Today I decided to tackle the rest of my worn steering components... I had already installed the Bandit4x4 IA bushings and a Bandit4x4 IA brace which really emphasized the wear in the other parts of the steering... That made driving very interesting as there were several degrees of play in my steering wheel... unsafe to say the least.

I got some MOOG tie rod ends from here: http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/pr ... ?cat=11528

and the Spherical bearings from here: http://www.dunebuggy.com/shop/index.mp? ... endorID=30

If you need bearings I suggest you wait a few months as there should be a new vendor popping up with these... if it is an emergency like mine were then this was the best price/shipping cost I found.

You also need to get new retaining spring clips (I dont know where or the specs), I did not order any... big mistake.

Spencer designed his products in Arizona and California where it is free of salt filled winters, so he did not really plan to keep salt water out of the bearings. My clips and bearing cups were terribly rusted and took me 2.5 hours of scraping, pb blasting, torching, pressing and hammering with sockets to get those F-ing bearings out. I also had to salvage the rusted clips to reuse as I did not get fresh replacements. The old bearings had very little liner left and could freely spin inside the race. I used a lot of marine grade copper anti-seize on the cups and the clip, then I filled all the air pockets with waterproof marine grease. That should help keep the water out.

The tie rod ends on the other hand were a breeze as I had a spare set of adjusters and the MOOG ends are the same dimensions as the stock ones... So with a digital caliper I was able to set the new set the same as the crap ones, and now I have a set of spares ready to go if I bend an adjuster.


So in the end I finally have a fresh responsive steering. I would have taken more pictures of the process but I was so frustrated with the bearings that I forgot.


Finished Pitman side:



Bandit4x4 IA Brace with bronze bushings installed in IA:

That's looking pretty good man...

sweet.
very sweet.

Scott told me that MOOG's are warranted for life! looks nice. It took a lot of getting used to an extremley tight steering after i re-did mine. Highway speeds were reduced by a bit.....it was scary how easy you get used to a sloppy steering

Unfortunately these don't have the lifetime warranty... I think it is like a year or less... But I think they are reputed to be a excellent product so I hope I don't need it.

Sweet

looks great!

Looks great Mike.
After driving the mustang for so long then jumping into the truck. The truck's steering is downright scary.
Nasty clunk when I hit bumps, my SLR idler arm bushing is shot, as are my tie rod ends and the centerlink's spherical bearings are probably shot as well.