GEN 2 Steering Rack Bolt

[WoahItsRob]

So I ran into an issue and hopefully someone can help me out. Swapping bumpers and got the steering rack bolts off, PITA btw. Everything came off smooth enough. When I am finishing up and reinstalling, the passenger steerimg rack bolt is turning like it should, but the drivers side bolt I can push straight through all the way in.
It just spins and doesn't catch.

I did not put threadlocker or anything on and after reading through some posts here im going to put that one but I assume it won't fix the issue.

So I'm assuming one of a few things and hoping it's not worst case...

1- I need a new bolt, the threads on the current bolt seem perfectly fine but one time use bolt I think?

2- the rubber bushing in the back isn't catching

3- I need a new steering rack, hoping this isn't the case.

Really hoping it's some dumb easy fix caused by user error. And hopefully someone on here can enlighten me.

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[FordTechOne]

The bolts are considered "one-time use", but you shouldn't have a problem if you clean off the old thread locker, as they are not torque-to-yield.

Here is the procedure.





View attachment 157918

 

[WoahItsRob]

As much as I hate saying this, but it was none of the 3. I feel super dumb, but ive been working nonstop on this truck with new mods for the last 4 days and my brain wasn't working I guess.
But for anyone that might run into the same issue as me, swap the bolts to the other side.. I guess they aren't interchangeable lmfaooo.

Hopefully this let's some others in here laugh at ny stupidity haha. Working on cars, trucks and motorcycles for 15 years using YouTube and Google hahaha and still make mistakes

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[gordo]

@FordTechOne what torque should you tighten the bolts? Your instructions say 184 but I’ve heard various answers, some say as much as 400!

 

[WoahItsRob]

@FordTechOne what torque should you tighten the bolts? Your instructions say 184 but I’ve heard various answers, some say as much as 400!

I torqued mine to 185

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[zombiekiller]

@FordTechOne what torque should you tighten the bolts? Your instructions say 184 but I’ve heard various answers, some say as much as 400!

the lower coil over bolts are 400 ft/lbs. Steering rack is as stated.

FYI- you cant buy a single DS steering rack bolt. they have to be purchased in qty 4 IIRC. and... they are $16 each.

Whatever engineer at Ford that decided that a singular bolt with 3 circumference changes was a good idea, you sir, are an *******.

 

[FordTechOne]

@FordTechOne what torque should you tighten the bolts? Your instructions say 184 but I’ve heard various answers, some say as much as 400!

As per the screen clip I posted from the Workshop Manual, the correct torque is 184 lb-ft.

 

[BenBB]

As much as I hate saying this, but it was none of the 3. I feel super dumb, but ive been working nonstop on this truck with new mods for the last 4 days and my brain wasn't working I guess.
But for anyone that might run into the same issue as me, swap the bolts to the other side.. I guess they aren't interchangeable lmfaooo.

Hopefully this let's some others in here laugh at ny stupidity haha. Working on cars, trucks and motorcycles for 15 years using YouTube and Google hahaha and still make mistakes

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

Not laughing at all, glad you figured it out!!! That shit happens to me all the time, I guess I got lucky when I did mine and set them right there on the concrete on their respective sides heh.

 

[jondle]

Just an FYI, the Gen1 is 325lb-ft. That might be where the much larger numbers come from.