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1981 Ford ***-250 front hubs(IFS 4wd leaf sprung)


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I just traded my hyundai elantra for 400 bucks, a DJ turntable set, Ipod touch and 1981 Ford ***-250 with plow

 

300 straight six, 4spd 4wd IFS leaf springs.

 

I drove the truck 200 miles to bring it home, during which i noticed the front lugnuts on the passenger side had worked loose and hogged out all the holes on the rim. So far i have replaced the entire wheel with new lugnusts, and the rubber brake line. I have heavy duty 'fleet' shocks on order from napa.

 

Looking at the hub, i noticed the lower ball joint is bad, which causes an alignment issue in the steering. Also, i noticed the Rotor is behind the hub itself, it looks like the hub has to come off to remove the rotor. I need to replace a broken wheel stud, and i could go so far as to install new pads as well.

 

I would like to do the ball joint, but the axle u-joint would be smack in the way.

 

plus, the manual locking hub has a broken knob on the driver side.

 

I have been so used to subarus that this old american technology seems foreign to me!

 

I want to go and beef up the front end to hold up to the overhanging weight of the snow plow. those of you familiar with this please chime in. I do not want to take anything apart until i know what to expect or need to get special tools.

 

The truck is safe enough to drive around town and push a plow, but i would like to rebuild most of the front end as this will now be my heavy tow vehicle on the highway during the warmer season.

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Last time I did work on front 4WD hubs on a 91' ***-250 diesel with the leaf sprung IFS (looks like a solid axle but pivots close to the middle), the front hubs required a special socket with teeth. Proly pretty much the same on yours. As the IFS on them is of the same design.

 

The hub socket is probably easy to find at a tool rental if you end up needing it.

And you do need it as it reaches in there a bit so the hammer punch method is out. Plus you can't damage the nut or I would think the hubs would not work right.

 

As far as anything else I'm not sure. I only went as far as wheel bearings, new studs (they were breaking off) and brakes on that one.

All pretty straight forward if you take note on how it came apart. (also had a manual)

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