Hello Folks! I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas!!
My present to myself this Holiday Break is a balljoint/spring replacement in the front of my '89 D250. I've been waiting to install these and my new tires for some time now.
Holy Cow!!! What an improvement! The 5716S springs ($108 from AZ) helped incredibly! I was a bit worried when the old spring that came out was exactly the same height of the new one. At that point, I was really hoping the new spring (made in the US no less) had a stiffer rate. BINGO! When it came off the jack, it had a 1.75" lift at the fender opening. WooHoo! See the front view pic of the truck. This is with the right spring done and a level camera!
I have also supplied before and after shots of the left front side for a visual. No comment on the crunched fender, OK? Prior owner Boo-Boo and that's another weekend's project.
The stance improvement isn't really visible until you do it yourself. I was so happy. The stiffer, more stable ride is welcome too. Mine was a bit mushy. I was seriously looking for a front sway-bar. No more! These new springs really help. I painted my new ones red (of course..)
New lower balljoints were installed too (ordered for a D350 as all front parts for a D250 diesel should be). I had to grind 0.30" off the OD of these before assembly. These babies come with a 35 thousandths crush!!! Unless you pull the lower arms and do this with a press, there's no way these guys are going in. After I taped off the tops of them, I ground until I had 5 thou crush. Then I LIGHTLY heated the lower arm with a torch and pressed them in with a C-clamp style balljoint press. It worked well and was still a bit tough.
I know this has all been done before, but just had to share my joy!
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