OK, I finally got around to fixing this today. It was "easy", if you define "easy" as "I can do it". Getting the rusted parts off & disassembled was a pain. Putting the new ones on was no problem.
Thank you very much,
deminimis for telling me which Ford F-Series truck drag link parts to buy. (Without his help I'd probably have bought E-Series van parts.)
I've also put this story on
my web site.
Getting the old rusted hardware off turned out to be the hardest problem. To remove the nut from the drag link bolt, I first
tried scoring the bolt end with my angle grinder and gripping it with vise grips or a wrench. Still, that didn't work -- I applied a huge amount of force but it wouldn't give.
So, I finally ended up just cutting through the nut & bolt to get it off.
The other end came off fine using a pitman arm puller.
Here are the new & old parts. Disassembling the rusted old drag link also required a huge amount of force. I cheated, adding a long pipe to the end of my vise grip's handle -- but, still it was slow work.
Time to put the new parts on! I realized that I was now missing a nut. The castle nut is a metric thread part not found at my local auto parts store -- so off to
Tacoma Screw. They have everything!
Finally, reassembly was easy. The middle piece of the drag link is rotated (with vise grips) to adjust the centering of the steering wheel.
-- Geoff
Linear Mode
