85lebaront2 Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Hilarious Jim I almost dropped my phone because I was laughing so hard, tell it like it is.....sounds like myself..I like it.. So anyhow I called my local Ford dealer again same guy from yesterday answered. I and gave him the part number and he insists that he did a nationwide search there's none available the part is obsolete and that there is not one, but two different part numbers one different part number for each side and they're not the same. I don't know enough about it to argue with him or to help him do his job, so hear I am. If you know anybody you can personally put me in contact with that I can pay over the phone I will buy them from that person and have them shipped to me here in Oregon or anyone on here have these readily available I can pay personally through PayPal. If it will help, here is a picture of my right front when I added the sway bar. I had to strip the suspension down that far to get the lower nut (hidden inside the bottom of the spring seat) so I could install the stamped bracket for the sway bar end link. This is a 1986 F350, but the basic layout is the same. Here is the sway bar bracket mounted, it sits on top of the radius arm (stamped piece) right side I-beam is the forging underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 If it will help, here is a picture of my right front when I added the sway bar. I had to strip the suspension down that far to get the lower nut (hidden inside the bottom of the spring seat) so I could install the stamped bracket for the sway bar end link. This is a 1986 F350, but the basic layout is the same. Here is the sway bar bracket mounted, it sits on top of the radius arm (stamped piece) right side I-beam is the forging underneath. Great photos Bill. Thanks for that! So, we see the seats are handed. Of course they are! They have to mirror for the sway bar to bolt up. But the isolators (cushions) are the same. (It's not as if the right and left springs are wound opposite directions) It's not unlike me -after getting this sort of b.s. runaround- to march up to the counter and drop the correct parts there. "Hey. Do you think you can get me this non-existent part? 'Cause Bobby at the Lincoln dealer on the other side of town didn't seem to have a problem finding 23 of them in the regional hub!" Then I walk over to Jim Kingery's desk (he's the owner I've known for over 40 years) and strike up a conversation about how they have a customer service 'problem' behind the parts counter. Yeah, I'm not well liked.... But to some of the guys in the service bays I'm a freaking hero because I've got no filter and my neck isn't on the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
85lebaront2 Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Great photos Bill. Thanks for that! So, we see the seats are handed. Of course they are! They have to mirror for the sway bar to bolt up. But the isolators (cushions) are the same. (It's not as if the right and left springs are wound opposite directions) It's not unlike me -after getting this sort of b.s. runaround- to march up to the counter and drop the correct parts there. "Hey. Do you think you can get me this non-existent part? 'Cause Bobby at the Lincoln dealer on the other side of town didn't seem to have a problem finding 23 of them in the regional hub!" Then I walk over to Jim Kingery's desk (he's the owner I've known for over 40 years) and strike up a conversation about how they have a customer service 'problem' behind the parts counter. Yeah, I'm not well liked.... But to some of the guys in the service bays I'm a freaking hero because I've got no filter and my neck isn't on the line. Jim, up through 1986 the sway bar link brackets are separate from the spring seats, after that, at least in 1990, the sway bar link brackets are part of the spring seat. This is the right side of the 1990 F250 parts truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26ftcobraBBF Posted February 19, 2021 Author Share Posted February 19, 2021 Jim, up through 1986 the sway bar link brackets are separate from the spring seats, after that, at least in 1990, the sway bar link brackets are part of the spring seat. This is the right side of the 1990 F250 parts truck. When I woke up this morning it's almost like baby Jesus was working his little heart off for me through the night. Who would have thought there was a place to look this part up by application. And just to think my parts dummy checked EVERYWHERE. I've got half of mind to print this out when my parts show up drive down there and ... Well you know the rest... I think we can let this dead horse lay, unless I get an email saying these are obsoletehttp://www.garysgaragemahal.com/uploads/6/5/8/7/65879365/laughing-25-x-25_orig.gif. Thanks everyone for all your help. P.S. I came across this," Garage Gurus by inquiring about the parts I needed on the Moog parts website when I didn't find what I was needing. The above is who they had reach out to me with there recommendation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 Jim, up through 1986 the sway bar link brackets are separate from the spring seats, after that, at least in 1990, the sway bar link brackets are part of the spring seat. This is the right side of the 1990 F250 parts truck. I don't know Bill. Like I said above, I don't have coil springs.... I'm just going by this photo, that Mike submitted. Maybe vans are different than trucks? Mike, I'm glad you've found the part. Sometimes it just takes someone that knows what they're doing, or cares enough to even try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrl883 Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 I don't know Bill. Like I said above, I don't have coil springs.... I'm just going by this photo, that Mike submitted. Maybe vans are different than trucks? Mike, I'm glad you've found the part. Sometimes it just takes someone that knows what they're doing, or cares enough to even try. 5A307 IS THE STEEL SPRING SEAT THAT THE INSULATOR SITS ON... SHEESH! YOU GOT A DUMMY AT YER LOCAL DEALER. JUST SAYIN... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
26ftcobraBBF Posted March 7, 2021 Author Share Posted March 7, 2021 5A307 IS THE STEEL SPRING SEAT THAT THE INSULATOR SITS ON... SHEESH! YOU GOT A DUMMY AT YER LOCAL DEALER. JUST SAYIN... After a much anticipated wait The spring insulators I ordered finally came in. Today I tore front end apart to install them and they were wrong. Center of the insulator is too small to fit over the steel spring seat. All of my local parts stores showed them as obsolete.. I was in s bind, do I decided that I'll just make one. I had two ideas 1) I went to Harbor Freight and got a solid rubber caster wheel, I was going to whittle one. Then got to thinking that it's not reinforced rubber so I scratched that Idea. 2) I used a heavy duty fiber reinforced trucker mud flap. Took my hole saw cut the outside diameter, then switched blades to a size that was just smaller than the spring seat, and cut it.... So now I essentially have a rubber donut. Took the rubber donut placed in on top of the spring seat then placed a large diameter pipe on top of the rubber, put it in my vise and tighten. Essentially the pipe pushed the rubber down over the spring seat staying tight on center part creating an inside sidewall. Heated the spring seat till the rubber was good and hot ( starting to smoke) then let it sit and cool. Wvolla... Custom molded spring seat insulator. May not be ideal, but definitely functional. Thanks for reading Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 After a much anticipated wait The spring insulators I ordered finally came in. Today I tore front end apart to install them and they were wrong. Center of the insulator is too small to fit over the steel spring seat. All of my local parts stores showed them as obsolete.. I was in s bind, do I decided that I'll just make one. I had two ideas 1) I went to Harbor Freight and got a solid rubber caster wheel, I was going to whittle one. Then got to thinking that it's not reinforced rubber so I scratched that Idea. 2) I used a heavy duty fiber reinforced trucker mud flap. Took my hole saw cut the outside diameter, then switched blades to a size that was just smaller than the spring seat, and cut it.... So now I essentially have a rubber donut. Took the rubber donut placed in on top of the spring seat then placed a large diameter pipe on top of the rubber, put it in my vise and tighten. Essentially the pipe pushed the rubber down over the spring seat staying tight on center part creating an inside sidewall. Heated the spring seat till the rubber was good and hot ( starting to smoke) then let it sit and cool. Wvolla... Custom molded spring seat insulator. May not be ideal, but definitely functional. Thanks for reading Wow, sorry to hear the '88 nylon part Myrl used won't fit your cutaway van. I guess the RV got bigger seats as well as springs? Did you try asking him directly what would fit? He does have all that experience and the back counter full of books to rely on! I surely would have been tempted to boil both the spring seat and the nylon bushing, then force them together while hot. But if a mudflap works for you, great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted March 7, 2021 Share Posted March 7, 2021 After a much anticipated wait The spring insulators I ordered finally came in. Today I tore front end apart to install them and they were wrong. Center of the insulator is too small to fit over the steel spring seat. All of my local parts stores showed them as obsolete.. I was in s bind, do I decided that I'll just make one. I had two ideas 1) I went to Harbor Freight and got a solid rubber caster wheel, I was going to whittle one. Then got to thinking that it's not reinforced rubber so I scratched that Idea. 2) I used a heavy duty fiber reinforced trucker mud flap. Took my hole saw cut the outside diameter, then switched blades to a size that was just smaller than the spring seat, and cut it.... So now I essentially have a rubber donut. Took the rubber donut placed in on top of the spring seat then placed a large diameter pipe on top of the rubber, put it in my vise and tighten. Essentially the pipe pushed the rubber down over the spring seat staying tight on center part creating an inside sidewall. Heated the spring seat till the rubber was good and hot ( starting to smoke) then let it sit and cool. Wvolla... Custom molded spring seat insulator. May not be ideal, but definitely functional. Thanks for reading That is ingenious! Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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