- A good idea but its up to you is to replace ALL of the steering pieces (outer and inner tie rods,
adjustment sleeves, drag links, the whole setup from box to spindles) If you do this, be careful
when you drive the truck to the alignment shop, its going to be all over the place!!!!
- To start begin a few days early and begin to blast all nuts and bolts in the front suspension
with Liquid Wrench, Blaster, or WD-40, really go to town on them, The more you use the easier
the job will be in the end. Be sure to get the axle pivot bolts, these are the toughest as they
are way under the truck, get the bolt in the middle of the coil, all the tie rod bolts, the bolt
on top of the beam by the eccentric bushing, the bottom ball joint, the sway bar bolts, the shock
both ends, and the radius arm nut. Do this twice a day for at least 2 days, you'll be glad you did.
- O.K. the day has arrived to do the install. Begin by blocking BOTH rear tires FRONT and REAR, you
don't want the truck to run you over J. Set up your ½" socket wrench to loosen the radius arm bolts
and place the shorter extension pipe on the bar, break the bolts LOOSE, DO NOT REMOVE. Now remove
the front sway bar bolts and the lower shock bolt and pull the shock loose so the beams can swing
even lower and take off the spring tension. Jack up the front end and place it on the jack stands,
then place a cinder block under the frame on each side, use the 2x4 pieces to shim it, you want it
so if the blocks fail and the jack stands fall that the truck again doesn't fall on you.
- now the truck is up and safely supported, shake the truck to verify this. Now remove one tire
and set it aside, put the lugs back on the rotor for safe keeping. There is a small bolt that
holds the front brake line to something, remove that bolt, pull the line away, and thread it back
so you don't loose it. You must now remove the caliper from the spindle, if you have a 94 or earlier
model there should be 2 caliper pins that you need to squeeze the front of with a pair of pliers
while prying with a screwdriver on the rear, once out just lift the caliper off and wire it out of
the way. On a 95 + model there are 2 bolts on the backside to be removed, again once you've done
this wire the caliper out of the way.
- Next remove the dust cap from the rotor, then remove the cotter pin that is now exposed with the
needle nose and side cutters if needed, remove the thin metal retainer, remove the large nut, the
bearing washer, the outer bearing, and finally the rotor. Place all the loose hardware aside and
do the same steps again to the other side to get the other rotor off. Have both the rotors turned
at this point. Have the shop check the bearing races and replace them at this time if necessary
with the races in the bearing kit. Also see if they will pack the bearings and the gap in the rotor
with fresh grease (a couple bucks saves a serious headache).
- If they won't do it try and wipe all the grease out of the center of the rotor, really try and get
it as clean as you can, then blast brake cleaner in there to get it all clean, be careful throughout
so as not to get grease on the face of the rotor. Once it is all clean get some good wheel bearing
grease and slather it in the middle of the space, get it back to the same as before you cleaned out
all the old grease. To pack the bearings put some grease in your palm and begin to push the bearing
edge into it, there is a small opening in-between the parts of the bearing the idea being to force
grease thru this opening and cram it into the internals of the bearing, the more you can force into
the bearing the better. Finally slather grease all over the face of the bearing and put it in the
rotor, then place the seal into the rear of the rotor and hammer it into place by putting a small
piece of wood on it and then bang it dead center. Get both sides setup and move on.
- So now the rotors are gone, remove the cotter pin from the tie rod end, then remove the castle nut,
Use the pickle fork and a large hammer to bang the tie rod end out of the spindle. The spindle
should now swivel freely. Loosen the radius arm bolt but again do not totally remove it, just
loosen it a good deal so the beam has a lot of room to drop away from the spring. At this point
you should be able to push down on the spindle and the spring should be removable. Get it out
of the way. Now put the floor jack under the beam and jack it up a little just so the beam is
resting on the jack, remove the upper bolt that holds the eccentric and the cotter pin and nut
that holds the lower ball joint, turn the spindle all the way toward the front and give the
BEAM a GOOD whack right next to where the lower ball joint goes thru the beam, might take a few
blows but soon the spindle will fall out, you also might try wiggling the eccentric cam to ensure
the upper joint comes loose. DO NOT try and use force to get the spindle out, unless you're going
to replace the lower ball joint! If so do it now!!!!
- So no spring, spindle is out, time to get the radius arm loose. Take the build up off the bolt
that runs up from the bottom of the beam into the base of the spring. The big bolt will now be
exposed, obviously you need to remove that nut and pull the bolt out so the beam is free of the
radius arm, there is over 200 lbs of torque here, so use the 3-4' extension pipe to get this
sucker loose. You may find you need to remove the sway bar bolt in front of the beam or that
the radius arm bolt needs to be totally removed, which allows for the replacement of the radius
arm bushing.
- You're so close now, remove the final bolt, the hardest bolt, the axle pivot bolt. Once this
bolt is removed push slightly upward as an assistant pulls slightly outward, BE CAREFUL that
beam is heavy and can really hurt if it falls on you while you wiggle it. Soon you'll have
the beam out. Set it next to the beams and you'll see which one is to replace it.
- So now you should begin any extras that you were going to do while this sucker is out. Replace
the radius bushings, replace the steering parts, replace ball joints, sway bar, caliper if
necessary, brake lines, whatever you want.
- Before putting the beam back put a little bit of silicone GREASE not spray in the pivot holes
and mount the radius arm and the sway bar bracket to it with the NEW bolt. Have your helper
help you put it back in place and slip the NEW pivot bolt in and torque it to 85 lbs.
- Put the radius arm back in place and put the NEW nut on, tighten it up good but don't risk a
fall of the truck. Tighten up the radius arm to beam bolt to 210 lbs.
- Put the spring build up back.
- Put the spindle back in place and use the lower ball joint and NEW castle nut to hold it in
place, put the adjustable eccentric cam in place thru the beam onto the upper joint. Tighten
the lower nut to get the whole thing back in place, torque to 110 lbs. The upper pinch bolt
for the cam gets torqued to 60 lbs. Place a new cotter pin in the lower joint, tighten the
joint if necessary but DO NOT loosen it to line it up.
- Put the spring back in place and use the jack to jack it up slightly.
- Put the tie rod back on the spindle and torque the NEW nut to 65 lbs, again a NEW cotter pin here.
- Clean the spindle spud or axle with brake cleaner, get it nice and clean. Slather some wheel
grease on the spud and slide the rotor on, again watch the grease and the face of the rotor.
Place the new outer bearing on, the bearing washer and the nut, snug the nut down with your
fingers (spec is 22 in/lbs), spin the rotor and check the nut again, then place the thin
retainer on and back the nut off so the retainer lines up with the cotter pin holes. Put a
NEW cotter pin in here and bend it so it won't come back out. Put the dust cap on and using
the board and hammer again whack it squarely to get it to seat back in.
- Now you can put the caliper back on, use a c-clamp if need be to push the piston back in,
remember to take the cover off the brake reservoir before you start to do this. Once they
are back on put the brake hose back in place with the small bolt. Place the cover back on
the reservoir.
- Put the tire back on this side and snug the lugs
- Do the other side.
- Pull the blocks out and jack up the truck to get the jack stands out.
- Lower the truck slightly so you can get the shock to bolt back on (45 lbs torque)
- Put the sway bar back together and torque to 27 lbs.
- Now torque the radius arm nuts to 105lbs.
- There you have it, I probably forgot a few things but hey, nothings perfect.
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