What the heck is going on here? Clunk when braking (video).

[4.0blue98]

I believe they're correct for my 98 and up to 04 or 06. Can't verify beyond that. May have been a change to some M14 but the nomenclature on these thing are ridiculous. The caliper mounting bolts for the slide pins are tiny. Some pics of spares for my 98 that I have in the garage

 

[Danno1985]

I'm seeing

May have been a change to some M14 but the nomenclature on these thing are ridiculous.

Right? It would be nice if Ford-parts listed the actual specs on their page so I could be sure, but god forbid I buy one bolt from somewhere else instead of paying $68 for a 4-pack from Ford.

I believe they're correct for my 98 and up to 04 or 06. Can't verify beyond that. May have been a change to some M14 but the nomenclature on these thing are ridiculous. The caliper mounting bolts for the slide pins are tiny. Some pics of spares for my 98 that I have in the garage

View attachment 103516View attachment 103515

It looks like the spindles are compatible across those years, so I have to imagine the bolt fits and whatever info the auto parts sites have that shows “does not fit” for my 2011 is an error, but I won’t be able to find out until Tuesday when I’m able to work on the truck. I picked up the Dorman bolts and have a guaranteed correct one expedited from Tasca, so either way hopefully I’m covered.

Anyone know the torque specs? 85-100? I’m going to comb through every bolt the shop could’ve touched while changing the rotors since my guess is the ones on the driver’s side probably weren’t torqued properly either.

 

[4.0blue98]

I usually go about 90 but I think the spec is 80 to 85 for my 98. Should be the same for you.

Quick look and 85 seems like the consensus. Don't think 90 would hurt anything. Use some medium locktite.

 

[Danno1985]

Thanks so much for the help, guys, and Merry Christmas if you celebrate. Always appreciate the prompt and helpful advice I get here, it's still one of the good forums.

I've got a little more downtime than usual the next couple weeks, so I decided to give myself the gift of spending some DIY time refreshing the front suspension in addition to fixing the caliper bracket.

Found a nice little puddle under the front right shock, and both fail the bounce test miserably after around 15K (maybe OEM shocks aren't what they used to be), so I ordered some new Gabriel Ultra Trucks on sale at RockAuto. Hope they hold up ok. I've had Bilsteins blow out on my old Yota pickup after only 10K, so I've kinda just decided our horrible roads are capable of killing just about anything prematurely. The swaybar bushings look pretty compressed and are definitely creaking, so I'm putting some new Moog ones in as well. We'll start there and see how it goes. Truck hasn't seen any salt and is in really great shape cosmetically, so it'll be nice to have it feeling nice and tight again too.

 

[Danno1985]

Update: the bolt was the correct one; the package even said "Caliper Bracket Bolt" on it. Silly Advance Auto site. Used some red loctite, torqued to 85lb/ft, then went through all the other caliper bracket bolts. Sure enough, the ones on the driver's side were barely more than hand-tightened. Seems like whoever was responsible for this job just tightened them all "snug" and never got around to torquing them down. It didn't seem like there was any evidence of thread lock, either. Really disappointing. I've always had good luck with this shop in the past, but may need to find a new one. I did send the owner a message with the photos of the missing bolt in the hopes that he'll use it as a learning opportunity about the dangers of putting quick turnaround over everything else.

While I was down there, I replace the swaybar bushings with some new Moog parts. Whoa. Can't believe what a difference that 10 minute job made on the ride quality and handling. Under all the gunk of layers of fluid film and grease, the old ones were white and hollow inside - that can't be OEM, right? They were really squishy and compressed. Seriously, it's a night-and-day difference. Next up will be end links and bushings. I'm actually feeling like the shocks may be ok after all.

 

[sgtsandman]

Well, with red, they definitely won't come loose unless you have a fire wrench or a big breaker bar... Usually blue is used on stuff like that since sooner or later you are going to want the bracket to come back off for a rotor change. What's done is done.

I'm glad you found the issue and was able to correct it without there being a lot of damage.

As far as the bushings, if they are the ones that hold the bar to the frame, they should be pretty stiff and not hollow. They should have some give but not a ton. The stiffer the material is, the harder they are to remove and install.

 

[Danno1985]

Well, with red, they definitely won't come loose unless you have a fire wrench or a big breaker bar... Usually blue is used on stuff like that since sooner or later you are going to want the bracket to come back off for a rotor change. What's done is done.

I'm glad you found the issue and was able to correct it without there being a lot of damage.

As far as the bushings, if they are the ones that hold the bar to the frame, they should be pretty stiff and not hollow. They should have some give but not a ton. The stiffer the material is, the harder they are to remove and install.

Ah well. Noted for next time on the blue thread lock thing. A previous poster said blue as well but when I was in autozone today I just grabbed the red one without thinking. At the end of the day I’d rather bust out a breaker bar than have one fall out on the freeway, though.

Yeah, I can’t imagine the oem bar bushings would’ve been white, so those must’ve been changed at some point by the previous owner. The new ones were a pain to get on, old ones almost fell off.

 

[sgtsandman]

Yeah, I can’t imagine the oem bar bushings would’ve been white, so those must’ve been changed at some point by the previous owner. The new ones were a pain to get on, old ones almost fell off.

Yep, they are a real pain to install.

 

[dvdswan]

Glad to hear you solved it.

 

[Danno1985]

Glad to hear you solved it.

Me too.

 

[RobbieD]

I gotta say; you did real good.

First recognizing that something was failing; then having the good sense in finding the issue; and finally by assessing what was needed, and fixing it correctly.

Good job!

Salut!