Front suspension terminology

[26ftcobraBBF]

To be honest fellas I'm not sure what I need is why I'm asking. It appears that a rubber piece slips over the top of something metal and the spring sits on top of the rubber piece in Jim's diagram it could be number 5B300 or 5415. And wondering if 5a 307 is metal. I'm going to attach a link and some pictures of what I think it is with the moog part number This is off of YouTube and the guy who's doing the repair is on an E350 It's a later model E350 He's as character,http://youtu.be/C_HAnqPw_TY but it kind of gives me an idea of what I was looking for and it'll help me to explain what I think I'm seeing here.

[ArdWrknTrk]

5B300 is the metal cup that is bolted down inside to hold the spring to the lower arm.

If you want to replace the tattered rubber isolator, then you either want to hunt down the rubber p E2TZ-5415-A or the plastic E8TZ-5414-B that Myrl (a guy that actually works at the dealership) has found works fine in his truck.

YouTube is the biggest mess I've ever seen.
More methheads rattling on about  they have NO idea about than I have ever seen.
That's not to say every video is some crackpot, but you can kinda tell right away who hasn't slept this week.

[26ftcobraBBF]

Yes this is a king pin front end vehicle. Looks like an '85 to or '86.

The moog part number says compatible to '88, but that was digging deep on Orileys website.

Here's more pic of the other side which is in better shape

[ArdWrknTrk]

5A307 is the metal seat you kinda see in your last YouTube screen shot.
The insulator fits over it and under the spring.
In your first pic the sway bar link is bolted to it, and it looks fine.

I dropped a link on the bottom of the last page for the plastic part Myrl is using.
It's seven bucks and change from Ford....

[ArdWrknTrk]

If you want the spring seat it's ~$10 and the same on both sides.

https://www.fordpartsgiant.com/parts/ford-seat-spring_d4tz-5a307-a.html

This is supposed to fit, according to your VIN, but I trust very little online.

[26ftcobraBBF]

Yes that guy..... Character for the lack of a better description, which I believe you are spot on Jim. I found the screenshots helpfull to help me explain, but the mute button was my friend on this video for sure.

Anyhow I ordered the part you recommend from the link..  10.00 shipping yikes, and unfortunately they only had 1, so now need to find another. Probably should have found elseware to purchase a set(2). Maybe I should try to cancel. I want them to be the same..

[ArdWrknTrk]

I would probably go to your local dealer and order.
I'm not sure what MSRP is, but there's never 'delivery' to a dealer.
If they try to charge one (or charge above retail) report them to Ford directly.
I get 'jobber' when I purchase through the dealer, so it is heavily discounted.


As for that car guy.... I've seen enough outright garbage and dangerous "fixes" that don't even address the problem, I'd like to punch him right in the face.

I've got no problem if you think your obnoxious and loud delivery give you "cred", and I don't care if people are receptive to that "stuff", but when you're a textbook example of Dunning-Krueger that is going to get someone else killed because of your stupidity you ought to be banned.

[26ftcobraBBF]

Hilarious Jim I almost dropped my phone because I was laughing so hard, tell it like it is.....sounds like myself..I like it..
So anyhow I called my local Ford dealer again same guy from yesterday answered. I and gave him the part number and he insists that he did a nationwide search there's none available the part is obsolete and that there is not one, but two different part numbers one different part number for each side and  they're not the same. I don't know enough about it to argue with him or to help him do his job, so hear I am.
If you know anybody you can personally put me in contact with that I can pay over the phone I will buy them from that person and have them shipped to me here in Oregon or anyone on here have these readily available I can pay personally through PayPal.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Myrl is in Oregon.
Go click on his username and send him an email.
I'm sure he can get them if he is the one who says they fit and are still available.

I'm willing to bet he gets a discount at least as much as mine.

If for some reason he cannot put you in contact with someone who knows better than your number dummy, I will go check with my counter guy.
Shipping would be whatever a flat rate envelope is these days.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I get it that I'm old and cranky.
That I just "don't understand how it is with kids these days"

Ok.
Coherent sentences, and a basic understanding of what you've got your hands on are an absolute minimum to be seated at the grown-ups table.
Not raising your voice when everyone can hear you.
Something to back up your harebrained conclusions might be good too.

I'm not missing anything because I have that channel on ignore.

[85lebaront2]

If it will help, here is a picture of my right front when I added the sway bar. I had to strip the suspension down that far to get the lower nut (hidden inside the bottom of the spring seat) so I could install the stamped bracket for the sway bar end link. This is a 1986 F350, but the basic layout is the same.


Here is the sway bar bracket mounted, it sits on top of the radius arm (stamped piece) right side I-beam is the forging underneath.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Great photos Bill. Thanks for that!  

So, we see the seats are handed.
Of course they are! They have to mirror for the sway bar to bolt up.

But the isolators (cushions) are the same. (It's not as if the right and left springs are wound opposite directions)

It's not unlike me -after getting this sort of b.s. runaround- to march up to the counter and drop the correct parts there.
"Hey.  Do you think you can get me this non-existent part?
'Cause Bobby at the Lincoln dealer on the other side of town didn't seem to have a problem finding 23 of them in the regional hub!"

Then I walk over to Jim Kingery's desk (he's the owner I've known for over 40 years) and strike up a conversation about how they have a customer service 'problem' behind the parts counter.

Yeah, I'm not well liked....
But to some of the guys in the service bays I'm a freaking hero because I've got no filter and my neck isn't on the line.

[85lebaront2]

Jim, up through 1986 the sway bar link brackets are separate from the spring seats, after that, at least in 1990, the sway bar link brackets are part of the spring seat. This is the right side of the 1990 F250 parts truck.

[26ftcobraBBF]

When I woke up this morning it's almost like baby Jesus was working his little heart off for me through the night. Who would have thought there was a place to look this part up by application. And just to think my parts dummy checked EVERYWHERE.  I've got half of mind to print this out when my parts show up drive down there and ... Well you know the rest...
I think we can let this dead horse lay, unless I get an email saying these are obsolete. Thanks everyone for all your help.
P.S. I came across this," Garage Gurus by inquiring about the parts I needed on the Moog parts website when I didn't find what I was needing. The above is who they had reach out to me with there recommendation.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I don't know Bill.
Like I said above, I don't have coil springs....
I'm just going by this photo, that Mike submitted.
Maybe vans are different than trucks?  




Mike, I'm glad you've found the part.    
Sometimes it just takes someone that knows what they're doing, or cares enough to even try.  

[myrl883]

5A307 IS THE STEEL SPRING SEAT THAT THE INSULATOR SITS ON... SHEESH! YOU GOT A DUMMY AT YER LOCAL DEALER.

JUST SAYIN...

[26ftcobraBBF]

After a much anticipated wait The spring insulators I ordered finally came in. Today I tore front end apart to install them and they were wrong. Center of the insulator is too small to fit over the steel spring seat. All of my local parts stores showed them as obsolete.. I was in s bind, do I decided that I'll just make one. I had two ideas
1) I went to Harbor Freight and got a solid rubber caster wheel, I was going to whittle one. Then got to thinking that it's not reinforced rubber so I scratched that Idea.
2) I used a heavy duty fiber reinforced trucker mud flap. Took my hole saw cut the outside diameter, then switched blades to a size that was just smaller than the spring seat, and cut it.... So now I essentially have a rubber donut. Took the rubber donut placed in on top of the spring seat then  placed a large diameter pipe on top of the rubber, put it in my vise and tighten. Essentially the pipe pushed the rubber down over the spring seat staying tight on center part creating an inside sidewall. Heated the spring seat till the rubber was good and hot ( starting to smoke) then let it sit and cool. Wvolla... Custom molded spring seat insulator.
May not be ideal, but definitely functional.
Thanks for reading

[ArdWrknTrk]

Wow, sorry to hear the '88 nylon part Myrl used won't fit your cutaway van.
I guess the RV got bigger seats as well as springs?

Did you try asking him directly what would fit?
He does have all that experience and the back counter full of books to rely on!

I surely would have been tempted to boil both the spring seat and the nylon bushing, then force them together while hot.
But if a mudflap works for you, great!  

[Gary Lewis]

That is ingenious!  Well done!