I have a question for you experienced Lightning owners. I have a regular F150 (I wish I had a Lightning). It has began to make the "clunk" I am sure you guys talk about. Turn right or left with some suspensions compression and CLUNK. So I checked and it appears that my control arm has slid....you can tell the the rear bolt on the driver side used to be in a different place. So do I need just a front end alignment to fix this or do I need to purchase the washers also? Thanks for all your help.

 

i dunno if the regular f150's are the same as ours, but the washers are the only way to fix it.

 

I think all >'97 F150's have the slotted hole on the rear bolt hole of the left lower control arm. Ours work loose and 'clunk' because our much wider tires place more stress there during hard turning. It's easy to see if it's moving. Check my pictures near the end of this thread:
https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...threadid=74800

You'll also want to grease the steering stops (small 'cups' on back of each spindle) to cut down that noise.

To do it 'right', Lightning owners have been installing the two special washers on the left lower bolt, installing adjustable cams on both upper control arm mounts and then having it alligned to 'Lightning Owner Prefered Specifications'. With my new Toyo's on I actually go straight down the road most of the time (unlike the F1's).

 

Yeah, I bet that is my problem. I have a 3.5" spindle lift with lager tires...more strain....so where do I get these washers?

 

ahhh, where to get the washers as well...????

 

A little 'clunk' reading:

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=125753

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=119038

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=116491

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=115852

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=112578

https://www.f150online.com/forums/sh...hreadid=106906

 

Thanks for all the help guys. This board rocks. I have gotten a free door from this, free leaf springs and fixed everything on my truck myself so far. The internet is great.