Could this be a ball joint?

[sport97]

Last week the explorer started making this wretched screech from the front drivers side. I assumed it was a ball joint. I jacked it up but the wheel has no play. I thought a bad ball joint would mean the wheel has some wiggle to it. As we all know there are no grease fittings so i couldn't easily grease them, not to mention i ran out of grease. Seeing as it was about 15 degrees and snow was on the ground i took it to our trusted family mechanic. He said the ball joints were not worn to the point of needing replaced so he just repacked them with grease and greased the tie rods as well. 53 bucks, i was satisfied, no more sounds...

Today the screech has begun again. As last time it happens when i go over bumps, and when i turn the wheel. If i push up and down in the front it does it as well.

My question is, what is it? The ball joints or the tie rod? Nothing appears broken, the bushings all seem intact, and nothing seems loose. I need to fix this asap, or get it in to get fixed asap. I don't really have a place to work on it now, but ill decide on that pending what it is.

 

[2000LXS]

sounds just like the upper control arm bushings. Have someone else push up and down and you can take a look.

 

[sport97]

sounds just like the upper control arm bushings. Have someone else push up and down and you can take a look.

But would the control arm bushings squeal when i turned?

 

[Turdle]

I moved your thread to the stock 95-2001 forum. please read the criteria ( rules) for posting in the 911 forum

Thanks!

 

[gavin]

I never considered the "grab wheel at 12 and 6 and push/pull for play" a good check for balljoints.

every time my balljoints went bad, I still had no play.

what I recommend; jack up the side just enough to get the tire an inch off the ground or so.
get a cheater bar, prybar, or something along those lines. Place it underneath the tire, and pull up. The tire alone should not have any up/down movement.

 

[JonAlthoff]

I just replaced all 4 ball joints over the weekend due to screeching from driving or while pushing down on the front bumper. The passenger side lower ball bearing was causing the noise. Make sure when you get replacement upper ball joints you get a right hand and a left hand side. I had to pick mine up from 2 different Advanced Auto strores and ended up with 2 RH upper control arms unless you have someone do it for you.

I went to drive it and around 65mph the steering shook violently. I am searching for this now. I had the alignment done and it still happens. Tire balance and rotation is next. I have 220,700 miles on my 2000 Explorer Sport 4WD. I was told the tie rods are fine but may look into replacing those as well.

Oh and the tire test while jacked up didn't work for me. After spraying grease into the lower ball joints it was all rust coming out.

And another thing. When I first took my Explorer in for an alignment they gave it back and told me I needed to replace the camber bolts or camber eccentric bolts for them to be able to align it.

 

[pinstripefan90]

I never considered the "grab wheel at 12 and 6 and push/pull for play" a good check for balljoints.

every time my balljoints went bad, I still had no play.

what I recommend; jack up the side just enough to get the tire an inch off the ground or so.
get a cheater bar, prybar, or something along those lines. Place it underneath the tire, and pull up. The tire alone should not have any up/down movement.

Thats the right way to cheap balljoints (w/ a prybar)...grabbing the top and bottom of the wheel and pusing and pulling checks your bearings...

- Jake

 

[gavin]

Thats the right way to cheap balljoints (w/ a prybar)...grabbing the top and bottom of the wheel and pusing and pulling checks your bearings...

- Jake

not according to Chilton's, Hayne's, or even the Ford Service Manual
all three say to grab at 6 and 12 to check for play in the lower balljoint.

I just personally have never found any play with that method, when a balljoint was indeed bad.

 

[pinstripefan90]

Me neither, I'm a mechainic and when it comes to checking ball joints i go for the pry bar draw in my box. I have found play in upper ball joints from the 12 & 6 grab when I have gone to check bearings and found the uppers ready to snap.

 

[Gus Gorilla]

Agreed with Pinstripe. I always go for the prybar. grab at 6 and 12...blah blah blah. I can't put the same amount of force on an assembly as it sees in normal use. This thing carries around an Explorer. Do you really think that if the joint is marginal you can shake it loose by hand? Can you apply thousands of pounds of force by hand? If so, your name is Chuck Norris.

 

[holter95]

I just replaced all 4 ball joints over the weekend due to screeching from driving or while pushing down on the front bumper. The passenger side lower ball bearing was causing the noise. Make sure when you get replacement upper ball joints you get a right hand and a left hand side. I had to pick mine up from 2 different Advanced Auto strores and ended up with 2 RH upper control arms unless you have someone do it for you.

I went to drive it and around 65mph the steering shook violently. I am searching for this now. I had the alignment done and it still happens. Tire balance and rotation is next. I have 220,700 miles on my 2000 Explorer Sport 4WD. I was told the tie rods are fine but may look into replacing those as well.

Oh and the tire test while jacked up didn't work for me. After spraying grease into the lower ball joints it was all rust coming out.

And another thing. When I first took my Explorer in for an alignment they gave it back and told me I needed to replace the camber bolts or camber eccentric bolts for them to be able to align it.

Did you use the two RH UCAs? Or did you get the right ones? RH and LH sides are 2 completely different designs that are NOT interchangeable. If you used a RH part on the LH side, you've screwed up the caster and possibly camber settings that can't be aligned out. This would explain the violent shaking.

The RH side is a 2-piece unit with slide-adjustable caster. LH side is a single A-arm.

 

[chapsdeva]

I just replaced all 4 ball joints over the weekend due to screeching from driving or while pushing down on the front bumper. The passenger side lower ball bearing was causing the noise. Make sure when you get replacement upper ball joints you get a right hand and a left hand side. I had to pick mine up from 2 different Advanced Auto strores and ended up with 2 RH upper control arms unless you have someone do it for you.

I went to drive it and around 65mph the steering shook violently. I am searching for this now. I had the alignment done and it still happens. Tire balance and rotation is next. I have 220,700 miles on my 2000 Explorer Sport 4WD. I was told the tie rods are fine but may look into replacing those as well.

Oh and the tire test while jacked up didn't work for me. After spraying grease into the lower ball joints it was all rust coming out.

And another thing. When I first took my Explorer in for an alignment they gave it back and told me I needed to replace the camber bolts or camber eccentric bolts for them to be able to align it.

Your violent shaking is more than likely air in the power steering system. Explorers are known for getting this if you turn the front wheels while the truck is not running (Probably happened while you were doing your ball joints). Start the truck and take the cap off of the power steering reservoir. Turn the wheel all the way to the stops to both sides a few times and that will more than likely get all of the air out. I've had this happen to me twice (Once while pushing the truck after a dead battery and the other time when the shocks were replaced) and this got the air out.

 

[sport97]

I took it in to have the upper and lower ball joints replaced. I didn't have time to do it myself, or even a place to do it. Mine had a weird shaking that i could feel in the steering wheel when i hit any decent pot hole right after they were replaced. That has since stopped, im not sure if your shaking is like mine was or not. It sucked because it always costs more than you want to pay at the shop, but at least people don't stare at me in parking lots anymore lol.

 

[JonAlthoff]

mine seems to be fixed

My Explorer is all good for now. I don't think the LH UCA and RH UCA are interchangeable. I of course took the $30 LH UCA back for a $119 RH UCA.

The washers or flanges around the original bolts made it unable to be aligned correctly and I replaced those after as well. After the alignment I had the tires balanced and rotated. So far the shaking has not come back.

It's not air in the power steering. However after reading posts beforehand I'm glad to know why every time I do brakes I had the problem. That problem goes away soon after driving. My problem was getting up to speed or turning or hitting a pothole the whole front end would shake. So it's all good for now. And when I said violent I meant violent. Not the shaking from the power steering. Driving at 65mph and having to pull over and slow down. All the air would or should be out of the power steering by the time you hit the highway I would think.