Per some of the posts below, I too had an annoying 'clunk' in the Right Front end of my 1990 F150 2WD...but it suddenly got worse until just before I got home, it began clacking, thumping and sounding almost like a flat tire. After taking things apart, I found that the right front outer wheel bearing had come apart with the rotor pushing outward hard enough to bend the bearing retaining washer around the big castle nut on the outside of the spindle. Of course, the spindle is now toast.

Well, got a used spindle knuckle assm from a local wrecking yard, and while I'm in there, going to replace rotors and pads.

But here's my question. Anyone know the torque specs for the upper and lower ball joint nuts and the right tie-rod nut? They were buggers to get off...but I'm not sure how hard to tighten.

Thanks

Bruce

 

The Ford techs I've talked to don't use torque specs on the ball joints. They've told me that they just hit them with their impact to tighten them and then line up the holes to put the cotter pin through. I just tighten them as tight as I can, put the pin in and go.

 

Thanks for the reply
Yep, I just snugged em tight until the hole lined up for the cotter pins. The bolt that holds the top collar around the ball joint doesn't have a cotter, so I just used a lock washer and snugged it up.

Brakes are like new...really pulls that front end down.

BruceM