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D250 Front Spring and lower balljoint Relacement

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2 inch suspension lift

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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. :-laf 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! :D
 
That looks great!

The before and after pics show a big difference. I like the paint job for the springs, too. It is nice to see someone with a decent set of tools (but no lift and on site Snap On truck) do some quality work. You do have a nice shop, though.



Do you think the ball joints had so much extra crush material because they are D350 parts, or is that just the way they come? Did you use a grinder to take the material off?



My before pic would look very similar to yours, with the fender lip right at the top of the tire.



Again, nice job!



-Richard
 
Andy, good job! My front is sagged worse than yours was! :eek: I'm gonna fix it when I do my cab swap this winter. When I did my ball joints, they went in decent, no grinding needed.

Lookin' good! ;)
 
I have been installing joints and know not of having to modify the lower joint. I have used TRW and NAPA components.



The suspension components are the same part numbers for 250/350



Scott
 
Thanks for the comments guys! I just can't believe how much nicer this truck is to drive now. I need to verify my toe-in now with such a lift. It still drives great!

As for the lower balljoints: I got mine from AZ, part number FA680. I think they came in a Duralast box with made in USA on it. Wow, again. I mic'd the holes in my control arms after the old balljoints came out and they were 2. 275 to 2. 278". The old balljoints were 5 thou bigger than the holes. The new balljoints mic'd at 2. 308 to 2. 310". I used a solvent-soaked rag to clean the oil off the shell, stud and grease fitting hole. Then I taped these over with duct tape. I used the fine wheel on my bench grinder and VERY CAREFULLY squarely ground the outer diameter down to about 2. 290. You want to spin as you grind an use very light pressure. Don't ever stop with it touching the wheel or it will get a flat spot. I stood right over the wheel and looked down to make sure I was squarely grinding too. You don't want to cause a taper. The last bit of country-machining I did with a file in my vice. I filed with an arc sweep motion to avoid flatspots. I really don't recommend going thru all this. Now obviously the best thing would have been to simply find balljoints with the right OD. BUT, I'm used to modifying stuff anyway and didn't really want to let my boy sit on jackstands any longer than I had to during the Holidays. :-laf I get to be a bit of an impatient kid when I see my present getting close to completion, ya know? I would try to find the right sized ones tho to make life easy. I just went down to my shop and remeasured the old balljoint and it was 2. 282. Thanks for the comments on my shop. Actually it's a work-in-progress too. I'm moving my equip from the house garage (that's where the lift is now :rolleyes:) into the new 36' by 54' playpen. Woo Hoo! Oh yea, anybody want a mortgage to pay off?
 
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