Thread: 53 Is back from the Body Shop

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I got a hitch put on Rita, I had my metal guy measure it up and make a receiver for it. I don't know how those guys do it, they measure it , make it and it fits, bolt holes and everything.

The bumper and it's brackets are spring steel and it sucked getting the bumper back on. You see in the first pick how far everything had to be stretched out.


several pics of us trying to get it back on with clamps, floor jacks and a come-a-long. 2 hours later it fits perfect.

That's sweet! The receiver is positioned perfectly, but I expect getting that bumper pulled out to fit was a challenge! Looks great!

Originally Posted by rspears

That's sweet! The receiver is positioned perfectly, but I expect getting that bumper pulled out to fit was a challenge! Looks great!

Challenge alright, I'm still half crabby about it The brackets had to be pulled out about 1/4 inch further out to go past the receiver. I noticed on the pic how that extrea 1/4 took a lot of curve out of the bumper, it's nearly straight now.

The hitch looks great! I bet it was a fight getting those brackets back on there!

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The holes in the floor under the 53 are those for pulling pods?

Originally Posted by cffisher

The holes in the floor under the 53 are those for pulling pods?

They are tie down's for chains. I haven't used them much but enough that I'm glad I have them.

The tow package is nearly complete. I have the bags in and the rest of my hitch got made also. He may have over built the hitch a bit but it's nice that he made it adjustable. Now I just have to wire it a trailer plug to on it. On a another positive note, it now has 650 miles on since the last fuel issue so I think I got that one fixed.

I looked back at some pics, is it normal for springs to settle this much in 3 yrs, it sure looks like it sits lower now. I do think it looks better though.

Yes. it's normal.

I took Rita for a ride tonight and The front end made a big thunk again when I hit a moderate bump. I checked it out and can't find anything wrong, It definitely is not bottoming out, something else is making the clunk. I was looking around and noticed my rack and pinion is leaking again at both tie rod ends, I think this is the third one in 8,700 mi. I am not interested in warranty on this one again, who makes a quality rack? I was looking at new ones from Speedway, thinking about giving them a try. I do have the flow restrictor in and my pressure is down to around 750 PSI, It's so low that it's almost hard to steer to stand still so pressure is not blowing it out.

Are you guessing on the pressure.. or have you actually measured it?
My other thought is the weight of the truck. Could it just be to much for a MII rack? Just thinking out loud...

I actually measured the pressure, I put it at the bottom end of the spec just to be safe. I was thinking about it, and I think this is the second rack I've put in, not the third. The last time there was a leak it was a fitting that was leaking and I did not have to replace the rack. This one seemed to be doing fine until I adjusted the tie rod ends to center the steering wheel.

Are you running a MII rack or a the later Fox body rack? The Fox rack is "supposed" to be better able to tolerate pressure and came on much heavier cars than the MII. I know Thunderbirds used it and the Lincoln may have, too. An offset bushing is needed to mount it on pure MII front, but a lot of aftermarket front ends have a slotted hole on the passenger side to take both.

I do have to wonder if there is some kind of alignment problem with the rack that is putting a load on the seals that they are not designed to deal with. Are the tie rods at an extreme angle? Do you have a lot of caster dialed in? Extreme caster will kick the steering arms to a higher location. A bump steer kit may be needed if that's the case. Just speculating here.

FWIW - I have been running the same MII rack on my 46 with a Heidts pressure bypass valve for over 20 years and she's a heavy old girl at close to 4000 lbs.. Maybe the quality of current parts isn't as good.

I am running a standard 88 T Bird rack, Its a rebuilt from Carquest which could be most of my problem. A fox body rack will work? I guess I never checked that out. The alignment is fine I think, at least it drives good and nothing seems too extreme by looking at it.

Can't see anything obviously wrong with what you have. I think the TBird is considered a Fox platform, so that rack is probably the same one that came on Mustangs.

I will say that when we had a Carquest around here, their rebuilt parts quality seemed to be worse than other parts stores. I went through 3 GM alternators in the same day before we found one that actually charged!