Long-time lurker, first-time poster with several questions.

Stats up front:
1999 F150 SuperCab
4x4
3" Body Lift
5.4L V8
approx. 150k miles
305x70/16

To make a long story as short as possible, I need new tires. Upon noticing a nasty negative camber on the front left tire I realize an alignment is a must so I don't shred the new tires. However, a quick look at the suspension components tells me a rebuild is in order.

The UCA bushings are literally crumbling on both sides. The boots on the tie rod ends are all torn. The ball joints are, to me at least, questionable given the mileage. The LCA bushings actually look fine.

While crawling around under the truck lastnight I found that the torsion bar adjusters are not equal. The driver side is cranked all the way in, the passenger side is showing a little over an inch of threads. Shouldn't these be equal?? Could this be the cause of the negative camber?

Any thoughts on what else I might need to replace? I'm pretty mechanically savvy, but any tips would be helpful.

Thanks in advance!

 

Welcome to the site. It's common for the two torsion bars to be set at different preload amounts. The common high wear items on our trucks are the tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints and the idler arm.

 

i wouldnt really call july of 07 a long time for lurking

 

It is for me...I have a short attention span


Wandell: Thanks for chiming in here. I've put together a shopping list of parts that includes all those except the idler arm. How do I inspect it? What should I look for? What about the pitman arm?

Thanks much!

 

Grab the center link next to the idler arm and push up and down. If it moves at all, replace the idler arm. It should be very firm.

I would just replace it anyway while you're doing all that crap. It's like an extra $60 and 20 minutes of your time.

 

Thanks jiggle. I'll look at that when I get home tonight. Prolly just add it to the list anyway though.

I'll also be replacing the UCAs since the bushings are shot and the balljoints are questionable. I reckon I'm going to have to detach the torsion bars to remove the knuckles from the ball joints.

How big of a pain is that?

Thanks again everyone!

 

You shouldn't have to remove the torsion bars unless you plan on removing the lower control arms. And based on what you said you're replacing you shouldn't have to remove them.