Anyone replace their front hubs and inner outer tie rods?

SVT CAMR

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I bought new front hubs for my 98 cobra along with inner and outer tie rods.

What can I expect to see when I remove the nut for the hub. What size socket is the nut for the hub? are there seals back there I do not see til removed? Anything special I should know when mounting the new one. Like greasing or?????

The inner toe rods I bought from NAPA Come with roll pins. I guess you bang them in after fighting to the rack.
any tip you have for me.

I have completely had the front end apart a few time s but never messed with either of these. Your help will be much appreciated. I just want to rock this together. I will also be doing a swap back to a stock A-Arm. I'm removing the Fox A-Arm from my 98 cobra.

About the outer tie rods?????? How will I know when to stop threading them in. I'm thinking I need to make both sides equal but what measurement should I use? My fox arms are shorter so it is not like I can just take a measurement and go with that. What I could do is add 5/8" on to the measurements but know there has to be a default measurement? Help.
 
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SVT CAMR

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The nut on the front hub is 1 3/8" but I only had an 1 1/2" socket. it was good enough to take it off with the impact gun. I still have not put it in because the job is not done. Going to need a socket for the install. There are no seals and once the nut is removed the hub simply pulls right off by hand. I read that you should plan on getting a new retainer nut to reinstall.

The inner tie rods were a breeze to remove. use a big open end wrench. 1 3/8" There were no pins or set screws on my original I took off. You can probably use an adjustable crescent wrench to remove.

As for the outer tie rods. I simply counted how many turns it took to remove it off the inner tie rod. If your swapping stock for stock this all you will need to do to get you in the ball park.
I had an extra step because I was going from fox a-arms to sn-95. so I backed it off another 3/4 of an inch because that is what I cut off the stock sn-95 inner tie rod to accommodate the fox arm many years ago.

The hardest part today was the removal of the A-Arms. The stupid rack is in the way. So the reach had to be loosened and moved to sneak the bolts by to remove the a-arm. PITA.

So everything is out and cleaned. My struts & shocks came today. Trying not to rush the install so there are no problems. I not the guy who is going to tell you I did something in a hour because everything takes me longer because I'm a freakin nut job and want stuff installed clean and organized so there are no problems when I'm done and things get cleaned along the way.
 

Above118

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ive tackled this job before also,pretty easy....36mm is the right size for the nut. As for the arm bolts,i just took out the 2 bolts for the power steering rack and pulled the rack forward to let the bolts pass threw. they are a PITA for sure...but thats the easiest ive found.
 
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SVT CAMR

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ive tackled this job before also,pretty easy....36mm is the right size for the nut. As for the arm bolts,i just took out the 2 bolts for the power steering rack and pulled the rack forward to let the bolts pass threw. they are a PITA for sure...but thats the easiest ive found.

Thats is exactly how I got the bolts through. I just hated prying the rack forward. It all worked out though.
Did your tie rods have pins that needed to be inserted? BTW they gave me some grease. Where do I apply it?

I left the bolts snug loose on the a-arms. From what I understand you want the suspension loaded before final wrench. Something about the bushing twisting???? Anybody have any input on this. What should the bolts be torqued to on the a-arms.

I called Ford today to buy new spindle lock nuts. 20 dollars each! FU! Napa had them for under 10.

Are the stock spindle lock nuts reusable???????

It's all back together except for the spindles and the torquing of the locknuts.
 
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SVT CAMR

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I torqued the A-Arms pivot bolts to 140 ft lbs. The retaining spindle nut is not reusable. I torqued it to 250 ft lbs. The socket was $25 for the 36mm socket. I did not need a deep socket. As for the roll pins that come with the new inner tie rods I just banged them in. I used tie raps to hold the stock rubber boot in place that cover the tie rods. To set tie rod length I recommend you count turns when removing the outer tie rod. Use that number when installing on to the new tie rod.

The job is doable and is pretty easy after you figured everything out. it's the first time that all the unknowns have not revealed themselves. Hope some of my notes have helped some of you. Special tools 36mm 1/2 drive socket. 1 3/8" open end for inner tie rod or a large crescent wrench. all the rest is basic things you should already have.

Thats it it is all done just need new tires and alignment now.
 

g36 monkey

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Good stuff, sorry I missed this thread I could have told you pretty much all you needed to know. *DOH!*
 

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