1998 ford explorer V8 upper control arms and ball joints

[semperfinyc]

I recently bought a 1998 ford explorer V8, 5.0 and need to replace the upper and lower ball joints, however after further review, I noticed that the passenger side upper control arm and ball joint is different from the driver side control arm and ball joint, different design. Is that something normal or it was changed by a previous owner wrong? Please advise, thanks in advance.

 

[shucker1]

On my 98 both upper control arms and ball joints are a single unit on each side. Must have been modified by the PO.

 

[Juggernaut31]

they are both together from the factory, however, YES they are different from left to right. That is normal on the Explorer.

 

[DoraThe_Explorer]

Yup, I will second they are different from the factory. The passenger side is two pieces to allow for more caster adjustment.

Also, here is a good reference to look at changing the drivers side. When I did mine, I carefully pulled the fuel lines out of the plastic holder and moved them out of the way. This allowed for more room to get the adjustment bolts out.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194453

Good luck!

 

[DjDom]

Yup, I will second they are different from the factory. The passenger side is two pieces to allow for more caster adjustment.

Also, here is a good reference to look at changing the drivers side. When I did mine, I carefully pulled the fuel lines out of the plastic holder and moved them out of the way. This allowed for more room to get the adjustment bolts out.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194453

Good luck!

Exactly this.

Welcome to the Forum.
The passenger side control arm is a 2 piece. You can switch it to a one piece, but I personally left the 2 piece.