Ball joints for 95 4x4

[PLRBEAR]

Tried searching for this, but the search function was off. Anyway....i've got a 95 EB 4x4, and i know i have to replace the upper and lower control arms just to get new ball joints. Does anyone know the cost of performing this repair? Anyone do this themselves? Difficulty level? I've got the Chiltons manual, and this being my first 4x4, i'm a little apprehensive about removing the torsion bars to remove the control arms. Any advice would be good. Thank you.

 

[JoshC]

I'm pretty sure that the 95 and the 97's are the same, why do you have to remove the torsion bars for a ball joint? Is it for the lower one? I haven't heard of that. I'm getting ready to replace my lower ones on my 97. I work for a east coast chain of parts stores and we sell the bottom ones for like $25 for life time replacement. The lower ones have a snap ring that hold them in place on the top and then as far as i know you just knock them out and you're good to go. Correct me if i'm wrong cause i'm going by what a couple of guys at work had told me. The tops ones, like you said are with the control arms. They were something like $110 a piece, i think, not really sure though.

Let me know how it goes when your replaceing yours. Do your tires sit out real bad at the bottom? Mine do, that's why i'm going to try the lower ball joints. Hope i've helped!

Happy trailes!

 

[PLRBEAR]

No Jot, my wheels are fine. I've been trying to pinpoint this creaking noise that i'm getting, either when i come to a complete stop or when i move off from the lights. I want to catch this creak while it's still a creak, before it escalates into something bigger. I've had the front-end and brakes checked, and they are tight. The only problem was that the ball joints seem to be literally....flat out of grease. I was thinking that this might be the cause of the creaking, but i'm starting to think not. My torsion bars make a lot of noise when i go over a serious speed bump....some major creaking there, so i'm thinking maybe some parts need some lubrication. Perhaps that's what's causing the creaking (which is weather related and happens near the driver's footwell/dash area. It is definetly suspension related since it only happens when i'm stopped and the suspension returns from its compressed position.

Any ideas?



Amos

 

[PLRBEAR]

Oh, and with regards to the torsion bar removal: Chiltons says that the torsion bars must be removed in order to replace the lower ball-joints (which are supposedly stuck on the control arms). Found out from another 95 owner that the lower ball-joints can be pressed out, while the uppers do require a change for the control arms. The passenger side upper control arm comes in two pieces, and only the outer piece has to be changed to get new ball-joints. The driver's side is one piece. According to him, our ball joints are non-greaseable, but greaseable ones from MOOG are available.....are you familiar with this brand (i'm new to this)? In any case, i think getting greaseable ball joints is great, since regular maintenance is possible.


Amos

 

[JoshC]

I've never heard of MOOG, but if they are greasable then i'd say go for it! I wish i had greasable ones for work, i might have to dig through the books tomorrow and see what i can find, i'll up a 95 also and see if they differ from a 97. My torsion bars also squeak when the flex down like going over a speed bump. I've never heard my ball joints making any kinda noise. I'm about ready to make a major over haul on my front end. I was talking to a friend who is the suspension man at one of my local ford shops and he seems to think that i need new caster/camber bolts, so that's one, lower ball joints is another, and the rack is going out quickly so i need to do that, along with that will come the outter tie rod ends. So if i can come up with some money and about a week or so where i can work on it i'm going to be tied up!! I'll let you know what i find out!! Thanks!

Happy trailes!

 

[owen]

Replace lower joints w/o removing arms

Despite Haynes manual saying the control arms need to come off is not true. I purchase two lower ball joints (greasable) for $34 each. I have a srew press just wide enough to slide over the control arm. Remove the clip and assemble your pieces to push the joint out from the top. Keep the press in line with the ball joint! It won't come out if the forces aren't pushing it straight out. The upper joint, brakes, rotor, and spindle nut must be removed. I cut off the lower ball joint stud to make things easier with a 4" cut off grinding wheel. Also, remove the first two sensor frame clips to avoid pulling the sensor wire at the spindle. Hang everything out of the way to work on the lower ball joint. Pressing the new one in requires a new assortment of pieces to push it up into the hole. Once it stops moving up, give the end of the control arm some taps with the hammer to set the joint in the arm. Put on the clip, grease fitting and grease it. Yes, you can now grease the joint on a regular basis now. P.S. This job took 3-4 hours a side. 4 the first and 3 the second time round. Also, keep your old boot sleeve(it was better than the one on the replacement). owen.

 

[PLRBEAR]

Thanks Owen. Yes, i was a little upset that the manuals failed to point this out. In any case, where did you get the greaseable ball joints from and who makes those? I'm interested in getting those for sure. Are greaseable ball joints available in Canada for the uppers?

Thanks


Amos

 

[JoshC]

Owen, how did you press them in and out, could you just a something like a puller to hook to both sides of the control arm and push down on the top of the BJ? And how about getting them back in, what kind of a tool did you use for that? I need to do mine also but i want to know what i need before i jump into something like that. Thanks for you help man!

Happy trailes!

 

[yob_yeknom]

Originally posted by Jot017
I've never heard of MOOG

MOOG is a very reputable company. They make very strong parts. NASCAR car builders use MOOG parts. I even saw on some sort of hot rod show about how strong MOOG parts are. They seemed to blow everything else out of the water.

 

[JoshC]

Cool, sounds like that is the way to go, i guess if it's greasable then that is the way to go, do they have a warrentty on the? Do you know where we could find a set? Thanks man!

Happy trailes!

 

[PLRBEAR]

I was advised to use a steering wheel puller to get the BJs out. Don't know how valid that is since i've never changed BJs in my life. Any ideas? I tried looking for the MOOG website...i think they've been bought over by Federal Mogul. Nevertheless, i'm gonna see what they have to offer now.

Amos

 

[PLRBEAR]

Problem solved!

I'm really happy now. I've solved the creaking problem that plagued my X. Seems that the driver's side inner tie-rod end was dry at the joint, so i had to replace it. The creaking noise that i had coming to a full stop and moving off from a stop is history. When bouncing the vehicle up and down, i could actually feel the vibration on the tie-rod. Well, i'm planning to replace my shocks next to get the brand new feel back. Anyone have any recommendations other than the Monroe Reflexs?
In the end, it's a good thing that the problem didn't involve my ball-joints. Nevertheless, i'm more informed about how the suspension setup on my X works, and i'm looking forward to changing my BJs to serviceable ones. Funny how the aftermarket pieces are serviceable, while the Ford components are not. That, in my opinion, is extremely stupid. Of course, cost wize....it makes perfect sense for Ford.

 

[JoshC]

Glad you got everything fixed! Did you do it yourself? If not then did you ask the person that did it about the BJ's and how hard it was?

So did someone shake the vehicle for you while you had ahold of it? You could actually feel it vibrating? Sorry about the "20 questions" but i'm like you, i don't like this wierd feel on my X. Any information you could give me would be great!! Thanks a lot man.

Happy trailes!

 

[PLRBEAR]

No, unfortunately i did not do it myself. I have yet to purchase a jack and jackstands for this vehicle, so until then (which is next week), everything waits or goes to my mechanic.
From what he told me, the BJs are workable while the control arms are on the vehicle. Problem is finding something that'll push them out. There IS enough space to get tools in there to do this. I'm guessing a steering wheel puller or BJ puller would be effective. All the aftermarket BJs that you get over here are greaseable, and only the driver's side upper BJ needs the entire control arm replaced. Other than that, the rest are just BJs on the lower, and part of the control arm on the passenger upper.
I believe the tie-rod can be changed DIY, since it only cost me CDN$256 installed (includes 4 wheel alignment). The MOOG tie-rod cost me CN$80. This procedure done in the US should come to about US$170. I am glad that i got this problem fixed, and partially glad that my BJs were not the cause. Nevertheless, i'm not happy with the fact that my BJs still remain unserviceable at this point. Like i said, i will wait till they show signs of wear (clunking) before i swap those out for MOOG ones.
As far as the vibration goes, someone was pressing the vehicle down while it was on the ramp, and i could feel the creaking with my hands. The tie-rod wasn't moving or anything, but it was an embedded creak. It is not a very loud noise when the vehicle is not moving, but bugged the hell out of me when i was putting a load on the tie-rod at stop and goes. According to him, this occurence is very rare, and he has only seen 3 of these cases in 10yrs.
My torsion bars have stopped squeeking altogether, as the ambient temps have reached +18C over here in Calgary. I will try to find out where all the racket is coming from regardless, and hope my new shocks will solve it....otherwise, it's back to the drawing board or back to the mechanic's next winter.
BTW, what are your symptoms like? You sure it's the BJs?

 

[JoshC]

Hey man thanks for the info. I'm going to have to try that thing with the tie rod ends later this afternoon. Where did you get the MOOGS at? Online? l'd like to try a set of those since they are greaseable.

My symptoms are about same. If both front wheels hit a dip or something that causes them to flex at the same time in the same motion then it's a squeak like you hear in an old house on the steps while you walk up them! See what i mean? I don't know if that has anything to do with the ball joints, but i have really bad "negative camber" look to mine, especailly when i went to 31's. I know every explorer i see now has that, but mine just happens to be work cause i have the only new body style around my area that has 31's and a torsion twist. I've only seen to pre 95's around here with lifts on them, i guess people just haven't heard about the X yet here!! But i just want to get the camber fixed. I'm acutally meeting with the suspension guy from my local ford shop tonight cause he's bringing the computer home and going to check my light. I'm going to talk to him about and see what he says. I'll let you know what he says! Thanks again man!

Happy trailes!

 

[owen]

Amos,
The ball joints are Moog from UAP (United Auto Parts). The screw press is home made. It has two 1" diametre fine threaded rods about 10" long, about 5-6" apart. The nuts at the top hold a 3/4" thick by 3" wide plate, as well as the bottom. I have quite the assortment of tubing left over from the shop which I match up to the ball joint. To push it out, I used 1/2 " round steel (bearing driver) large enough to cover the top of the ball joint, but small enough to go through the control arm( the top diametre of the ball joint is the diametre of the hole in the arm). On the bottom, I used min. 0.065 tubing that just fits over the bottom of the ball joint. Cut the tubing peices square (so the ball joint has equal pressure pushing on it). This might leave little room towards the front edge of the control arm, so you can relieve some of the tube to fit as flat to the bottom of the control arm as possible. Don't take off to much, just enough to fit nice. The top and bottom of the press ( the 3/4 " thick pieces simply screw to clamp the assortment of pieces you have to push out the ball joint. Turn the big nuts evenly on both sides a little at a time with some heavy grease on the threads and where the nuts contact the plates. The ball joints may very in outer bottom diametre, so when finding another piece of tubing to push in the new one, don't get it too wide , or you will probably bend the outer flange on the new joint. The upper tube now only has to be big enough to let the top of the joint through the control arm. Remember that all pieces used must be square top to bottom to ensure pressing is square. Then rent out the press for $20 to your friends! Non of mine do any of their own work. I figured I save a few hundred bucks in labour alone!!!! PS. I haven't checked back to the sight in weeks, sorry. owen.(owen@iaw.on.ca)

 

[01EB5.0]

Guys:
I had 2 ball joints replaced on my truck. I found MOOG lower joints, but we had ford do it anyways with stock parts. It was like $180 for the upper A-arm/joint and $45 for the lower, plus a ton of labor charges since it was one joint from each side, so $500 later I was out. found out this didn't fix my clunking sound and it wa sin fact those darn sway bar end links. ford replaced them under recall. If you guys have abny other questions, e-mail me!
I also have Edelbrock IAS shocks and love them.

 

[SCEXPLORER]

Originally posted by 95XLT
Guys:
I had 2 ball joints replaced on my truck. I found MOOG lower joints, but we had ford do it anyways with stock parts. It was like $180 for the upper A-arm/joint and $45 for the lower, plus a ton of labor charges since it was one joint from each side, so $500 later I was out. found out this didn't fix my clunking sound and it wa sin fact those darn sway bar end links. ford replaced them under recall. If you guys have abny other questions, e-mail me!
I also have Edelbrock IAS shocks and love them.

I got moog ball joints also. Does your grease come out of the boot on your upper ball joints. cus mine does and am not sure if it's suppose to.

 

[01EB5.0]

I don;t have my MOOG installed yet..give me a few weeks and I'll see if they leak grease

 

[Doug]

I just did my lower ball joints on my 96 about 2 months ago and doing it isnt that bad. You do have to remove the torsion bars and that isnt really a big deal just make sure you get the cam on the end of the torsion bar on the same way it was taken off. The worst part for me was i was rushing the job and i messed up one of the ball joints when a friend of mine used a torch to heat up the lower control arm to help the ball joint go in. needless to say the inards of the ball joint melted and leaked out. I hammered one in then got the bright idea of using a couple big sockets that fit over the ball joint on both sides and using a big vise to press it in.