Thank you driller ... all good thoughts and I have already considered some and will pursue all your suggestions ... my mechanic is reticent to remove the pieces unless he sees where we are going ... I, on the other hand, think we need to disassemble and learn what lurks beneath ... the other gentleman who thinks I didn't even try the dealers before coming to the forum should know from your posting that indeed, the parts are not commonly available and to the so called "newbie", the point is to help in unusual situations not begin by assuming that one has not even turned on the garage lights yet. I appreciate your thorough answer and I expect there will be a solution sooner than later. To Mr. budpytko, give a guy a break, the dealership mess is at least one reason as to why this forum exists. I think it may be fair to presume that a guy might try his Ford Dealer before winging it on the LOD forum. cheers, dbcopper