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Front End Rebuild on our Ford Ranger


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#1 ski3pin

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Posted 23 May 2018 - 12:24 AM

Wandering Sagebrush asked that I post about this repair. Here goes -

 

A Wrenching Weekend

 

It was Mother's Day Weekend and, unfortunately, we are now both orphans. I can't BBQ a leg of lamb for my mother in law like I did so many years with wonderful memories. So it was a weekend of chores. On Saturday morning - as a retirement present - we bought and installed extendable towing mirrors onto our friend Cathy's 2016 Nissan Frontier. She bought a small travel trailer and these were needed. I was quite pleased with the quality and wish that mirrors like this were available for our Ford Ranger. They are not.

 

Cathy project was completed and she was on her way by noon so Saturday afternoon we did our 50 hour service on our Massey Ferguson tractor - fluid and filter change in the engine, front axle, and transmission, rear axle, and hydraulic  system.

 

Sunday we rebuilt the front suspension on our 2003 Ford Ranger 4x4. Symptoms that pointed to the need were telltale wear patterns on the front tires, an occasional loud bang in the front end while crawling in 4x4, and a clicking sound on the left side when crawling in 4x4. Inspection showed wear in the left lower ball joint and both tie rod ends rubber boots were torn. The truck has 175,000 miles on it. The truck gets used. We will continue to use it, so it was worth it to us to do a rebuild. Around 3 months ago, in response to growing front bearing noise, we replaced the bearing hub assemblies on both sides. The clicking sound on the left side I attributed to the CV joint in that side's axle shaft, so we were replacing the axle shafts on both sides of the front. The ball joints on the upper control arms are not replaceable - as in pressing in new ones. The entire control arm with new bushings and ball joint is installed. New lower control arms with ball joint and bushings are available, so we went that route also.

 

We removed and replaced -

  • Lower Control Arms - ball joints and bushings
  • Upper Control Arms - ball joints and bushings
  • Tie Rods - both inner and outer
  • Tie Rod Boots
  • Sway Bar Bushings
  • Sway Bar End Links with bushings
  • Both axle half shafts
  • Front and Rear Shocks - Julie wanted this since we were there.

 

I did not document each step as this was pretty basic wrenching. This job would have been very difficult without a pneumatic 1/2" drive impact wrench.

 

Here's the right front prior to disassembly - but we already removed the shocks.

 

Front-Suspension-001-copy.jpg

 

And, the left front.

 

Front-Suspension-002-copy.jpg

 

The brake caliber and rotor are removed and placed on a bucket to not tweak the brake line. The spindle assembly is placed on another bucket after releasing the clips for the ABS sensor cable.

 

Front-Suspension-007-copy.jpg

 

Front-Suspension-008-copy.jpg

 

This truck has torsion bar suspension. Prior to disassembly I measured ride height in two places and also counted the number of turns to remove the adjustment bolt on each side. The torsion bar is still under tension after the adjustment bolts are removed. I used a two jaw puller to add tension to remove the adjustment key and then back off and release all tension to remove the torsion bars and end keys.

 

Front-Suspension-016-copy.jpg

 

I also marked the position of all parts prior to disassembly.

 

I figured the torsion bars could be rusted and seized on both ends - the lower control arm and end key. I was lucky they came apart easily without brute force and the three pounder. I clean off - pressure wash - the underside of the truck very often - desert trips and especially after driving in chain controls and road deicing. I believe this practice really paid off with the relative ease of disassembly on this project.

 

Here's the torsion bar hex end removed from the lower control arm.  

 

Front-Suspension-005-copy.jpg

 

Front-Suspension-006-copy.jpg

 

The complete sway bar removed.

 

Front-Suspension-004-copy.jpg

 

Upper control arm removed. The brake and fuel lines were a bit of a hassle on the left side for removing the camber bolts.

 

Front-Suspension-009-copy.jpg

 

I did not photograph the lower control arms removed because we immediately installed the new ones. The axle shafts just pull out with care not to damage the oil seal on the axle housing. I measured the length of each tie rod prior to disassembly and adjusted the new ones to that length.

 

Here's new axle shaft, inner tie rod, tie rod boot, and lower control arm on the left side.

 

Front-Suspension-013-copy.jpg

 

Inner tie rods do not come with new boots. From what I found, I believe it's essential to replace them. Replacing them was the hardest part of the job. It is close quarters back in there and a vent line is connected to each one so pressure is equalized on both sides of the steering assembly.

 

Here is the right side reassembled except for the sway bar and torsion bars.

 

Front-Suspension-014-copy.jpg

 

And here is the sway bar with new bushings and end links installed.

 

Front-Suspension-015-copy.jpg

 

My 2003 shop manual stresses replacing the torsion bar adjustment bolts as they are treated with dry thread lock. I imagine you never want these to loosen up and drop out. I could only get these through Ford. The shocks are Bilstein, the same that came OE on the Level II Ranger 4x4 model. All other parts were Napa premium grade suspension parts. The Napa store is a mile away in our small town and I've always had good luck with their products.

 

I torqued all bolts to specs found in my shop manual. The control arm bushings bolts were torqued after the truck was back to normal ride height with the tires on and the truck off the jack stands.

 

Front-Suspension-017-copy.jpg

 

I found two additional issues during disassembly. The inner tie rod on the right side was badly worn and the sway bar bushings on the end links were hard. I expect that the occasional bang was from the sway bar when under unequal tension.

 

Total cost of parts was around $1100. Well worth it. The alignment shop is also a mile away. They inspected our work, all was good, and aligned it. We are good to go with a brand new front suspension.

 

We'd both much rather travel then work on the truck but we also want this stuff done right, be well aware how everything works, and have no surprises.

 

Here's to Mother's Day from a couple of senior citizen orphans.


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2003 Ford Ranger FX4 Level II 2013 ATC Bobcat SE "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."- Abraham Lincoln  http://ski3pin.blogspot.com/


#2 Wandering Sagebrush

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Posted 23 May 2018 - 12:56 AM

Nice work Mr 3Pin! Thank you!
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#3 Taku

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Posted 23 May 2018 - 01:21 AM

Phew! Way beyond my mechanic skills. Thanks for the tour though, pretty interesting.


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#4 Alley-Kat

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Posted 23 May 2018 - 04:17 AM

Nice job. I had to do that on my 2000 Ranger at about 160,000. And, I did replace the bearing hub assemblies, at the same time with Ford units and then again with Timken units, last year at 220,000, as the second set of Ford parts (at 160,000) didn't go the same distance as the factory installed units. I'm at 335,000 right now. Long live the Ranger. Surprising that the Timken units were only about $30 each, more than the Ford parts.


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#5 Ted

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Posted 23 May 2018 - 02:47 PM

Phew! Way beyond my mechanic skills. Thanks for the tour though, pretty interesting.

 

Agreed. About as far as I could have gone is removing the wheel. After seeing Lighthawk's breakdown in Death Valley and this work by Ski3pin, I wonder if I'm being foolish driving around the middle of nowhere with absolutely zero mechanical skills.


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#6 SunMan

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Posted 23 May 2018 - 04:15 PM

Well done. I call that the cost of doing business. We use our rigs harder than 95% of the population and these types of parts should be wearing out the way we use them. Money aside, the confidence gained in your vehicle reliability on your next trip into the backcountry is priceless.

 

FWIW, before our last Thanksgiving trip I replaced the sway bar end links on my old 2006 Tundra as the bushings were shot. I used Napa premium parts (I recognize the blue bushings), anyway the bushings ended up shredded after that one trip. I ended up installing OEM bushings over the new end links, easy enough, and problem solved. Hope you have better luck, I'm sure you will be closely monitoring everything on your next trip.


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#7 ski3pin

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Posted 23 May 2018 - 10:43 PM

Mr. Sun, thanks for the feedback on the bushings. Yes, we'll be watching performance and now that Julie knows all the parts and how they go together, there's now two sets of eyes doing a check. :)


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2003 Ford Ranger FX4 Level II 2013 ATC Bobcat SE "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."- Abraham Lincoln  http://ski3pin.blogspot.com/


#8 takesiteasy

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Posted 24 May 2018 - 01:10 AM

I was feeling smug after repairing a mud flap I knocked off the Tacoma. Now I have a new standard to measure against, haha. Between you and Hodakaguy, the bar is set high!

 

Nice job! :)


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#9 ski3pin

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Posted 24 May 2018 - 02:01 PM

Nice job. I had to do that on my 2000 Ranger at about 160,000. And, I did replace the bearing hub assemblies, at the same time with Ford units and then again with Timken units, last year at 220,000, as the second set of Ford parts (at 160,000) didn't go the same distance as the factory installed units. I'm at 335,000 right now. Long live the Ranger. Surprising that the Timken units were only about $30 each, more than the Ford parts.

 

Alley-Kat, thank you for the information on your bearings. I don't recall what year Ford switched the Ranger to live axle eliminating the front locking hubs. Yes long live the Ranger! :)


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2003 Ford Ranger FX4 Level II 2013 ATC Bobcat SE "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."- Abraham Lincoln  http://ski3pin.blogspot.com/


#10 Lighthawk

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Posted 25 May 2018 - 04:43 AM

About time, the way you and Julie take that truck up the Billy goat trails!

Impressive mechanic skills, no surprise! Can I camp nearby next time my front end craters?

Long live NAPA!

Edited by Lighthawk, 25 May 2018 - 04:44 AM.

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