Suspension Parts Options

[SoulsShadow]

Hey all. I've been working away on my '66 F100. The engine is getting close to running smoothly and the body looks pretty nice. Everything else is a piece of work hahaha!

I'm working at replacing a custom air bag suspension that was installed. You can see the air bag setup in the pictures below. The last picture shows what I need to return the truck to original (the circled items). I've checked with a few junkyards and nobody has an F100 of any year. Anyone have these parts I could buy or know where to look for them?

Front Airbag (note the custom upper spring retainer and lack of shock mount)


Close-in on the Front Airbag (they welded the nut for the bolt that mounts to the idler arm...just to make it more difficult to get the airbag off)


The sway bar has been replaced by shocks on both sides. Is that good or bad?


The items I need are circled in red. I need driver and passenger side parts

[MadMaxetc]

that front end is all sorts of wrong. Wish I could help out.

[cdherman]

YOU, need a donor truck to fix that mess...... I am sure that somewhere there are all those parts just slowly rusting away, but taking it all apart and shipping it all to you will cost.

There was a 69 in a pick and pull here a couple weeks ago -- had the parts you need, but man, I am way too lazy to do that, even for a fellow slick driver.....

Sorry......

[Brian Taylor]

Full short bed frame in Texas a member will let go cheap. May be a bit big to UPS.

[SoulsShadow]

Thanks for the tip Brian! Hopefully I can get just the parts I need. I don't think UPS would leave the frame on my apartment doorstep...

[TxSlick66]

If Brian was still here, I'm sure he would pull those off my truck for you!

[SoulsShadow]

No worries. I used my engineering skills to design a new lower spring mount in Pro/Engineer and the spring retainers from Tom's Bronco Parts will work with the spring towers after I drill a couple new holes.

Once the machine shop finishes milling out the lower mounts it will all be back to normal-ish. Then it's on to finding a bench seat and replacing the box bed.

[TxSlick66]

I have a seat also...

[Bill W]

to bad i did not see this before.... i have a 79 front frame section with all the parts you need.

[dragginwagon]

this type-o-crap gives airride a bad name... some people have no business even looking at airbags.

good luck with the fix!

[bruceandersson]

I think you should consider finding a replacement frame. I've seen these for sale or even buy a donor truck. It would be a lot easier to move your body to another frame than to mess with that disaster. I have a good '66 short bed frame but it's in Ohio. Suspension is complete.

[SoulsShadow]

I appreciate all the help and suggestions. I've thought about a new frame, but I live in an apartment with no workshop. The manager is letting me work on my pickup in a tiny rental garage even though it's in my lease agreement that I can't. So, moving in a second frame and having a parts truck around aren't going to work for me.

Everything is looking pretty good so far. Tonight I'm going to put the rear suspension back to normal (leaf springs on top of the axle, new shocks in, and cut out all the extra air bag stuff). I'll post up some pictures when it's done.

[SoulsShadow]

Well...almost 2 weeks later... I've been working a few hours a week to get the leaf springs off. I didn't have any cutting equipment and I spent the entire first week with PB Blaster, cheater bars, huge hammers, etc. After that week I just bought an angle grinder and cut everything out hahaha!

With the springs out I'm going to sandblast them, coat them in POR-15, add some teflon anti-squeak spacers, and put it all back together. It's going to be a few more weeks before it's all back together since I plan on painting up the rear axle and frame while I'm under there. Here are some pictures of the springs before sandblasting. I'll post up some after-paint pictures this weekend.

[PFM-64f100]

check with Tom @ flashback f100s he most likly has what you need.

http://www.flashbackf100s.com/

[banjopicker66]

SS, I am going to suggest that you abandon the old springs, and spring for a set of new ones.
45 plus year old springs will not serve you well, unless you use it to haul just the little stuff.
A set is not that much, and you can get new U-bolts to fit.

[SoulsShadow]

@PFM-64F100
I have bought a few things from Tom's already, but he didn't have the hard to find suspension parts.

@banjopicker66
$400 for a set of new springs isn't worth it for what I'll use the truck for. It isn't going to be a work truck...at most it will cary my Buell motorcycle around. The shocks I bought have coilover helper springs that will cary 300 lbs of weight, also.

[Gatkpartz6179]

I got everything you need,somebody shoulda said somethin,they know I stash oddball stuff,,, make a list and we'll git r done...

[SoulsShadow]

It's been a while since I updated my work progress. I ended up designing my own lower coil spring mount. I had it machined out of 6061-T6 aluminum and it works great! I was hoping the aftermarket tower that the air bags mounted to would work as well, but I have my doubts. You can see in the pictures below that the spring is bowing out a bit. Since I wasn't able to find the stock towers I am going to design up my own and have them machined out of the same type of aluminum. After I know it's all working I'll be happy to share my designs with anyone that needs them.