Another rear trailing arms thread

[hades02]

Here's the deal:
New England vehicle, now in Florida. Rear trailing arms need replacing, both uppers and lowers. Ordered and arriving tomorrow. I now need to order the bolts, washers and nuts as they did not have them with the kit. I know I can get them at Fastenal or Bolt Depot. Here's the question:

What size bolts? I know 10.9 grade 14mm as the Expy is a 1997 XLT 4x4. Built pre 3/97 (makes a difference with a/c kits so figured I would provide this info).

 

[splintrcel]

If you go to a ford dealer they have a whole book full of every piece of hardware. Its your best bet if you cant find the exact kit or tell you if the kit has the right pieces. I just bought suspension bolts for my shocks but i cant recall what grade they were. The sucky thing about bolts from fastenal is they only have the goldish coating bolts and zinc nuts. I havent seen how the goldish coating works out but the zinc nuts rust so quick but i do live in wisconsin.

 

[hades02]

Thank you Splintrcel. I'll have to do that. I was living in Connecticut and 17 years of winters combined with CT being great at treating the roads have taken it's toll. Have replaced brake lines, tranny lines and now trailing arms. I guess not a lot considering no car payments.

 

[hades02]

So I went to the Ford stealership today and came back with some information that hopefully is helpful for others.

Both front bolts for upper and lower trailing arms are 16mm
Both rear bolts for upper and lower trailing arms are 14mm

Part numbers
Front bolts - W705000-S428
Front nuts - N800237-S428
Rear bolts - N803990-S426
Rear Nuts - N805480-S426

[Supposedly this is for all 1997 - 2002 expeditions. I will have to measure the ones that I have to confirm as others have stated that there was a change to 16mm all around. I have the rear diagram with part numbers if anyone needs it. By the way, one front bolt (no nut) is $20. They only come in packs of 4. So in order to replace the 4 bolts you would have to buy 16 at a price of almost $320 without the nuts. Does anyone else think that is crazy?

edit: Front Bolts are m14x90 2.0 pitch (coarse) for my Expy built pre 3/17/1997. Makes me wonder about the rear ones now. Just passing on additional information.

 

[hades02]

So couldn't find the lower front bolt anywhere locally. Decided to try something crazy. Used a jack to push up on the gas tank and it was
enough to remove the bolt without cutting it. Finished the drivers side in
less than 1/2 hour for upper and lower. 10 minutes to finish passenger side upper. Easily removed the passenger lower front bolt. Seems like I got a little to excited and the mechanics god set out to teach me a lesson. The lower rear bolt is seized inside the inner sleeve of the bushing. It's the only thing keeping me from finishing what started out as a very easy job.

 

[BAD RONALD]

So couldn't find the lower front bolt anywhere locally. Decided to try something crazy. Used a jack to push up on the gas tank and it was
enough to remove the bolt without cutting it. Finished the drivers side in
less than 1/2 hour for upper and lower. 10 minutes to finish passenger side upper. Easily removed the passenger lower front bolt. Seems like I got a little to excited and the mechanics god set out to teach me a lesson. The lower rear bolt is seized inside the inner sleeve of the bushing. It's the only thing keeping me from finishing what started out as a very easy job.

I assume you responded accordingly to the seized bolt with a BFH.

A Milwaukee Torch 18 TPI recip blade will cut the 10.9 grade bolt surprisingly fast. Relatively fast anyway, I expected more trouble.

Any problems caused by jacking the tank? Never heard of anybody trying that before.

When I did mine last September I was surprised my 750 ftlb air impact would not free the bolts. Pipe leverage on a breaker bar was necessary. The trailing arms kit from PMT Fabrication included replacement bolts. Nice product.

 

[sitruc_btb]

Pardon me for butting in, guys, but I have a question about the trailing arms. Is it possible to get only upper arms, or lower arms?

 

[BAD RONALD]

Pardon me for butting in, guys, but I have a question about the trailing arms. Is it possible to get only upper arms, or lower arms?

Ford Suv | pmtfabrication.com

 

[sitruc_btb]

Ford Suv | pmtfabrication.com

Well would you look at that. Thanks man.

 

[splintrcel]

Go to fastenal for bolts, thats where i got mine from. I think though that the suspension bolts due to size and since they are a flange style bolt they are pricey, i forgot what i paid but $20 for 4 actually sounds about right. The nuts were pretty cheap. I would only replace bolts that are in bad condition. I had to buy a set due to one stubborn bolt locked in place so when it warms up it is gonna come out in pieces.

 

[hades02]

I assume you responded accordingly to the seized bolt with a BFH.

A Milwaukee Torch 18 TPI recip blade will cut the 10.9 grade bolt surprisingly fast. Relatively fast anyway, I expected more trouble.

Any problems caused by jacking the tank? Never heard of anybody trying that before.

When I did mine last September I was surprised my 750 ftlb air impact would not free the bolts. Pipe leverage on a breaker bar was necessary. The trailing arms kit from PMT Fabrication included replacement bolts. Nice product.

No problems jacking up the tank. Went extra slow though. The fear was cracking or puncturing the tank. Jacked up enough to slide the bolt out. Doesn't have to be jacked up much just make sure the jack is not in the way of the bolt. Don't ask how I know...

Fastenal did not have the bolts that I needed. Would have had to order something similar. Might still have to order one if I have to cut the passenger lower rear bolt. Trying a method that I read about on another site and youtube. Essentially tighten the bolt so that the bushing sleeve is caught tight between the hanger. Then lots of PB Blaster and tighten and loosen until it frees. I will give it a couple of hours of this. If it doesn't work, sawzall it is.

 

[BAD RONALD]

Might still have to order one if I have to cut the passenger lower rear bolt.

The luck you've had with this is unreal.

You avoid the sawzall on the driver's side where everybody needs it and need the sawzall on the passenger side where nobody needs it.

I saved the three factory bolts left over from my replacement. Free to you if you pay shipping. PM me if you run into problems ordering a new bolt.

 

[hades02]

Tell me about it Bad Ronald. When I got the drivers side out with little problem and all the nuts came off easy, I thought I was home scott free. I guess I can't complain, she is a 97 with 189k miles all in CT.