It’s time. At 180k miles its time to spend a little bit of money and whip some of the suspension back into shape.
To recap I replaced:
Wheel bearings front and rear
All associated seals front and rear
Upper and lower ball joints front
outer tie rod left and right
inner tie rod left (right was replaced around a year ago)
Steering rack internal guide bushing, springs and lock
I picked up a small 12 ton press from Harbor Freight to do the work. I figured for $100 (sale price) if it meant i didn’t have to run the parts to work, or bother my neighbor it would be more than worth it.
I did make my own SST for the rear bearing removal. Using this and a bearing splitter, i also managed to remove the ABS exciter ring with out cutting as per the factory service manual. I still replaced the retaining ring even though it wasn’t technically damaged during removal.
The front bearings did take some pressure. This has been a CA vehicle its whole life, and has pretty much zero rust, but it still took every ounce of pressure that little 12 ton could muster. In other words if you have a vehicle from the rust belt, the 12 ton probably won’t do it!
Truck drives soo much better now, it’s unbelievable. I do still have a slight bit of shake, but i’m guessing that is going to be mostly tire related at this point.
A few random cell phone shots:
