A K
Well-Known Member
The category of this post is "Suspension." I promise it's sort of on topic.
I don't post much anymore -- as many can personally attest, life gets in the way -- but I still lurk. Many faces here have changed, although many remain the same. In a way, we're followers of a dying hobby, pursuit, whatever you want to call it. Each year we get older, as do our Tracs, and each year some of us and our Tracs disappear. I'm doing my best to hold onto mine, partly because I still enjoy it as much as the day I bought it, and partly because there simply is no suitable replacement for it. I have tested other manufacturers, and they're simply not the same. I've tested some beautiful F-150s, but I feel like I am captaining an aircraft carrier when all I want is a destroyer. So, onward I go in my old '04. ("Old" '04? Frightening thought to call something from '04 "old".)
To that end, I was working on the rear suspension this weekend. My end link bushings need to be replaced (or, more accurately, are so shot that when the vehicle sways, I hear clanks of the bar on the end links) and my sway bar bushings are close to shot. About ten years ago I ordered the EE rear sway bar, and some years after that, EE bushings for the end links. So, I called EE for replacements. Much to my happiness, Patty answered the phone. It sounds silly, but for three or four minutes, ordering the parts, it was like it was ten years ago. I ordered the same things then, talked to the same person then. When I hung up, I couldn't help but remember the meets and greets that used to be fairly frequent, and of course, Todd's masterfully planned Louisville Meets, one of which I was fortunate enough to attend. (I also must mention the great Long Island Meet.)
The group here was, and I trust still is, a great group. I had the privilege of meeting and getting to know people that, but for my vehicle, I never would have known. I'm better for it. Over the past ten years, I learned the ins and outs of my Trac, and now there is almost nothing I am not capable of repairing/replacing myself. The breadth of knowledge others here have, and were and are willing to share, is more than Ford could fit in its workshop manuals.
From the creaks the Trac makes, it sounds like my body mount bushings are starting to go. When they do, they likely will be the responsibility of its next owner. I'm not sure what vehicle I will settle on, but whatever it is, it will be settling. But for now, it's still great to be in the Trac, and it's still great to see many still very active here. I hope everyone and their families are well, and that your Tracs give you another ten years and 100,000 miles.
I don't post much anymore -- as many can personally attest, life gets in the way -- but I still lurk. Many faces here have changed, although many remain the same. In a way, we're followers of a dying hobby, pursuit, whatever you want to call it. Each year we get older, as do our Tracs, and each year some of us and our Tracs disappear. I'm doing my best to hold onto mine, partly because I still enjoy it as much as the day I bought it, and partly because there simply is no suitable replacement for it. I have tested other manufacturers, and they're simply not the same. I've tested some beautiful F-150s, but I feel like I am captaining an aircraft carrier when all I want is a destroyer. So, onward I go in my old '04. ("Old" '04? Frightening thought to call something from '04 "old".)
To that end, I was working on the rear suspension this weekend. My end link bushings need to be replaced (or, more accurately, are so shot that when the vehicle sways, I hear clanks of the bar on the end links) and my sway bar bushings are close to shot. About ten years ago I ordered the EE rear sway bar, and some years after that, EE bushings for the end links. So, I called EE for replacements. Much to my happiness, Patty answered the phone. It sounds silly, but for three or four minutes, ordering the parts, it was like it was ten years ago. I ordered the same things then, talked to the same person then. When I hung up, I couldn't help but remember the meets and greets that used to be fairly frequent, and of course, Todd's masterfully planned Louisville Meets, one of which I was fortunate enough to attend. (I also must mention the great Long Island Meet.)
The group here was, and I trust still is, a great group. I had the privilege of meeting and getting to know people that, but for my vehicle, I never would have known. I'm better for it. Over the past ten years, I learned the ins and outs of my Trac, and now there is almost nothing I am not capable of repairing/replacing myself. The breadth of knowledge others here have, and were and are willing to share, is more than Ford could fit in its workshop manuals.
From the creaks the Trac makes, it sounds like my body mount bushings are starting to go. When they do, they likely will be the responsibility of its next owner. I'm not sure what vehicle I will settle on, but whatever it is, it will be settling. But for now, it's still great to be in the Trac, and it's still great to see many still very active here. I hope everyone and their families are well, and that your Tracs give you another ten years and 100,000 miles.
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