[Shotimes] Subframe Adjustment / Tie Rod Inspection

[Alan Fanning]

So, I finally got my subframe moved over a smidge today = close to the
1/8'th inch I was shooting for. That also seemed to be all the adjustment
there was in that direction.

To do so I jacked up the body, front and rear, and placed it on four leveled
jackstands. I then used two floor jacks to create 3 points of support on the
subframe (one jack supporting a 4x8 beam straddling the two sides of the
subframe, the other at center front to allow some fore-aft height
adjustment) while I backed the SF bolts out about 1/4". With the bolts
backed out, I lowered the subframe about 1/8'th inch so it wasn't binding on
either the body or the bolts, then coaxed it sideways with a pry bar at the
front and a couple whacks with a 6 lb lead hammer near the aft end. Not
entirely pretty, but it worked.

Now I'm trying to decide whether the tie rod ends (inners and outers) are
good. As far as I know they're original, but all I have to go my is a lack
of receipts for these parts in the stack obtained from the previous owner
who had had the car since about 26k. When I shake the wheels across the
horizontal and vertical axes I can detect no apparent excess motion -
certainly not like the '91 SHO I had which at the same mileage (~84k) felt
like the wheel nuts weren't fully attached.  However, the HELM manual says
to check the inner tie rod by pulling up at the outer end (with outer tie
rod attached) using a spring scale. When I do so, the required force to
cause upward movement is less than 1 lb, as compared to the 2 lbs-10 lbs
target listed in the HELM manual.

So, this would be grounds for rejection, right? For comparison, I ran the
same test on a TRW inner and outer tie rod end set that have about 15k-20k
on them ,at most. As I recall, this is a "low-friction" design, which
appears corroborated by the ~1 lbs reading I got out of these parts when
tested the same way. Hmm. What's a person to do? It seems by the mileage
that the parts on the car should be worn out, but they don't seem to show
it. I wonder if Ford used better parts on '95 SHO steering gear vs the Gen
I's I'm more familiar with?

I hate to throw out good parts, but I'd rather not deal with this in the
future. Any recommendations from the troops?

Thx.

    Alan