Friday night, Elias and I worked on the alignment. I intended to remove the wheels and use some angle iron clamped to the rotors for better measurements while adjusting the toe but time did not allow for this. Instead, I measured off matching lugs in multiple places. I found that initially, the truck was toed OUT almost 3/4". You read that correctly. With a little rust penetrant and some love taps with a hammer, we were able to break loose the adjusting sleeve and bring the toe in. I set it around 3/16" IN for now.
Saturday morning, I washed off the year's worth of dust, filled the tank, and headed west a short ways to work on our rental house. I made a trip Saturday and Sunday, racking up more miles over the weekend than I have in the past year combined. I was upset to realize that it's been almost a year since I've really driven it until I pondered all that I've done in that time to get it road worthy again. Most of the items on this list were new to me and/or involved a lot of leg work finding parts or customizing what I had to work with.
- Rear Brakes
- Rear Clutch Packs and Spider Gears
- Rear Wheel Bearings and Seals
- Power Steering Gear Rebuild
- Power Steering Pump
- Upgraded XJ Shaft
- Toe Adjustment
After all that, I was quite pleased with the way the truck drove. It's much better now - straight and smooth on the highway with minimal play in the steering wheel. I may tighten up the box a tiny bit more but for now, I'm happy with it.
Things to address:
After the first day's round trip, I pulled into the fairly steep driveway nose up. By the time I hopped out and wandered to the front of the truck, 3-4 drops of oil had already hit the driveway. It's DEFINITELY time for some new valve cover gaskets!!
I didn't romp on it too hard during the trip but because of the movement in the clutch pedal and shifter, I'm planning on replacing the engine and transmission mounts.
These are on my short list, though it may be a little while until I get to them. I need to get the F250 spiffed up and out of the garage in a hurry.
My helper - he's sure growing up fast.