A Weekend Full of I-beam Bushings, Shocks and Bad Breaks.

[FoMoCo]

What a great start to the weekend. The Scrap men were coming to haul off the remains of the F-500 and a very large log splitter. I could be happier to get rid of all the junk.
I had been planning on installing new Energy Suspention I-beam bushings and front shocks for weeks as soon as the junk was cleared. After the first of two loads were hauled off my dad and I decide to go to the corner dehli for lunch. As wee aproached the stop llight I heard a pop sound while breaking. Then the breaks gave out. The pedal would move about 3 inches then had a hard-pedal feel and was nearly impossible to stop. After plenty of swearing I fgured it to be the worn out booster. Nope, didnt help. Then the hard pedal feeling made me think MS. After installing a new MS and booster it did the same thing. I little soft then hard pedal. We had bench bleed the breaks, and then blead the system. I was'nt untill I pulled the right side front drum that I found the adjuster nut had fallen off. After cursing it over a 5 dollar part I replaced it every thing seems normal, except there is to much pedal play. With the old parts there was about an 8th of an inch of pedal play before it would startto stop.
How can I take up the play? Do I keep turning out the MS push rod on the booster untill it's were I like it?

Is any body elde thinking about installing or have they installed Energy Suspension's 4-peice I-bean bushings? If any body is thinking about I would strongly concider having a shop do it. Basically, you bore out the old rubber bushing leaving just the sleve and slide the new 4-peice bushing in it's place. YEAH RIGHT!!! I am goingth be sending a very lenthy letter of dissatisfactin to energy suspension. I have done every thing you can think of as far as replaceing Ford suspension parts and this has them all beat by a mile. They CAN NOT be pressed in because the four peice design lets eigther end peices slip out when trying to reassemble.
The best part was a installing Monroe gas magnums, wich only took 10 minutes. The ride of the new bushings and shocks is worth it but I would gladley pay to have someone else do the installation.

Sorry for the long post, it's been a long weekend and I have no beer in the fridge.

Nick

[lazyj70]

Get the BEER now!

[ToughOldFord]

I'd check your brake adjustment really closely. You would have had to have had some pretty loose brakes for that adjustment bolt to just fall out. And loose shoes = more brake pedal travel.

[ToughOldFord]

And I second the vote on getting some beer!

[flyboy2610]

I'd check your brake adjustment really closely. You would have had to have had some pretty loose brakes for that adjustment bolt to just fall out. And loose shoes = more brake pedal travel.

That star adjuster shouldn't have just fallen out like that. I would say it's time for new pads and drums.

[FORDification]

If the rod between the MC and booster is adjustable (not all are), then you need to adjust it like this:

[FoMoCo]

UPdate! After a very close inspection I find that the old adjusters are just that, old. When replaced the front end breaks I used new hard ware, drums, cyliders, shoes, and bearings. I ordered another round of hard ware, cables, and adjusters.

As for the ES i-beam bushings, they are absolutly worth it. The ride at 70 mph is so smooth you think your in a car. it doesnt shimmy or made noise over the rough midwest pavment either. The old ones didnt look bad. The radious bushings were replaced about a year ago with rubber Moog's. Absolutly worth every cent, hour, and swear word for the ES bushings.

Nick

[binder56jd]

good to know-now, go get that beer