Fordcowboy
Member
I was going to do sway bar end links on my Early 99 this weekend. At Ford we were trying to make sure we got the right ones for the early 99 since they are different than the 99.5+. The two options are definitely different from each other. Now I can't remember which one was listed as early and late. One is skinnier, shorter, has a stud on one end and eyelet on the other, and smaller ends. The other is a good bit thicker, larger ends, has an eyelet on one end, and a bolt already shoved through the other, and is probably 3 inches longer.
Neither one matches whats on my truck. What is on my truck is closer to the diameter of the smaller one, and the ends are the same size as the smaller one. But what's on my truck is atleast an inch and a half longer, and has eyelets at both ends. So the larger one is then about an inch too long, ends are a good bit larger, and the bolt that comes in the one end is a lot longer than what I would need, it won't even tighten down.
So I don't know what to get since neither matches what I have. Length wise I am closer to the bigger one working, but it is still too long so would extend down farther. The smaller one is more similar dimension wise, but is a good bit shorter.
The only thing I can come up with is I'm fairly certain the truck already had a leveling kit when I bought it. I have no idea what brand or anything. I wouldn't figure there would be new end links with a leveling kit. Also didn't make sense that what's on the truck falls between the length of the two stock options, I would figure it would be longer than both.
Looking through the Ford computer, the only thing they had that had eyelets at both ends like mine do, is for a F-550, and there is a note saying that they redesigned those, and they are now like 1-1.5 inches longer. They didn't have any on hand to look at and the picture was worthless, but it sounded like they would be the same length as mine. So they thought maybe the previous owner replaced them at some point and got the revised F-550 ones. No idea why, but won't be able to compare until they get them in, my initial thought was that those would be beefier than what's on there though.
So what's my best option here? Try to find out if they were changed with the leveling kit and figure out a brand? See if they are actually F-550 links and go with those? Go with the thicker ones that are a bit too long? Or go with the similar sized ones that are too short? I can make any of them work, I just don't know what the implications would be since they are all different in certain ways. Thought maybe someone else had run into this.
Neither one matches whats on my truck. What is on my truck is closer to the diameter of the smaller one, and the ends are the same size as the smaller one. But what's on my truck is atleast an inch and a half longer, and has eyelets at both ends. So the larger one is then about an inch too long, ends are a good bit larger, and the bolt that comes in the one end is a lot longer than what I would need, it won't even tighten down.
So I don't know what to get since neither matches what I have. Length wise I am closer to the bigger one working, but it is still too long so would extend down farther. The smaller one is more similar dimension wise, but is a good bit shorter.
The only thing I can come up with is I'm fairly certain the truck already had a leveling kit when I bought it. I have no idea what brand or anything. I wouldn't figure there would be new end links with a leveling kit. Also didn't make sense that what's on the truck falls between the length of the two stock options, I would figure it would be longer than both.
Looking through the Ford computer, the only thing they had that had eyelets at both ends like mine do, is for a F-550, and there is a note saying that they redesigned those, and they are now like 1-1.5 inches longer. They didn't have any on hand to look at and the picture was worthless, but it sounded like they would be the same length as mine. So they thought maybe the previous owner replaced them at some point and got the revised F-550 ones. No idea why, but won't be able to compare until they get them in, my initial thought was that those would be beefier than what's on there though.
So what's my best option here? Try to find out if they were changed with the leveling kit and figure out a brand? See if they are actually F-550 links and go with those? Go with the thicker ones that are a bit too long? Or go with the similar sized ones that are too short? I can make any of them work, I just don't know what the implications would be since they are all different in certain ways. Thought maybe someone else had run into this.
