66 LTD questions

[stuart olson]

See the video for details. A brief synopsis would be that I am trying to figure out a good way to clean the dirt out of the frame rails and do some rust prevention. I also am a bit stumped by the tie rods and ball joints not having grease Zerk's on them. I thought non serviceable sealed parts were some newfangled thing. The good news is that the idle suddenly became perfect this morning so I am putting off kitting the carb for the time being. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txA8V-rOgRk  . A link to a video with a more thorogh explination seems to be a little less unwieldy than uploading pictures that wind up being huge and slow to load.

[preaction]

Factory tie rod ends and ball joints (came with a plug) didn't have grease fittings.

[fe-starliner]

Stuart if I remember correctly the plugs in the ball joints are threaded, not just a push in plug.  Back in the '66 time period I heard different theories from Ford line mechanics for the factory using threaded plugs.  One was Ford reasoned that more dirt / contamination could be kept out of the ball joint if you removed the zerk fitting after lubrication and reinstalled the plug.  Second theory (probably most correct) is Ford saved money by not having to buy zerk fittings.

[shady]

Well, in the '60s, manufacturers were touting how low their maintenance costs were compared to the other guys. If you didn't have to grease your chassis, your cost was lower. Extended oil & filter changes were also incorporated at that time. Cars required a lot of attention with tune-ups, tires that were wore out in 5000 miles & so on. Maintenance cost were a big deal for fleets like Hertz & Avis. I don't think it was cost as much as it was bragging rights.