truck. I bought this one new in Sept. of 2003. While I haven't abused it (heck it's only got 75K miles on it), I surely have filled the bed a few times.

I have started to notice that the bed seemed a little cockeyed.

I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture, but after walking up on it every day it sticks out to me like a sore thumb.

 

[clamor]

Wha'd I do?

So, I started looking around the truck to see what was wrong. When I pulled the tape out, I noticed that the problem was more than the bed. The bumper was over an inch lower on the left side (it was only about half an inch in the pics I took today), which means the frame is lower on the left...which probably means my left spring is worn out. [S

And then it hit me, when I lived in AZ I fixed the yard at my house (the previous owner had put in grass), which entailed moving a lot of gravel. I think I added it up at one point & I moved 14 tons of gravel in about 7 trips. I know that my largest load was 2.73 tons. I really expected to lose a tire at some point, but ended up replacing them when they went bald. Years later the springs finally gave out, who knew?!

The pics are left side of the rear bumper, left rear wheel well, right rear bumper and right rear wheel well.

 

[clamor]

All the way around?

I took pics of the front end before i tore into it today, just to have a record. Until I get them uploaded I won't know if it's level in the front or not.

Pics are left front bumper & wheel well, then right front bumper and wheel well.

 

[clamor]

The culprit

I was really hoping when I first started looking at the suspension that it would just be bushings. Four years in the desert not being driven much (I have a motorcycle, why would I drive a truck in AZ, it's 12mo riding weather.) dry rot is pretty much a guarantee. So, I started looking at poly bushing kits. When I was looking a little closer under the truck to see how bad the bushings were, I saw this.

 

[clamor]

Round 1

I checked into replacing the factory suspension & the stupid things were $600 a corner. Getting them fixed would cost $250-300 & that would put me back to stock...who needs that?

A parallel leaf spring suspension is just 6 bolts & 4 u bolts, right?

How long could it take?

Oops, in the first pic you can see the first problem encountered during the fix and the fix itself...or at least the boxes it came in.

In the second you can see what cost me most of my time tonight.

That stupid lower shackle bolt wouldn't move for anything. But before I could really get rough with it I had to get my spare out of the way...which I've never done on this truck.

 

[clamor]

I'm a retard

My dusty memory said I needed run the wheel winch down with the tire iron.

When that was totally unsuccessful I took a peak down the hole with a flashlight & saw some crazy nut thing in there & remembered the key in the glove box.

Still focused on the tire iron, as you can see, it didn't fit the key. Well, I have a bench grinder. All the while, I'm thinking, "What would I have done if I really needed this thing on the side of the road some day?" Especially when I couldn't even get a full turn out of it.

Then I remembered that my old Jeep had the whole jack and everything under the hood. Sure enough, there was a long crank under there & it didn't even need to be ground down.

Like, I said, I'm retarded.

 

[clamor]

One down

Here's the worn & twisted spring next to the new Hotchkiss spring.

I got 2 of the 3 shackle bolts out no problem. That last one really fought me.

First, I put a nut on the bolt so I could pound it out with a hammer and protect the threads. I didn't get it on far enough & screwed up not only the bolt, but the nut as well when I knocked it kockeyed on the bolt.

Second, even though I got it close I could not get it out w/o cutting it. While cutting it, retarded Chaz reared his ugly head again. I had the centering spacer on backwards and it left too much slack in the cutting wheel. I'm surprised I didn't end up with it shattered in my face.

 

[clamor]

Stick a fork in me

With a cut suspension bolt I had a feeling that I was not going to be back together to drive to work tomorrow.

Sure enough, the local O'Reilly doesn't carry them & the Ford dealership's part counter is closed until tomorrow. Luckily I was cautiously pessimistic as to how it would go, since I'd done a bunch of work on my Jeep when I was off-roading. So I'd already cleared taking tomorrow with my supervisor...time to make that call.

I didn't get any pics of this part because I was so dirty, but I ended up having to burn the bushing out. I couldn't get it hammered with mismatched sockets, pressed out with sockets in a vice or c-clamp, man I don't remember what else I tried.

I really wish I could have gotten a pic of burning it out, I had it flaming on both ends and got it growing out of the ends like those 4th of July snakes.

Pressing the new bushing in didn't go any better, plus I burnt off the paint, ugh. I'd seriously considered buying new shackles when I ordered the rest of the parts, but figured it was a street truck & the parts would come apart.

I have to buy 2 bolts tomorrow anyway, so I think I'm just going to get shackles while I'm at it. I think the bushing end is out of round...could just be that it's rolled & welded instead of a tube welded to the rest of the shackle. Maybe I'll see if the guys in the shop can press the poly bushings in, I'm pretty sure they'll have rubber in them.

 

[clamor]

Wrap, day 1

At this point it was too dark to take any pics. I was probably too frustrated to take any anyway.

I felt like I'd been making no forward progress at all, so I just had to get something bolted back on. I tossed the first spring on, got the u-bolts tightened up (with some creative jacking & jack stand placement, did I mention this is a 2/3 drop?) and the frame mount bolted up.

Then I moved on to some more disassembly, and disappointment. My rear shocks are like the yellow ones, Summit sent me four like the white ones. Hopefully the fronts are that style, I'll drive w/o rear shocks while Summit makes it right, if the front ones fit. If I can ever get the rears off, the top bolt is between a crossmember and the bed. Ford built this thing like Neverdone's. I hope I don't have to take the bed off to get to those things.

Finally I tried getting the other rear spring off & hit the same problem as the first side. Since it was dark and raining I just packed it in.

The last pic is my pile of split gloves. I try to keep my hands somewhat clean since I work in IT & having busted greasy fingers doesn't jive with typing all day. Without fail I rip the stupid gloves or forget to put them on after taking them off for some reason. You know how it is to get focused on a job & forget about everything else. It happened on the stupid bushing. Oh well, I tried.

I'll fill in the pic gap & give an update on progress tomorrow.

 

[Stroker McGurk]

Is that an F150?
Not much spring in those....My GMC 1500 has at least 5 leaves in the spring.

 

[jfg455]

I love the fact that you owned the "I'm retarded" part![cl
It seems the older I get the worst these things rear their ugly head. My wife and I were trying to sign into our new online health care site for 40 minutes. It kept booting us out saying our passward was wrong. I finaly noticed I didn't put the ".com" on the end of out email password! Oh that was worth a good laugh! Doh!![cl

 

[clamor]

Day 2 - mid day break

Is that an F150?
Not much spring in those....My GMC 1500 has at least 5 leaves in the spring.

Oh man, I kinda left out that critical detail, didn't I.
It's a 2003 F-150. I don't want to make a full sport truck (it's a V6 anyway) or low rider out of it. I thought long and hard about the drop springs, but it was just too good of a deal compared to putting it back to stock (and stock sucks!). If it's too low I'll get lift blocks & coil pucks to add an inch to it.

I love the fact that you owned the "I'm retarded" part![cl
It seems the older I get the worst these things rear their ugly head. My wife and I were trying to sign into our new online health care site for 40 minutes. It kept booting us out saying our passward was wrong. I finaly noticed I didn't put the ".com" on the end of out email password! Oh that was worth a good laugh! Doh!![cl

Yeah, jfg, I always say "I reserve the right to be wrong."

I've also noticed that you always end up learning more when you're willing to admit that you don't know.

The final part of the thread title, "a little sleepy," everyone likes a sleeper, right? Well this is pretty much an invisible truck. The only things that could make it harder to see are a ladder rack, a construction company magnet on the door or three lawncare professionals crammed on the only seat. I really don't want to lose that, which is another reason I hope the drop isn't too much. Kind of hard to compare a 3" drop from stock when my springs are shot before I start. I took those tape measure pics both to show how unlevel it was & to see how much lower it goes.

That's enough for one post.
-Chaz

 

[clamor]

Rough start

The day didn't start well. No Ford dealers in KS have my shackle bolts. Oh well, I get another day off, I guess.

I went to the parts store to grab some more jack stands & decided to spring for ball joints, since I'll be in there anyway. Go Ford, the factory upper control arms aren't servicable. Make that upper control arms & lower ball joints.

I got to work on the front end & it reall came apart pretty well. That does not take away from the fact that, as a diesel mechanic friend once told me, if I were a mechanic I'd starve.

I had a little trouble getting the shocks off, so I grabbed the nuts off the new one to use the double nut trick...they're a totally different size. while freaking out and digging through the shocks again I found out that the rear shocks really were fine. I must have been grabbing a front shock every time. that's exhaustion & frustration for ya.

Note to self: slow down

I called Summit on the shaft size & it's a good thing I did, they found out that the 2" drop shocks I got are for spindle drops. They're sending me new ones that should arrive tomorrow.

I have one side mostly apart, just need to get the control arms off.

I think I found a shop in town to press the lower control arm bushings out & back in.

Here's the burnt bushing & my failed attempt to get a new one in. It looks like the stock bushing was molded in the shackle & it seems like the irregularity is making it harder to get the new one in.

 

[clamor]

the right direction

Here are a couple pics of this morning's progress.

The first one is my redneck alternative to hanging the spindle by the brakelines.

THAT'S NOT REDNECK!

THAT'S WHITE TRASH!!!
AHHHH HA HA HA!!!​

The second one is a lovely set of lonely control arms, (whitetrash) spindle suspension included.

 

[clamor]

The growing pile

Another spring & the first shock added to the recycle pile.

The shock nearly added an item to the "Chaz is a retard list."

The second pic is the old to new spring comparison. Doesn't look 2" lower to me.

That's where I ended for the morning. I had to take the wife's vehicle in to get a leaky tire fixed. The tire warranty on that thing is one of the few extended type warranties I've ever used. That knocked 2.5 hrs out of my afternoon. Happy wife & all that.

 

[clamor]

the OTHER way to do it

My new shocks have the flat top for vice grips to hold the shaft still while running the nut up or down. Being used to Jeeps with the super simple one bolt on each end setup I used the new shocks as a guide & vice gripped on the threads of the stud. It worked for a while, until I flattened the threads all the way around & couldn't get the vices to grip. (Do you hear the "Chaz is a retard list coming out?)

When I was looking around to see if there was anything else I could do to get them off I saw a nut nested in the shock tower with a convenient access port. I was able to use the impact on the passenger side, had to go manual on the driver's side, where I ended up breaking the stud. Regardless, they both came off...retard list denied.

It looks like my parts going on pic didn't take. So I'll grab some tomorrow.

The rented ball joint press was successful getting the ball joints out of the lower control arms. I'm sure I could have put the new ones in, but I can't budge the bushings. So, I'll just get the machine shop to put them all in.

 

[clamor]

New stuff

It looks like one of my upper control arm boots was cut or I'm just careless & tore it (not sure if you can see that here), so the passenger side didn't go on today.

I've got the lowers & their new goodies in the bus, ready to go to the shop.

 

[clamor]

Not in this installation

I cracked open the anti-swaybar kit & was getting ready to tackle it, then caution got the better of me & I decided to pull the rear shocks & take another crack at the stuck shackle bolt.

Good thing I did, the rear shocks had the same over-under bolt configuration as the front, just with worse access. A LOT worse access. The driver's took the old turn, flip-the-wrench, turn method on the bottom nut. Not real quick. The passenger's had to be turned from the top. I had to set the wrench with my arm on one side of the cross member, then reach to the other to turn it...ugh. I won, but I might leave the rears off & get them installed when I take it in to get aligned.

Hopefully all my parts come in & I can get the bushings sorted tomorrow so it gan get back on the ground.

-Chaz

 

[clamor]

Speedy Delivery

Summit came through with about a 9am delivery yesterday. The proper front shocks were on my front step when I went to take my control arms to the shop.

I had to take a break in the morning to wait for the arms & take care of some family stuff.

 

[clamor]

This is more like it

I got a little behind in my updates.
After a time detour to get my wife's tire warrantied I was able to finish up the rear end.

My shackles & bolts had come in at the Ford dealer & a day of messing w/PB Blaster had freed up the last passenger shackle bolt.

In the pics you can see the new rear ride height, because the jacks are holding up the rear from the axle now! Also, one of the new shackles (Ford sticker & all...my wallet wishes I would have ordered aftermarket) and the little gap I had to squeezze my monster hands & tools through to get the shocks on.

I think the ride height will be ok, a little lower than I would have liked...but it's not screaming LOWERED TRUCK!

-Chaz