Another lower ball joint question

[millersinbsmo]

Howdy....yep I'm new to the forum. Couldn't find the answer to my issue in previous posts so here it is:

Both Ford and Firestone tell me I have loose lower ball joints on my 98 Explorer XLT AWD 5.0L. Both Chilton and Haynes repair manuals state that for 1995 and later models the "ball joints are not removable from the control arms, if the ball joint is damaged, replace the control arm". Firestone specifically quoted a Moog K8695T ball joint kit for their estimate (about $40 per - no control arm) and Fords repair cost was close to the same so I'm assuming they had the same approach for the repair. I've seen some references to others indeed replacing the ball joints on similar years so I'm a bit perplexed as how to proceed on my DIY correction. Any advice would be appreciated.

Bruce

 

[ws65]

I'm pretty sure you can change just the ball joints...that's what I'm gonna do for my '00 Ex...going with Moog so I won't have to worry about them...just keep 'em greased and they'll be good.

 

[millersinbsmo]

Thanks for the reply. Just talked to Ford..they confirmed that they would be replacing the control arm/ball at $60 each (Advance price $124 each). So now I'm even more confused. Let me know if you have any luck doing just the ball joints.
Bruce

 

[techieman33]

Ok here's where you are confused, to replace the upper ball joint you must replace the entire control arm. To replace the lower ball joint you can replace just the lower ball joint.

Here are the how to threads
lower ball joint
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188225
upper control arm
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194453

 

[FU MONSTER]

I just change mine about 2 months ago.I just changed the lower ball joints not the whole control arm. It's a lot cheaper but it takes a lot of patience and strength.firestone quoted me about 500 parts/labor. I did it myself for about 200 and i went ahead an changed the upper control control arms

 

[millersinbsmo]

Outstanding! That makes me much more comfortable heading into the repair. I couldn't detect any looseness on either the upper or lower balls with my attempts to confirm what Ford and Firestone said, I'll go for just the lower balls on this round. Figure they both would have identified the uppers as bad along with the lowers if there was a problem. Thanks to All.
Bruce

 

[ws65]

The price from ford doesn't sound like what it would cost to replace the lca's...I called yesterday and just the control with ball joint was 119 for one side and 129 for the other, that's not including labor. So if your bushings are ok,the just changing the balljoints is the way you want to go. I'm gonna do the uca's and lower bj's since I'll have everything apart and I have 100k in my ex...doing sway bar bushings and endlinks as well. Don't know yet if I need the lca since I still need to inspect the bushings on them.

 

[techieman33]

The ford lower control arms are much cheaper online from a place like fastpartsnetwork.com they sell ford parts at a discount

 

[jls1znv9999]

It is going to take some finessing to get the lbj's out. There is a snap ring so be sure to remove it (snap ring pliers). Now if you wanted to test your Ball j's. i would suggest you life it up, chock the wheels and have someone shift the tire by pushing inward on the outside top of the tire. You will see just a little bit of a give and that's a clear sign. Go with Moog! They are cheaper and lifetime warranty and each side has grease fittings to keep em lubed. (Take a few bucks and get the rubber caps for them as well!).

There is a sticky that had i known about would have saved me time, but still there for all to see and use.

 

[ws65]

...(Take a few bucks and get the rubber caps for them as well!).

So where do you get these rubber caps?

 

[austinmob]

There are two types of ball joint.

UPPER - The upper ball joint is attached to the Upper control arm as one unit. If you go with moog you will get a 2 peice unit which means you can replace the balljoint only next time around. But it can only be with a moog product. You should do the bushes at the same time.

I just did mine last week. Have a look at my posts about what problems to expect.

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11252756

LOWER - The lower ball joint is attached to the lower control arm and together form a 2 piece unit. There is no need to replace the lower control arm unless there is some form of damage evident.

Its a big job if the US models are the same as the AUS models. Getting the Bolts out of the upper control arm on (your drivers side) caused me a lot of grief. The other side was a piece of cake.