I went ahead and ordered a bunch of stuff from James Duff including all new bushings, shocks, and the Long Link traction arm. I also bought new ball joints, new tie rod ends, and new drag links from my local auto parts store. I blasted and painted every suspension component and also the frame of the truck gloss black to give it a brand new look.

I started out by removing the wheels, anti-sway bar, shocks, etc.. The first problem I ran into was the spindle. It was pressed on so tight and completely rusted to the steering knuckle it took me a whole day to remove it. I first tired using the tool from auto-zone with the recommended slide hammer. I might as well have been hitting it with a fish for all it did. I went out and bought a long bolt to use to push on the axle shaft and pull the spindle off that way, usiung it like you would a balancer puller. It finally broke free, nearly stripping the threads off the grade 8 bolt I was using.

Then I could remove the steering knuckle, which also required brute force and many precision hits with the 5 lbs sledge to break the lower ball joint free. Shown in the last picture, you can see the tools you will need to press the ball joints out of the steering knuckle.

Here is the front sway bar before and after new bushings were installed.

Incase you where curious what a Ranger looks like with no front axle, here it is:

Here are some before and after shots for your viewing pleasure.

Next up was the rear suspension. This took A LOT longer then expected due to all the cutting, drilling, and grinding, mainly due to the fact all the brackets and hardware looked like this:

The truck must have been used for towing in saltwater since there was massive corrosion everywhere. I ordered new shackles and leaf spring frame mounts from Ford. After I had removed all of the suspension components (I needed to cut off every bolt due to the rust) I had to remove the old brackets. They are riveted onto the frame at four places per bracket. I used my 4.5 inch grinder to grind the rivets flush, then pry the old bracket off. I then had to drill out and rivets and punch them out of the frame. I installed the new brackets with grade 8 hardeware and high strength red Loctite.

After I had installed the new eye bushings in the springs, and installed them, I moved onto the long link bars. First I mounted the brackets to the frame and then the brackets onto the rear axle. I had to cut off the extra length from the U bolts since a deep socket won�t fit over it to torque the bolts down, which was kind of a pain. The only other cutting I had to do was on the gas tank skid plate. It was hitting the arm on the driver�s side, so taking a section out of the edge was nessacary.

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