Tie rods on 96 F350 4x4

Carl,

All I can say is MOOG parts are the best, and in many cases are superior to the original manufacturer. Do yourself a favor and go to a store that sells both Moog and the cheap brand, get the same tie rod end from each brand on the counter and take them out of the box and compare... I think you'll be surprised, you can see the quality difference.

If this is a daily driver, and you plan to keep it a long time, go with quality even though it may cost more up front. Just my $.02... it's your truck, your families safety at stake.

Websurfer (No, I don't work for MOOG, but I did sell auto parts for 6 years)

If you plan to keep the truck and need it to be reliable and safe, you will not go wrong with the Moog parts. My second choice would be the TRW line which has both a standard and premium line. The TRW standard line is much less expensive and has zerk fittings to facilitate lubricating regularly. If the truck has some miles and you only need another

50-100K milkes or so, I would look into the TRW standard Treadsaver series if it is available for your truck. You should do all of the work at one time because everything you are looking at replacing affects the alignment. If you don't get it back pretty close, you can litterally destroy a tire(s) in less than a hundred miles and it may not be safe to drive.

Good luck Lugnut

Who told you they are ALL bad? Somebody trying to sell you something?

On the other hand, how many miles do you have on it? Does it have tires or wheels larger than stock? That will wear things out.

I say they are bad, and have known about it for too long. The tie rod ends out at the wheels are the worst; the boots are cracked and coming apart and water runs out when I regrease them! The truck has about 113K miles on it and I think the rods are all original. (I had a leaky left axle seal for years and the oil and dirt took out the ball joint boot, which took out the ball joint. I wound up replacing both axle seals because I had to take the diff out anyway. What a job!) The other two rods aren't far from the end of their lives, so those aren't so much of a priority. I can replace them one at a time and still get toe close enough, which is still better than what they're doing now. I'm considering doing just the two and take it in for alignment and tires, and putting up with the tech telling me the other two rods need replacement very soon. The tires are stock size and have over 50K miles on them, which I put on the truck when I got it in 1999. The tires are past their limits and rotating them has squeezed all the life out of them I can. The right front, which was the worst, got swapped with the spare because the tire store wouldn't work on an air leak it had 'cuz it was so far gone. My wife wants bigger tires and wheels, but so far I've been able to keep her at bay by talking about wear and tear, not to mention the cost factor. She appreciates the respect she gets on the road, but as it is the truck barely fits in parking garages, and she will definitely hate to have to walk a mile or two from where she found a place to park! Ain't worth how it looks, if you ask me.

If you can grease them, they couldn't be original, could they?

Now that I was unsure about, but all the tie rods on the truck are greasable. If Ford used non-greasable joints in the factory, how would a truck at 60,000 miles (when I got it) have replacement tie rods all the way around?

| > I say they are bad, and have known about it for too long. The tie rod | > ends out at the wheels are the worst; the boots are cracked and coming | > apart | > and water runs out when I regrease them! | |

On Sun, 01 May 2005 16:26:05 +0000, carl mciver rearranged some electrons to form:

Ummmm... the previous owner replaced them perhaps?

That's sure what I would guess. If you can grease them, then your complaint is not with Ford. That's what I think.

He has a real truck, not an f150 or ranger.

| >> Now that I was unsure about, but all the tie rods on the truck are | >> greasable. If Ford used non-greasable joints in the factory, how would a | >> truck at 60,000 miles (when I got it) have replacement tie rods all the way | >> around? | >>

| >

| >Ummmm... the previous owner replaced them perhaps? | >

| | | He has a real truck, not an f150 or ranger.

That's what I thought about but wasn't sure. Why would Ford build a truck made to work and not made it last a long time, considering that they've done a pretty good job so far? Most of the folks who own F350 and other heavy duty trucks need them to last a long time as a moneymaker, and take appropriate care of them. Not being serviceable for long life on heavy duty applications seems counterproductive. For light trucks I can see permanently lubed joints, as they don't get used for the same reasons. Do F350's come with greasable or permanently lubed tie rods?

Something that I was pondering was that when I bought it, I'm it had been imported from Canada, and it was full of chaff (I mean everywhere!) in all sorts of places and there was some glass bits under the floor mat in many places, like it had been in a wreck. One headlight adjuster had been busted as well, and while that in itself doesn't confirm anything, the possibility exists that the truck was totaled and rebuilt before I got it. As an XL model (stripped) though, the value hardly seems worth it.

On my '99 they are greasable. Only things that ar permanent are u-joints and ball joints.

Sorry for the confusion, guys! I don't have a 350, as you can tell.

| >>| He has a real truck, not an f150 or ranger. | >>

| >> That's what I thought about but wasn't sure. Why would Ford build a | >>truck made to work and not made it last a long time, considering that

| > On my '99 they are greasable. Only things that ar permanent are | > u-joints and ball joints. | | Sorry for the confusion, guys! I don't have a 350, as you can tell.

'S alright. It was a worthy question to ask, and not something all of us know.

My '93 F-150 has greaseable tie rods, but the ball joints were not greasable until I had to have them replaced. AFAIK the entire drivetrain was original when I got it (60K, 2001).

-D

I just replaced one of them. Very careful to put the replacement back exactly where the old one came out of. I wasn't sure if the old part was original, but the boot was permanently bonded to the rod end, which I doubt is a trademark of aftermarket. I got the McQuay Norris part, and the box also had "Dana" on the box, right below the name. That actually surprised me, so I wonder what the connection is, and if it were such that Dana would have two different brands _and_ two competing parts, that would be highly wasteful. The replacement part was definitely not cheap looking, though.