IFS Heavy Duty Upgrades!

Wow I just got my shippment from rockauto the last week and they had the inner and outer tie rods from raybestos.

Any recommendations on grease i am thinking of using Redline or Royal Purple synthetic and I am going to get all my new gear put on this weekend. then will have to replace the ruined MTR's that i have from wearing out my old ball joints and tie rods.

Brewdays_2 said:

Well it took 1 year and I have blown my front IFS to hell and unfortunately ruined at least one really awesome 33" MTR Kevlar. So I have been reading this post for a long time and knew eventually it would come in really handy. So today is the day that I placed my order with rock Auto for all the gear needed minus one Tie Rod end that they didnt have in stock.


RAYBESTOS 5001090 (500-1090) Ball Joint $ 46.79 1 $ 46.79
RAYBESTOS 5601061 (560-1061) Control Arm Bushing $ 21.89 1 $ 21.89
RAYBESTOS 4011748 (401-1748) Tie Rod End $ 26.79 2 $ 53.58
RAYBESTOS 5071144 Control Arm $ 85.79 1 $ 85.79
RayBESTOS 5021021 (502-1021) Control Arm $ 77.79 1 $ 77.79
RAYBESTOS 5777035 Rack and Pinion Bushing $ 16.49 1 $ 16.49
RAYBESTOS 4011711 (401-1711) Tie Rod End $ 35.79 1 $ 35.79
RAYBESTOS 5071143 Control Arm $ 85.79 1 $ 85.79

Anybody have this parts setup and 33 or 35" tires and any idea on what kind of maintenance schedule and life of service i can expect this time around?

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As for your grease question, it is just preference. Synthetic anything is good but I just use stuff made my CITGO which is black and at times I use their U-joint specific grease that they call chasis grease.

I just placed an order from rockauto for all the ball joint stuff listed above. I got the bushings for the upper right side and left the ball joint alone because it was the only one replaced before (a few thousand ago - motorcraft). All the rest of the ball joints were original with 127k on them and the only reason I replaced them was because I had it apart anyways. Basically my project has turned into a complete truck restoration.

Any hoo... I ordered the complete lower control arms to save the headache of getting the torsion bars out of the current ones (I'm replacing those too because I have a weak one). I was very disapointed last night though when I opened the box for the lower control arms and found that the included Raybestos Professional Grade lowers are not greaseable. On top of that, they used a clear rubber boot, not the "normal" (for them) blue polyurethane boots. What is your input or anyones input about how these will last compared to the standard Professional greasable ones?

ahodges said:

Any hoo... I ordered the complete lower control arms to save the headache of getting the torsion bars out of the current ones (I'm replacing those too because I have a weak one). I was very disapointed last night though when I opened the box for the lower control arms and found that the included Raybestos Professional Grade lowers are not greaseable. On top of that, they used a clear rubber boot, not the "normal" (for them) blue polyurethane boots. What is your input or anyones input about how these will last compared to the standard Professional greasable ones?

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Those control arm W/BJ's might be the larger size, so check them out by measuring them compared to your old ones diameter. I do not know if they are the HD progrades or not, but if they need replaced at sometime, you need to confirm the size.

I only replaced the LBJ's (not the entire arm), so I cant say one way or the other on the quality of those BJ's that came with them.

As far as the Torsion bars and removing them, I have never had an issue. Simple taps from the front popped them right out.

gmanpaint said:

Those control arm W/BJ's might be the larger size, so check them out by measuring them compared to your old ones diameter. I do not know if they are the HD progrades or not, but if they need replaced at sometime, you need to confirm the size.

I only replaced the LBJ's (not the entire arm), so I cant say one way or the other on the quality of those BJ's that came with them.

As far as the Torsion bars and removing them, I have never had an issue. Simple taps from the front popped them right out.

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Ok thanks. I thought about giving Raybestos a call about them too. I completely missed the fact that they were ungreasable and don't appear to be the same as the other ones.

I took the right side torsion bar completely apart at the crossmember and read that they come out the back of the control arm, however I tapped them a bit with a 2 lb sledge and it didn't do any good. So then I got a big pipe and put it on the end of the bar, had someone hold it for me, and then wailed on it with a 5 lb sledge and it refused to come out.. I now wish I had put it in a press before I ordered the lower control arms now that I found out the LBJ's are non-greaseable. sorry, I realize it isn't your fault or problem, just frustrated that it seems like all companies play these stupid games.

Well that was a disapointing call into Raybestos. They said that some discriptions say w/ a grease zerk and some w/o. Some of the pictures have it and some don't. Basically what ever I got is what I get. All the warrenty claims and such go through the vendor and not the manufacture with them. Oh well, live and learn I guess. That's what I get for trying to take the easy way out by not pressing the ball joint, bushings, and torsion bars out.

Oh by the way, the Professional grade Lower Control Arms do NOT come with oversized ball joints. They are standard according the the tech support.

ahodges said:

Well that was a disapointing call into Raybestos. They said that some discriptions say w/ a grease zerk and some w/o. Some of the pictures have it and some don't. Basically what ever I got is what I get. All the warrenty claims and such go through the vendor and not the manufacture with them. Oh well, live and learn I guess. That's what I get for trying to take the easy way out by not pressing the ball joint, bushings, and torsion bars out.

Oh by the way, the Professional grade Lower Control Arms do NOT come with oversized ball joints. They are standard according the the tech support.

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Sorry that happened. Your sharing all this will help someone else down the road at least.

So, are the BJ's themselves in those arms Prograde at least? What color are they and what color is the boot? I believe they should have the good Prograde bushings in them as well.

gmanpaint said:

Sorry that happened. Your sharing all this will help someone else down the road at least.

So, are the BJ's themselves in those arms Prograde at least? What color are they and what color is the boot? I believe they should have the good Prograde bushings in them as well.

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I honestly don't know if they are prograde or not. The whole assembly was advertised as prograde so I can only assume. The boot is clear.

ahodges said:

I honestly don't know if they are prograde or not. The whole assembly was advertised as prograde so I can only assume. The boot is clear.

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Okay, great. They switched to clear boots on the Prograde items recently. I believe you have Prograde BJ's in them arms.

Because they are the Progrades, I wouldn't worry too much about them being grease-able or not, unless you live in frame deep water all the time with it.

Alright, sweet! I'm calming down about it now. It isnt my daily driver and has slowly progressed into being a toy for me so I should be ok. I don't plan on going mudding or in any deep water anytime soon!

Update - I FINALLY got all the parts put on the truck and the different is night and day! Everything went on smoothly, it doesn't even seem like the same truck. So happy.

Here is some feed back about the Raybestos lower contol arms. As discussed in posts 83-90 I bought and installed the complete lower control arm assemblies from Raybestos. After I finally got my truck back on the road I now realized that they made the hex that the torsion bars go into too big. They are about 0.075" larger than the bar which creates a huge problem with ride hieght. Using the stiffest torsion bars Ford makes my truck is still sitting on the rubber bump stops. Tonight I'm going to install some stainless shims a friend of mine made and fingers crossed, that fixes the problem.

ahodges said:

Here is some feed back about the Raybestos lower contol arms. As discussed in posts 83-90 I bought and installed the complete lower control arm assemblies from Raybestos. After I finally got my truck back on the road I now realized that they made the hex that the torsion bars go into too big. They are about 0.075" larger than the bar which creates a huge problem with ride hieght. Using the stiffest torsion bars Ford makes my truck is still sitting on the rubber bump stops. Tonight I'm going to install some stainless shims a friend of mine made and fingers crossed, that fixes the problem.

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Oh wow--keep us posted on that.

ahodges said:

Here is some feed back about the Raybestos lower contol arms. As discussed in posts 83-90 I bought and installed the complete lower control arm assemblies from Raybestos. After I finally got my truck back on the road I now realized that they made the hex that the torsion bars go into too big. They are about 0.075" larger than the bar which creates a huge problem with ride hieght. Using the stiffest torsion bars Ford makes my truck is still sitting on the rubber bump stops. Tonight I'm going to install some stainless shims a friend of mine made and fingers crossed, that fixes the problem.

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is that the issue?
I maxed out my OEM adjuster bolts, and was at the very bottom of the Ford OEM ride height spec
recently, ie a couple weeks ago or so, my passenger side tire started rubbing on the inner fender liner (where it hadn't in forever).

but I had also replaced my torsion bars, and figured I didn't line everything up correctly to get my ride height back in to spec.

edit: .075" shouldn't cause that severe of an issue with ride height. How could it? I don't get it... I could certainly see it affecting the ride due to the play, but, affecting the ride height that much...?

Think about it, there isn't much adjustment at all on these lower control arms and any little bit is going to affect the ride hieght. Take a look at the hex that the torsion bars go into. On mine, the torsion bar has turned about 1/12th of a turn inside the hex and the sides of the hex on the lower control arm are bending outward alowing it to move even more. I'd be willing to bet yours did the same.

By the way, my shims ended up not working out and slipped around the corner with the torsion bar. Next step is to either referbish the old stock ones I have or buy brand new stock ones..

Send the control arms back. They might be made for an F-150 T-bar.

ahodges said:

Think about it, there isn't much adjustment at all on these lower control arms and any little bit is going to affect the ride hieght. Take a look at the hex that the torsion bars go into. On mine, the torsion bar has turned about 1/12th of a turn inside the hex and the sides of the hex on the lower control arm are bending outward alowing it to move even more. I'd be willing to bet yours did the same.

By the way, my shims ended up not working out and slipped around the corner with the torsion bar. Next step is to either referbish the old stock ones I have or buy brand new stock ones..

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but ~1/16" play should not cause a ~2" difference in ride height.
Now if the hex on the arm is at a different orientation/alignment than the original arms, then yeah that could make a large difference depending on how far "off" it is relative to the OEM arms.
and FWIW, on my OEM arms, the bars had "twisted" inside the hex hole some amount. Although I couldn't even take a wild guess as to how much; but they certainly weren't centered.

gavin said:

but ~1/16" play should not cause a ~2" difference in ride height.
Now if the hex on the arm is at a different orientation/alignment than the original arms, then yeah that could make a large difference depending on how far "off" it is relative to the OEM arms.
and FWIW, on my OEM arms, the bars had "twisted" inside the hex hole some amount. Although I couldn't even take a wild guess as to how much; but they certainly weren't centered.

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Right. mine twisted inside the hex also and when I shimmed them to be tight, when I first let the truck down and drove it down the driveway it was 1.5" higher than before. After I drove it around the block a couple times it twisted right back to where it was before and the ride height was back to being bottomed out.

I ordered them from Rock Auto but I'm trying to decide if I should deal directly with Raybestos or not..

ahodges said:

when I first let the truck down and drove it down the driveway it was 1.5" higher than before.

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that's because it takes time and movement for the suspension to settle

I can simply lift the front end of my truck off the ground then let it back down.
It will sit higher than previously, until I drive it.

This is because the suspension needs to cycle a bit before it settles back to static ride height.

Same thing would happen back when mine was 100% stock.

I understand that also and I've done that before. I saying the torsion bars hadn't "twisted/ slipped" until after I hit a few bumps. I checked it before and after the drive. If you want, I can take a picture of how it looks now with the little shims in it and how far it is twisted. (driver side is worse than the passenger)