sakurama
Adventurer
When I bought it the mechanic that went over it ran the VIN and found the tranny was replaced at 120,000 miles so it should be in pretty good shape. Painted or not I'm not sure but MG is picking it up today and it's going in tomorrow. But I managed to escape for a few hours last night and meet up with Josh and see the work he was doing to get the front end in.
Stock brackets were removed by grinding the rivet heads and then chiseling them off then grinding the remainder.
Getting these brackets off allowed room to attack the pitman arm - the lever that translates the steering box to the wheels. Now, most of you guys are hard core car nuts. I'm not. I've owned my pickup for 14 years and have never done a thing to it. I have no interest in working on my truck because I'm a motorcycle guy. I have a full machine shop in my garage so that I can work on motorcycles. Trucks are for transporting motorcycles. Therefore I've never learned about the mechanics of a front end. The van however is my gateway to trying to learn about it and if you've ever looked at my Garage Journal thread you'll know I like figuring things out. I'm trying to learn the various names of the parts and what they do. I found this...scratch! I made this photo below and hopefully it helps some of you who, like me, might not know what a tie rod is and were afraid to ask.
Josh had already installed the rear mounts for the lower control arms which fit perfectly and require no welding. The next thing to do was to clear the way for the drag link mount which is on the floor between Josh and the shop towels in the photo below.
Grinding is to photographers what catnip is to cats. Sparks! It's like the 4th of July in the shop! And it will be the 4th of July in only a few days. Remember when I said we had only two weeks to get this done? I forgot that we were counting this week which it turns out is over. My wife reminded me we're supposed to leave next Saturday and I explained that that might not be happening. We don't have a front axle at the moment and that might make the trip a bit more tricky. Details...
The cross member's front edge is clearanced to allow space to put the bracket that will hold the track bar but also to give space to the pumpkin (the differential housing) of the new Dana 60 front axle. The Dana 60 and the Sterling are what are used in the newer F250's but they got much larger brakes starting in 2016 so tracking down these newer axles is going to give me a 1999 looking van with a solid and dependable (but noisy!) 7.3 diesel but with all the modern running gear of the latest F250 Super Duty. A pretty great combo I think.
The control arms keep the axle from moving fore or aft. The track bar keeps the axle from moving laterally. In a leaf suspension the leaf springs do the job of the lower control arms to hold the axle in place for and aft. The drag link attaches to the pitman arm and translates steering input to the right wheel. The tie rod takes the steering input from the right side knuckle and "ties" it to the left side. I'm only figuring this out as I explain here and I'm getting my information from this pretty good article.
I would really suggest reading that whole thing if you're not well versed in whats going on beneath the floor pan of your van or truck. That bracket that Josh is installing is one of the reasons that MG's system works so much better than anything out there. It keeps the drag link and the track bar parallel over their movement and works to prevent "bump steer" which is when forces other than those from the steering input affect your steering. You know, like when you're in a lifted truck and hit a bump and suddenly you're going a different direction. Not good.
This might be a good place for Michael (of MG Metalworks for anyone just joining the party) to jump in and give a better explanation but know that he's spent a huge amount of time designing this system to be easy to install and to work better than anything else out there. It's something I'm really looking forward to experiencing in the next week or so.
As MG was looking for my front axle he happened to stumble across this - a 2015 Sterling with electronic locker. I have a full floating rear axle with disks which is pretty desirable but Michael made a compelling case for this rear axle. I was going to have to put spacers on mine and this one has even larger brakes so there you go - I'm putting this in. If you're interested in my old axle get in touch with either me or MG.
Those calipers are about the size of a loaf of bread - big. Between the front and rear this is going to be a van that has no trouble stopping. Next up is installing the transmission.
Gregor
Stock brackets were removed by grinding the rivet heads and then chiseling them off then grinding the remainder.
Getting these brackets off allowed room to attack the pitman arm - the lever that translates the steering box to the wheels. Now, most of you guys are hard core car nuts. I'm not. I've owned my pickup for 14 years and have never done a thing to it. I have no interest in working on my truck because I'm a motorcycle guy. I have a full machine shop in my garage so that I can work on motorcycles. Trucks are for transporting motorcycles. Therefore I've never learned about the mechanics of a front end. The van however is my gateway to trying to learn about it and if you've ever looked at my Garage Journal thread you'll know I like figuring things out. I'm trying to learn the various names of the parts and what they do. I found this...scratch! I made this photo below and hopefully it helps some of you who, like me, might not know what a tie rod is and were afraid to ask.
Josh had already installed the rear mounts for the lower control arms which fit perfectly and require no welding. The next thing to do was to clear the way for the drag link mount which is on the floor between Josh and the shop towels in the photo below.
Grinding is to photographers what catnip is to cats. Sparks! It's like the 4th of July in the shop! And it will be the 4th of July in only a few days. Remember when I said we had only two weeks to get this done? I forgot that we were counting this week which it turns out is over. My wife reminded me we're supposed to leave next Saturday and I explained that that might not be happening. We don't have a front axle at the moment and that might make the trip a bit more tricky. Details...
The cross member's front edge is clearanced to allow space to put the bracket that will hold the track bar but also to give space to the pumpkin (the differential housing) of the new Dana 60 front axle. The Dana 60 and the Sterling are what are used in the newer F250's but they got much larger brakes starting in 2016 so tracking down these newer axles is going to give me a 1999 looking van with a solid and dependable (but noisy!) 7.3 diesel but with all the modern running gear of the latest F250 Super Duty. A pretty great combo I think.
The control arms keep the axle from moving fore or aft. The track bar keeps the axle from moving laterally. In a leaf suspension the leaf springs do the job of the lower control arms to hold the axle in place for and aft. The drag link attaches to the pitman arm and translates steering input to the right wheel. The tie rod takes the steering input from the right side knuckle and "ties" it to the left side. I'm only figuring this out as I explain here and I'm getting my information from this pretty good article.
I would really suggest reading that whole thing if you're not well versed in whats going on beneath the floor pan of your van or truck. That bracket that Josh is installing is one of the reasons that MG's system works so much better than anything out there. It keeps the drag link and the track bar parallel over their movement and works to prevent "bump steer" which is when forces other than those from the steering input affect your steering. You know, like when you're in a lifted truck and hit a bump and suddenly you're going a different direction. Not good.
This might be a good place for Michael (of MG Metalworks for anyone just joining the party) to jump in and give a better explanation but know that he's spent a huge amount of time designing this system to be easy to install and to work better than anything else out there. It's something I'm really looking forward to experiencing in the next week or so.
As MG was looking for my front axle he happened to stumble across this - a 2015 Sterling with electronic locker. I have a full floating rear axle with disks which is pretty desirable but Michael made a compelling case for this rear axle. I was going to have to put spacers on mine and this one has even larger brakes so there you go - I'm putting this in. If you're interested in my old axle get in touch with either me or MG.
Those calipers are about the size of a loaf of bread - big. Between the front and rear this is going to be a van that has no trouble stopping. Next up is installing the transmission.
Gregor
Last edited:
