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Ball Joint Issues

Feliper43

New Member
Joined
October 3, 2019
Messages
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City, State
El Paso, Texas
Year, Model & Trim Level
1998, Ford Explorer XLT
So i just had all the ball joints and upper control arms replaced but I’m still hearing excessive creaking and clunking coming from my left wheel well. Also, in some situations when turning left the left tire seems like it’s skipping on the pavement. Had them installed at a local shop but I’m a college student away from home any suggestions? I used Moog problem solver parts.
 



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skipping in the corners is usually tie rod ends
Check them now before you get in a wreck, I have had a shop forget to install the cotter pin in the castle nut and the tie rod end almost came out of the knuckle on my wifes FJ after an alignment
I noticed it because the truck would start to shimmy in the corners

A loose tie rod end will allow a wobble in the tire as you corner.
Also check the sway bar end links, make sure they are both present and connected
 






Was a wheel alignment done after replacing the ball joints? It needs to be done after replacing ball joints/control arms.
 






Was a wheel alignment done after replacing the ball joints? It needs to be done after replacing ball joints/control arms.
I had it aligned twice once before when they told me they had to be replaced and again with all the new parts in but the second alignment wasn’t done right and there’s lots of vibration at highway speeds.
 






Vibrations at speed are usually caused by tires and/or wheels. You could try swapping your front tires/wheels for the rears and see if that makes a difference.

With Fords, if you (or a mechanic) turn the wheels with the engine off (something that could easily happen during a wheel alignment or ball joint replacement) it will suck air into the power steering system and that will cause severe shaking felt in the steering wheel. It can be very scary. To purge the air out, drive slowing in a save location turning the steering wheel from lock-to-lock 6-8 times.
 






Inspect the stabilizer bar links and bushings.
 






My neighbor just went through the same thing with his expedition. He had replaced uppers and lowers control arms, tie rod end, stabilizer pin come to find out it was the wheel bearing I change that for him and now its it's good. Not saying this is your problem but I would inspect them and make sure it's all good.
 






With Fords, if you (or a mechanic) turn the wheels with the engine off (something that could easily happen during a wheel alignment or ball joint replacement) it will suck air into the power steering system and that will cause severe shaking felt in the steering wheel. It can be very scary. To purge the air out, drive slowing in a save location turning the steering wheel from lock-to-lock 6-8 times.

+1, try this first. This can cause the steering to feel really strange and cause the "skipping" feeling while turning.
 






This probably wont help you much, but I just replaced the ball joints in my explorer with the moog parts that have the gusher bearing design, the grease they shipped with wasn't enough and I had tight steering but after buying a harbor freight grease gun and pumping them about 5 times on each joint I noticed a huge difference and it steers much easier.
 






Thank you all for suggestions I will definitely be looking into it to see if I can fix it before I need to take it to to a mechanic!
 






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