Slick 60's

Hey all - I'm gathering parts and knowledge for a steering rebuild. My '61 has gotten so hard to steer, it wears me out and scares me a little. I'm replacing the king pins, leaf spring shackle mounting brackets, tie-rod ends (maybe?) and anything else that I should replace in the process.

Any veterans out there who have done this and can offer some time-saving, money-saving and headache-saving advice??

Thanks in advance - I look forward to the experienced input.

** also - is the steering linkage bar supposed to have a slight bend in it or did I do that by driving it in this condition??

What other stuff should I replace while I have the front end apart?

I've never done it and can't add anything. sorry

Gregg - that's a beautiful truck! Love the color combo.

Mike, what about adding power steering?

I would replace all your rubber bushings with poly. Your steering linkage bar was bent by running it into things, or having a tow truck driver damage it with chains/hold down straps.
They say not to do it but I bent mine back with a good wack, it was not bent very bad.
John

Power steering would be amazing! Can that be added later after I've replaced all the messed up stuff or does it need to happen in conjunction with?

here is a good read....says 48-60 trucks but it works up to 64.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/article/idx/ ... rucks.html

i plan on doing this with my 63 f250

Check out classic performance products they have a tie rod for 61-64 it's twice the size as stock nicely built piece

unibody madness wrote:I would replace all your rubber bushings with poly. Your steering linkage bar was bent by running it into things, or having a tow truck driver damage it with chains/hold down straps.
They say not to do it but I bent mine back with a good wack, it was not bent very bad.
John

i think he is talking about the drag link.... if so, yeah it does have a slight bend in it.

My bad, I thought he was talking about the tie rod, which tends to bend easily. Nice to know there is a better one out there
John