grumpin Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Grumpin - My question is how hard it would be to anodize black the aluminum trim? I know nothing about anodizing, so am just wondering if that might be the way to treat the trim. Or, did you answer that question and I didn't understand? All - Time for today's update. And what a day! I got the right side suspension all buttoned up, torqued down, and touched up. Here's a pic of the right side: As for the touch-up, I do that to all of the bolts as the nuts take some of the powder off. And, a word of advice if you are going to do what I'm doing - use the same color of powder/paint on both bolts and nuts. That's so you can touch things up and not worry whether you get some on the nut as well as the bolt. Here's an example. This body bolt had been PC'd some time ago and then John, my paint/body man used it to mount the cab. But, as you can see, tightening the bolt up caused the powder to be peeled away and allowed the bolt to rust. But a bit of rusty-metal primer and semi-gloss black fixed that right up. Then, with the torquing and touching-up done I moved onto the ball joints. Or, more specifically, I went to O'Reilly's to rent/borrow their ball joint installer kit. Its one of those one-size-fits-all, which usually means it won't fit what you have. Yep. The "C" part of the press was much too small to use the necessary adapter to fit over the ball joint's stud and allow the needed receiver to fit on the other side. For the bottom ball joint I was able to use my hydraulic press. But for the top ball joint I couldn't use the press, so I made an adapter that would fit. I found a piece of thick-wall tubing just the right diameter and cut a piece off and squared it up in the lathe. I was just barely able to get that in, and was then able to press the top ball joint home. Man, that was work! And, here's a shot of the steering knuckle in place, although not torqued down. Hopefully tomorrow I can get the right knuckle populated with ball joints and torque both sides down. Gary, I don't know about anodizing aluminum. We used alodine, which is a protective coating. My apologies, I misread your post. I'm no help there. Good job! That truck is looking nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve83 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 ...tightening the bolt up caused the powder to be peeled away and allowed the bolt to rust. But a bit of rusty-metal primer and semi-gloss black fixed that right up.I don't use paint or powder on the chassis or any of its fasteners for that reason. I clean them up, install them (often with threadlocker), and then apply rubberized undercoating when it's all put together. It protects from gravel & water without chipping or peeling (when applied to clean metal), and it's cheap & easy to touch up when I go rock-crawling. It protects the threads from rust without binding them during disassembly like paint & powder can. But it comes off with common automotive solvents.For the bottom ball joint I was able to use my hydraulic press. But for the top ball joint I couldn't use the press...For removal, I've learned that a simple hammer is quick & effective; with a pipe scrap drift for the upper. For installation, I got sick of cheap presses, bit the bullet, and got a Snap-On with a few cups. https://supermotors.net/getfile/1040080/thumbnail/bjupper.jpg https://supermotors.net/getfile/1040079/thumbnail/bjlower.jpg If I didn't already have most of what's in it, I'd jump on this right now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/192822910480 It's close enough to half price: https://store.snapon.com/Ball-Joint-Presses-Set-Master-Ball-Joint-Universal-Joint-Press-22-pc-P644058.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 ...tightening the bolt up caused the powder to be peeled away and allowed the bolt to rust. But a bit of rusty-metal primer and semi-gloss black fixed that right up.I don't use paint or powder on the chassis or any of its fasteners for that reason. I clean them up, install them (often with threadlocker), and then apply rubberized undercoating when it's all put together. It protects from gravel & water without chipping or peeling (when applied to clean metal), and it's cheap & easy to touch up when I go rock-crawling. It protects the threads from rust without binding them during disassembly like paint & powder can. But it comes off with common automotive solvents.For the bottom ball joint I was able to use my hydraulic press. But for the top ball joint I couldn't use the press...For removal, I've learned that a simple hammer is quick & effective; with a pipe scrap drift for the upper. For installation, I got sick of cheap presses, bit the bullet, and got a Snap-On with a few cups. https://supermotors.net/getfile/1040080/thumbnail/bjupper.jpg https://supermotors.net/getfile/1040079/thumbnail/bjlower.jpg If I didn't already have most of what's in it, I'd jump on this right now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/192822910480 It's close enough to half price: https://store.snapon.com/Ball-Joint-Presses-Set-Master-Ball-Joint-Universal-Joint-Press-22-pc-P644058.aspx Grumpin - No prob. Was just wanting to make sure I understood. Steve - Yesterday I might have given that much money to have that Snap-On press. But, I got to thinking last night that I might actually have a ball joint press. So a search on here found a thread where I said Brandon/Bruno2 was coming by to return my ball joint press. I guess I'll find out this afternoon. I think it is the HF unit, but if the frame of the press is longer that will make all the difference as that was the problem with the rented one. It was just too short to work with the adapters sent. All - I forgot to tell you that I added the General Suspension Service section (14-21) to the Suspension & Steering/Front Suspension page. The reason was that I was searching for the instructions on installing the ball joints on a 4wd vehicle and thought they must be there. This is a strange thing, but the ball joint write-up for the 2wd vehicles is in the Twin I-Beam instructions, but not so for the 4wd. Instead, there's a statement in the 4wd section that says: Refer to Section 15-34, Front Driving Axle under Steering Knuckle, Removal and Installation for spindle replacement on 4-wheel drive front axles. Fortunately that section was already on the site: Driveline/Axles & Differentials, so I added a link and an explanation, as shown below. Does that make sense? Better ideas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 .... And I may not be as young as I used to be.... Remember the line from "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel: "I'm older than I was, but younger than I'll be. That's not unusual." :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 .... And I may not be as young as I used to be.... Remember the line from "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel: "I'm older than I was, but younger than I'll be. That's not unusual." :-) From memory: "In a clearing stands a boxer, and a fighter by his trade...." "Taps him 'til he cries out, in his anger and his pain..." And another one: "I do declare, I took some pleasures there", although I won't say where. Yep, I have it on my phone. And on a CD. And even an LP that I gave to my son. Remember it well. Boy, my knees are telling me about it today. I originally had the knuckle, press, etc on the bench, but needed to put my weight on it so put it on the floor. That worked, but I'm feeling it today. Hopefully this afternoon will be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 And another one: "I do declare, I took some pleasures there", although I won't say where. .... Where? 7th Ave. How? I won't say either. You? I won't believe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 And another one: "I do declare, I took some pleasures there", although I won't say where. .... Where? 7th Ave. How? I won't say either. You? I won't believe! No, not I. No way. Just the lyrics from a long-ago song - which you obviously remember as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 18, 2019 Author Share Posted February 18, 2019 No, not I. No way. Just the lyrics from a long-ago song - which you obviously remember as well. I do have the HF ball joint press! And, it worked a treat as I got the ball joints into the right steering knuckle easily. Then I installed the right knuckle on the axle, following the instructions in the shop manual: Install new nut on bottom socket finger tight.Install and tighten nut on top socket finger tight.Tighten bottom nut to 122-149 N-m (90-110 ft-lbs). Tighten top nut to 136 N-m (100 ft-lbs), t Next was the left knuckle. Using the above procedure I got the bottom nut tightened but the eccentric on the top ball joint didn't want to come down as it should. So, off came the knuckle and I found some powder in the bore. Cleaned that up, re-installed the knuckle, and then tightened the top nut. Sure enough, the bottom nut wouldn't tighten down. After trying several things, including smacking the bottom of the bottom ball joint with a dead-blow hammer, nothing worked. And by then it was quitting time. Tomorrow I'll start over and tighten the lower nut first. Then I'm taking the press kit back to O'Reilly's and also taking the brake rotors in to have them check them out and/or turn them. Meanwhile I'll install the front diff. Dad always said that two steps forward and one back is still progress. And Jim says progress is good. So, it was a good day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 I do have the HF ball joint press! And, it worked a treat as I got the ball joints into the right steering knuckle easily. Then I installed the right knuckle on the axle, following the instructions in the shop manual: Install new nut on bottom socket finger tight.Install and tighten nut on top socket finger tight.Tighten bottom nut to 122-149 N-m (90-110 ft-lbs). Tighten top nut to 136 N-m (100 ft-lbs), t Next was the left knuckle. Using the above procedure I got the bottom nut tightened but the eccentric on the top ball joint didn't want to come down as it should. So, off came the knuckle and I found some powder in the bore. Cleaned that up, re-installed the knuckle, and then tightened the top nut. Sure enough, the bottom nut wouldn't tighten down. After trying several things, including smacking the bottom of the bottom ball joint with a dead-blow hammer, nothing worked. And by then it was quitting time. Tomorrow I'll start over and tighten the lower nut first. Then I'm taking the press kit back to O'Reilly's and also taking the brake rotors in to have them check them out and/or turn them. Meanwhile I'll install the front diff. Dad always said that two steps forward and one back is still progress. And Jim says progress is good. So, it was a good day. I don't know which is a bigger pain, ball joints on a 4WD or king pins in a 2WD. I do have a king pin press, bought it when I had the 1958 F100. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted February 18, 2019 Author Share Posted February 18, 2019 I don't know which is a bigger pain, ball joints on a 4WD or king pins in a 2WD. I do have a king pin press, bought it when I had the 1958 F100. Haven't done a king pin, but the ball joints aren't too bad if you know how. #1 was a pain and #2 was easy to get them into the knuckle. But getting the knuckle on the axle was the other way 'round: #1 was easy and #2 a pain - but I think that was because I didn't follow the process. We will see on the 'morrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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