I have a 2001 f150 4x4 that i am doing some major work on. I have replaced all of the tie rod ends, upper control arms,lower ball joints and also the lower bushings. The truck has 215,000 so I figured I would replace the cv axles as well since the boots were starting to tear.
My first question is should I not fully tighten the lower control arms to the chassis until there is some weight on them? If I torque them know they do not rotate up very easily.
Second question with the new cv axles in, they want to bind with the suspension fully extended.
Thanks for the help guys...

 

You can tighten up the arms with the tire in the air. Some say not too but if you do set the truck down and then tighten them up, and then jack it back up. It will move the bushings anyways.

Did you get the right axles? Is the axle nut torqued down?

 

axle nut is torqued down, just went back out and put the old axle on the passenger side and let it drop to the bumpstop and it rotates fine. was thinking it may be due to the fact that i put camber kits in but no matter where they are set the drivers side still binds up. If I raise the drivers side a 1/4 of the bumpstop it rotates fine, I am just concerned because we have some property that is pretty rough and I know I have in the past fully extended the suspension. I double checked the part numbers and they are correct, Oem axles were to much so I opted for new axles from Oreileys. I have been pleased with their parts for the most except for these axles. A guy at the store told me the ford axles had more bearings and allowed better range of motion. At this point I may reboot the old ones, they felt fine but the boots were dry rotted.

 

I've never heard of them binding up. How are you lifting the truck?

 

I have the truck blocked up with pine timbers across the frame right behind the front wheels and four additional jackstands for added safety. Just got of the phone with another Oreillys employee and he says his 05 f150 will bind the axle if he drops the suspension all the way down, so I am totally confused.

 

Shouldn't! I did brakes on an 2001 F250 and they spun freely.

Are both sides doing this?

I am wondering if it isn't because your vehicle has not been aligned.

 

With the new axles it is binding and will not turn on both sides. With the old one back in on the passenger side it does not bind at all no matter how much + or - camber I set it at. I tried adjusting the camber on the Drivers side but no matter where it was set + or - it will always bind unless I raise the assembly a 1/4 inch of the bumpstop.

 

Are the axles you bought in the red and black box? I cannot think of the brand

 

Not sure I think the box was black and yellow, they are new and not reman's.
I have gotten some very different opinions and not sure who to go with. I did set one new and one old next to eachother and the new ones seem to be a little bit longer(1/4 to 3/8 inch) when compressed fully.
Thanks guys for the ideas

 

problem solved at least 50% of it. I returned the master pro (oreilys) axles and picked up a remanufactured ford oem axle. I am not real big on rebuilt(lifetime warranty) but they look pretty good and still have the ford stamps on them and they feel way better than the new aftermarket ones. They only had one but I have it in and there is absolutely no binding with the suspension all the way down and turned hard left or right. So I will have the other one tomorrow and we will see if that works on the other side tomorrow evening. On a side note you would not believe all the weird things I have heard today about cv axles.