fltdriver

That would pass for rust free here in Iowa, you would also get a min. of $3,000 for that truck just with a good body and being 4X4. I would take a 90's truck over a new one any day just for the simple fact that they are easier to work on in my opinion. But I like doing things to keep my vehicles going, gives me a greater sense of ownership/accomplishment.

TheCollector

one thing I have learned in my few years of fixing cars and trucks, the newer it is the more specialty tools you need to do the most simple of tings. which is great for mechanics but sucks for the owner who needs to pay and extra 90 bucks to do a tune up on there car.

and I know Aluminum is going to be a 1-2 year thing i can already see it.

memoniz

I don't think the original poster works on his own truck. He probably doesn't have that connection that most of us do that work on our own trucks have. My wife cried over giving up her Explorer when she got a Honda CRV. So I sold my van to help with the down payment and kept the Explorer. She's only been in it once in 2 years.

There's nothing wrong with that. Dependability is very important to me. But as fltdriver said, it "gives me a greater sense of ownership/accomplishment". And that makes me feel good.

And not having a monthly payment does too.

TheCollector

My connection on fixing cars is a dirt driveway and 4 jack stands and a basic hand tools. and honestly a decent ratchet set and a weekend you can do the radiator support anyplace. and even a body shop would do just about the same deal no lift needed.
I fix my own truck because 99% of the time i cannot afford the 900 dollar bill for some guy to fix it for me and charge me 75% mark up on parts. our trucks are simplistic when it comes to it. and cheaper to fix minus a few things like ball joints and other 4x4 components. but that's true for a lot of vehicles.

Dan3292

Well, your responses are inspiring. My hesitation started last fall when I took it into a tire place for oil chg + snow tire mounting. The tire place knows me as a regular customer. They seemed shocked at the condition of my spring towers and had me come in and look at it up on the lift. The mechanic there told me that he had a 94 with something similar and his wheel came flying off and he crashed into a tree. Basically they said that they would not pass it for inspection come April without major repair work (not that they usually do my inspections).

I was so freaked about that that I was driving around gently trying not to break anything. I ended up taking it into the local Ford dealer (who has done viritually all of my repairwork since day 1) for a second opinion and they said they didn't think it was that bad so not to worry. So, I didn't worry all winter and drove with confidence just based on their opinion. I only ever take it to either the tire place or the dealer, and they usually agree on impending repairs/condition issues.

Now, knowing there might be an issue with inspection (due Apr 30), I took it in a little early back to my same Ford dealer (they have always done my inspections) and now they changed their tune. So, the spring towers have come up before, but the radiator support is something unexpected.

I am very fond of this car and have had it since the beginning. It is my third F150, I nearly cried trading in my 2nd one for this one with 197,000 miles on it. Back then though I had a nice dry garage and my previous two had none of these undercarriage issues. Once I moved out to the country next to a river and it sits outside, everything around here rusts like crazy.

I have had doubts about keeping it before (at each major repair) and gone out looking, but I haven't been convinced that a new one is any better than the one I have. There really hasn't been any breakthroughs from 96 until now - I think the dashboards on the new ones are horrible. I have just choked on the prices of the new ones. Money for bodywork to string me along for a year or more is fine with me. I guess I needed some moral support to go ahead with doing the repairs. The whole spring tower thing with wheels flying off creeps me out - I am not sure how often that actually happens. Ghosts in the closet..

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

They keep feeding you bull ****. If the shock tower failed on his truck the tire wouldn't come off.

Dan3292

Just_call_me_sean: I have no idea what would happen if a spring tower failed (or how often such a thing happens). The mechanic that said that he had crashed into a tree didn't have anything to gain by telling me that. What would happen if a spring tower failed? I am truly curious, as I have been picturing the wheel flying off or the loss of steering, neither of which sounds very good to me.

f150cam

if the spring tower broke that corner of your vehicle will drop and u wont have any travel. the radius arm and center pivot point will keep the axle under the truck and you on the road unless the sudden drop freaks you out or something. iv seen people drive there trucks for miles with busted spring towers, its not recommended but it will get you home.

Mista_Breeze

Like Cam said your front end would sag really low and that corner would ride like hell. But yours aren't even bad. Mine look worse, 90 % of the paint is flaked off and rusty or not they're still solid. I'm not worried about it, and you shouldn't be either. As for the radiator support. Mine are barely attached to the frame anymore, yours looks like a light coating of surface rust. If it were my truck, getting rid of it wouldn't even have crossed my mind with these issues.

Dan3292

So, I am thinking to break apart the two repair items: spring towers and radiator support, and maybe have the dealer do the spring towers if I supply him the parts and leave the body shop to do the radiator support.

I can see a body shop doing the radiator support if it needs to be painted. I looked into there behind the grill and it is painted the body color, but with all the baffles in the way - I am not sure how much of it you can really see. But, suppose I let a body shop do that job.

From my limited knowledge, the spring towers look to be a matter of drilling out some rivets and screwing in bolts instead - something I am not sure a body shop is required for. I called the dealer and they said they would do it with my supplied parts. I have had luck in the past with getting the dealer to install aftermarket parts.

I am looking at Jeff's Bronco http://broncograveyard.com/bronco/c-...f150-f100.html at the two coil tower brackets - would I also want to get the hardware kit to go along with? I have never had the front shocks replaced, would this be a good time to do that as well and if so - where does someone buy shocks, Jeff's also or somewhere else? Mine are the dual type.

I also noticed my radius arm brackets in about the same condition as the tower brackets. Is that worth doing as well, or no?