1995 lower control arm replacements

[nstevens]

I was replacing my lower ball joints this weekend and encountered a serious problem:

The ball joint that is supposed to be a VERY tight press fit into the left front lower control arm now slides in easily by hand. The hole in my control arm had worn and now allows the ball joint to jiggle (guess I've found where my front end vibrations were coming from). When the ball joint is loaded it slips down until the snap ring is wedged into the upper control arm. To say the least, this doesn't strike me as terribly safe.

Has anyone had similar problems and had to replace their lower control arms? If so, did you get the replacement arm from your ford dealer or elsewhere?

The other easier and cheaper solution (for me anyway) would be if one of the ball joint manufacturers supplied an oversized part (say 0.010" or so) that would press into the worn hole in the lower control arm. This is pretty unlikely though.

Any ideas would be great.

 

[Jason_25]

I thought that when installing ball joints you had to replace the control arm along with it? That's what the shop did when my mom's explorer had the ball joints replaced.

 

[yob_yeknom]

Originally posted by nstevens
To say the least, this doesn't strike me as terribly safe.

Nope, not safe at all. The entire control arm does have to be replaced to replace the ball joint anyways. Get it done ASAP.

 

[01EB5.0]

Thats not so if it is the LOWER control arm...only the upper control arm has to be replaced. The lower ball joint should not be loose though. It should snugly fit in.