How To: Replacing Upper Ball Joints on a 3rd Gen 4x4 [Pictures]

[nfs480]

When you press the new ball joint in, do you use the same press tool from Autozone? And if so, is there a change in the way it's used to get it pressed in properly? Also, is the picture of the shims missing, because I don't see it there.

 

[thepotroast]

When you press the new ball joint in, do you use the same press tool from Autozone? And if so, is there a change in the way it's used to get it pressed in properly? Also, is the picture of the shims missing, because I don't see it there.

You just use the flat attachment to press the joint back in from the head, and you do it very slowly assuring that it's seating in straight. As said in my writeup, I used some liquid wrench around the surface of the joint when I pressed it in, to ensure a smoother press.

There are no shims associated with changing upper ball joints. What shims are you referring to?

 

[nfs480]

Using a 13/16" wrench, remove the nuts that hold the upper control arm, to the frame. Also note that in the 2002-2005 models, shims are used here. I will picture them below. They MUST be put back in when re-installing!

Those are the shims i'm referring to.

 

[thepotroast]

Those are the shims i'm referring to.

4th picture down from the statement you quoted.

 

[nfs480]

It wasn't showing up in my browser, so I tried a different browser and it showed up. Thanks for the detailed walkthrough, i'm going to be attempting this very job in the coming weeks.

 

[thepotroast]

It wasn't showing up in my browser, so I tried a different browser and it showed up. Thanks for the detailed walkthrough, i'm going to be attempting this very job in the coming weeks.

Excellent

 

[SnookMan]

Man.........I owe you a beer or two lol. Stealership qouted me $810 yesterday for this same job, and told me that the entire control arm needed to be replaced, as you CAN'T just replace the ball joint. Now for $90 and a few hours labor I'll be back in business. Why isn't this a sticky???????????????????????????????????????????????????? Thanks again man for taking the time to write up and post something like this for the rest of us. Now mods, MAKE THIS A STICKY!!!

 

[EasyRhino]

Man.........I owe you a beer or two lol. Stealership qouted me $810 yesterday for this same job, and told me that the entire control arm needed to be replaced, as you CAN'T just replace the ball joint. Now for $90 and a few hours labor I'll be back in business. Why isn't this a sticky???????????????????????????????????????????????????? Thanks again man for taking the time to write up and post something like this for the rest of us. Now mods, MAKE THIS A STICKY!!!

Snooker is right, this should be a sticky.

Good stuff.

 

[thepotroast]

Please hit the "report" icon on my initial thread and tell the mods to make it a sticky! Thanks and I'm glad that this helped you out!!!

 

[amxrick]

02 AWD Mountaineer. Everything above looks good, but am going from memory, did not look to easy to remove the whole Up Control Arm, does the shaft nuts get left alone and unbolt the arm from bottom side of frame. I will look again. If knuckle is pushed out of the away, can I press out the old one on the car? Of course with caliper pulled off. Also, I am replacing the Lower one too, is it better to do them separately? Have not looked real close but it looked like the upper one comes out from the top and the lower one comes out from the bottom with a C clip on the top side. Is there anything I need to know to replace the lower one? I am also replacing the In/Out Tie rods, Outer easy, any tips on the inner? Looks like I need a special wrench to loosen it. Also no adj sleeve so does the inner joint rotate to move the arm in/out or do I need to pop out the outer one to rotate it? I have done Ball Joints on all kinds of old cars and with care I Think I might be able to remove them w/o a press (should I try) my concern is do I really need the get the press to put them in, I do have a couple of different kinds of C type clamps for bearings etc.

 

[DLinkOZ]

I actually opted to do the entire arms. The joints alone were $42 each, the entire arm with joints were only $68 each out the door at my local O'Reilly's. So new arm, new ball joints, new bushings, and it cut the time down to 30 minutes per side since you remove all the press out/press in steps (and your write-up already has the arms coming out anyway).

 

[thepotroast]

I actually opted to do the entire arms. The joints alone were $42 each, the entire arm with joints were only $68 each out the door at my local O'Reilly's. So new arm, new ball joints, new bushings, and it cut the time down to 30 minutes per side since you remove all the press out/press in steps (and your write-up already has the arms coming out anyway).

That's an awesome price! My local O'Reilly's lists them for $82.99 each (part #CB40090 and #CB40091). But even at that price, compared to a $40 ball joint that you can pull yourself...there is still significant savings on doing the work on your own

 

[amxrick]

Our O'Reilly's is, lets say greedy here, Upper Arm was $120 for house brand and n/a from Moog (?). I did change my order to all Moog as the House brand didn't has (zert? fittings) . I will opt to chg Ball Joints. Also, can anybody tell me if I can chg them on the car. Can I pull the knuckle off the low & up at the same time (I will also have the Tie Rod off), and have room for the press while arms are still mounted? Also do I need a special press socket for AWD?

 

[DLinkOZ]

I believe someone mentioned earlier in the thread that there's just not enough room to get the press in there without completely removing the knuckle from the vehicle.

 

[Got2bneo]

So retard at Advance gave me the K8008 with the splines and grease fitting after i told him which one i wanted. Are there 2 different versions of the K8008?

 

[eXploder_Engine2]

This beats the hell out of my hane's book! question real quick . . . i have some road noise and when i take a left turn i can feel the right front wheel almost wanting to pull under, other than that sometimes it will skid a bit. when driving straight forward, the 03 XLT wants to veer right a tad, could this be a bad ball joint?

Thanks!!

Ragan
'03 Explorer XLT

 

[DLinkOZ]

I would say to look at the bearing in the hub on the side it pulls (if it pulls to the left, check the left wheel). I'm about to replace my front right hub, the bearing is dragging. What happens is due to the extra drag, that wheel spins slightly slower at any given power output. That slower rotation (even slight) means that corner of the truck wants to move at a slower pace, and it pulls.

*EDIT*
Get the wheel off the ground and give a spin. You may hear it grinding. You can also grab another solid suspension component, such as the spring, and feel the grinding vibration as you spin the wheel. My front left, which does not have a bearing issue, gives no grinding or vibration in the spring, while the front right does.

 

[SnookMan]

Anybody know why Mood doesn't offer a complete replacement arm? I'd prefer to replace the whole thing if I'm doing it, and nobody seems to have the complete control arms except the stealership. I'm down in miami

 

[Tekreck]

Do the whole UCA

I just did the joints, and next time would do the whole upper control arm in order to get the new uca bushings.

 

[mikeinri]

I see this for the fronts, any advice for the rears?