Ball Joint Torque Settings?

[Bronco638]

I'm in the process of rebuilding the front suspension on my 1980 F-150. I was able to determine that I have 1984 TIBs on the truck



There doesn't seem to be much info on the interwebz regarding the torque specs or sequence for the ball joints. As you can see, I have forged TIBs with ball joints. I've found that some folks use this:

Torque the lower ball joint to 40 lbs./ft.
Torque the upper to 100 lbs./ft.
Re-torque the lower to 100 lbs./ft.

Clearly my truck no longer has the original TIBs so I'm trying to find specs for an '84 F-150. The numbers above came from folks with 1985 & 86 trucks so they should be the same. Interestingly, the old lower ball joints had Loc-Tite blue on the nuts (which shouldn't be necessary).

Does anyone have anything definitive? I've checked my shop manual but did '80 F-150s not have ball joints (kingpins only)?

TIA

[ArdWrknTrk]

I don't know offhand exact specs for an '84, but what you have for 85-6 sounds about right.

Loctite is not only a retaining compound, but because I hardens in the absence of air and creates a hermetic seal, you can never get a seized nut/bolt if you use it.
That it's on the bottom, where a nut could vibrate loose and all the splash is directed I don't think it's odd,

[Gary Lewis]

The process to use and the torque specs are in the factory shop manual section on our page at Documentation/Suspension & Steering/Front Suspension and then the Instructions tab.

[Bronco638]

Since my truck is clearly not the way it came from the factory, I thought maybe the person that re-assembled the front suspension had used Loc-Tite on the lower ball joints because they didn't know the torque setting. When I removed the nuts they were not 140+ lbs./ft. I can now see why the factory would have used that. Thanks Jim.

The FSM that's in the Documentation has more info than mine does (with respect to front suspension). What I found on-line was pretty close. This is what the FSM (from this site) says;

Lower Ball Joint initial torque to 35 lbs./ft.
Upper Ball Joint torque to 85-110 lbs./ft.
Re-torque lower Ball Joint to 140-180 lbs./ft.

Another issue I'm having is getting a torque wrench head and the 15/16" socket into the area between the two ball joints to torque the upper one. How does one go about that? Swivel adapter?