Unit bearings, ball joing ect..

97rada

97rada

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Feb 14, 2008
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If you were to build a second gen from end with good reliable parts what you would you use. Whose shocks, unit bearings, whose ball joints and steering components. I will be doing my steering and axle at the same time so any sugestions on good components there would be great. Just looking to see what people like and how long they lasted.
Thanks for your time
 
I would buy a kit that eliminates the hub unit bearings. I have been happy with Bilstein shocks and Moog ball joints and steering components.
 
jedeka said:
I would buy a kit that eliminates the hub unit bearings. I have been happy with Bilstein shocks and Moog ball joints and steering components.
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At this point I don't think I will be doing that just yet. Bilstein is what I have looked at so far and seems to be good products. I just have no clue what brand of bearings to try. Do you have any good or bad experiences?
 
Biltseins seen to be the best off the shelf shock. Thuren's King shock packages are probably the best shock package available for our truck but they will cost you.

There was a thread in the general section about shocks: Best shock absorbers? - CompD and some were saying that KYBs rival Bilstein's performance and cost much less. That's worth looking into at least.

Ditching the unit bearings is the best. You could switch to Ford steering knuckles and use their spindle setup for pretty cheap. Or EMS makes a decently priced kit.

Is XRF the name of the ball joints that people are talking about lately? I can't remember the name but it's something like that.

The best steering components are either the 98-99 T steering linkage with a 3r gen track bar or Thuren's setup.
 
I run as much moog as possible.

For shocks, I've ran all kinds of stuff, and im happiest with napa gold lol.

Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2
 
For Moog Parts, This is what I went with, Worked GREAT, and I loved it.

Part Numbers:
Drag link: DS1459
Long tie rod (passenger side: DS1456
Left tie rod end (driver side): ES3496
Drag link upper end (at pitman arm): ES3497 (ES3527 for '00-'02)
Small adjusting sleeve (drag link): ES2012S
Large adjusting sleeve (long tie rod): ES3498S
 
buy whatever unit bearing has the best replacement warranty

but when my bnearings do go im going to look into the elimination kit. it is possible to do it yourself with ford parts
 
OrangeNV said:
buy whatever unit bearing has the best replacement warranty

but when my bnearings do go im going to look into the elimination kit. it is possible to do it yourself with ford parts
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how hard is it to eliminate them with ford parts? If i can do ir for a decent price i will
 
I rounded up the Ford parts, when building a front axle for my pulling truck. After it was all said and done, I don't know if I saved enough by the time I took the old bearings out, cleaned the hubs and installed the new bearings. I welded up the spindle to steering arm bolts and redrilled them to the Dodge 4-bolt mounting pattern. I am using the Dodge calipers on new Ford rotors and have not had any problems yet, knowing the Ford rotors are thinner than the Dodge rotors. Keep in mind that I installed 35 spline inner and outer axle shafts with the WARN premium hubs.
 
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White Knight said:
Biltseins seen to be the best off the shelf shock. Thuren's King shock packages are probably the best shock package available for our truck but they will cost you.
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I looked into Thuren's shock package awhile back. You really need to do it along with the right springs to get the damping spot-on.
I took a ride in a truck that had just the shocks and they didnt do much for the unpredictable handling when running empty on bad roads. Thats a spring problem. Best way to fix that seems to be to go with soft leafs and use air bags or helper springs when you haul.
Id still like to see some remote reservoir shocks with compression and rebound adjusters.

I want to do the ford dana 60 hub and knuckle conversion. but do I really want to spend the money on the dodge chassis? That money would be better spent on a cummins conversion to a ford chassis I think.
Everything on this truck thats OE (aside from the motor) is pretty much junk.
 
I must be superr lucky. I've never had an issue aside from normal wear and tear with any of my 2nd gens, ever. Not even a cracked dash. So when people talk about all these common problems, I don't know what to think LOL
 
Here is my install with the EMS kit, Ford kit is actually alot easier to install if you are doing your ball-joints...

Oh, and you have to have the outters from a 89 to 97 F350...
 
The ball joints will b getting done forsure while it is apart. I am leaning more and more towards the conversion
 
OrangeNV said:
there are plenty of offroad shops that make kits
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Only seen dynatrack and ems offroad so far.
If anyone offered a kit with just the right ford parts I might even do that. Pretty much everything from the knuckle out so I can use the better brakes too.
One thing to be aware of, the conversion with the knuckles (and probably with the original ones too) will push the wheels out .75" on each side, from what I can find.
seems like they recommend the full size manual hubs not the stub hubs. Sticks out more.
Also I think the chevy has auto hubs you can adapt...
 
kawi600 said:
Only seen dynatrack and ems offroad so far.
If anyone offered a kit with just the right ford parts I might even do that. Pretty much everything from the knuckle out so I can use the better brakes too.
One thing to be aware of, the conversion with the knuckles (and probably with the original ones too) will push the wheels out .75" on each side, from what I can find.
seems like they recommend the full size manual hubs not the stub hubs. Sticks out more.
Also I think the chevy has auto hubs you can adapt...
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Ballistic Fabrication and Yukon both sell kits as well and there are a few other smaller shops out there too. All you need to actually find is the knuckle, spindle and stub shaft from a Pre-Superduty Ford ball-joint Dana 60 which is easier than it sounds, everything else can be bought at the part store ALOT cheaper than through these Off-Road shops. Timken Bearings and Seals, good Rotors, Warn Gold Series Lockouts. Where do you think these places are buying there parts from? Not the direct manufacturer most of the time. Just to buy a set of the conversion spindles will cost you 600-900 bucks. The only reason I didn't do it the first time around is because I was working in Iraq and couldn't waste valuable time trying to scrounge up all the needed parts, NOW? Hell yes I would swap over to all factory Ford parts for ease of fixing it. Eventually I will do that and sell my stock Dodge knuckles and EMS Spindles IF my 35 spline axle shafts will fit through the stock Ford spindles...


When I pull mine apart to do a locker in it I am going to take my spindles to the local machine shop and have them copied. I bet I can have them made and sell them with a decent mark-up ALOT cheaper than most of these shops can...

Dana 50 TTB stuff will work BUT I believe there is a little work and fabrication involved but I can't remember. Look around on the net and you will find the info on the Dana 50 TTB hub swap. What's sweet is there is a metric **** ton more TTB 50's out there than Solid 60's...
 
Do any of the kits work with 4 wheel ABS on the 99 and older trucks? I know they make a tone ring for the 00+ kits but the older trucks never get any love.
 
White Knight said:
Do any of the kits work with 4 wheel ABS on the 99 and older trucks? I know they make a tone ring for the 00+ kits but the older trucks never get any love.
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I dont know, I dont have any operating ABS on my truck. I removed it all...
 
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