Hey, our 98 f250 light duty farm truck has 50,000 HARD farm/work/affroad miles on it and the tie rods have never been touched- actually this has been a great truck so far- very little trouble for a hard use work truck. Anyways i was thinking that we should get the tierods replaced with the Moog ones i have been reading about. and i was wondering if all that needs replacing is the tierod ends or if there are other parts of the steering linkage that are also FORD JUNK parts that should be replaced with aftermarket parts. I am sure there are many of u with great knowlege on this subject- with all the highmileage trucks here. Thanks for any replies.

Dan.

 

Im curious as to why you want to replace them? Are they causing problems?

In any case, if you are going to replace them, then it would not be a bad idea to get some serviceable ones (ie, the MOOG ones).
Ball joints might also be a good candidate for replacement while you are at it, again use MOOG parts.

rockauto.com seems to be the best place to buy them, but I heard their shipping prices are high.

 

Idler arm, center link, and tierods. I would replace those, and of course check the wear on the ball joints. 50k is pretty low, but as you said it's kinda hard miles. The tierods have a tendency to just let go on these trucks, and come apart. Not good if you're out in a foot deep mudhole in the middle of nowhere,,,,98

Is it 2wd, or 4wd?

 

the reason i am thinking of replacing them is cuz of all the failures i have been reading about on this forum- some as low as 30,000miles!!!- and highway miles

When it comes to farm trucks- u pretty much have to double the mileage- lots of rough travel. And of course it is 4-wheel drive- what else is there? LOL

Are the ball joints weak on these trucks as well???????? Are the 2003's any tougher????

so 98screamer, u say i should replace the idler arm and center link as well- how about the other 2 linkage points that do have grease fittings????????? And why was Ford so senial not to have grease fittings on the whole works???????

What mileage have most of u changed the tie rods at????

Dan.

 

I'd be underneath the truck pulling and wiggling on those parts to decide which ones need replacing. There isn't a person here who can determine what parts (if any) are worn out on your truck without looking.
Do you have slop in the steering or clunking when turning or going over bumps?

 

Well, given the tie rod history I would at least do those. Crawl under and check for slop in anything else. There were a few trucks that had the torsion bars break sitting in the driveway. As in not even moving? Those were pretty isolated, and you can't really tell when those are going to go. Check the ball joints out too. I think the procedure is the same as 2wd? Someone correct me if I'm wrong?,,,,98