How-To: 1st Gen Ball Joints / U Joints / Spindle Bearings | Page 4 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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How-To: 1st Gen Ball Joints / U Joints / Spindle Bearings




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WELL, they were right. the right front wheel is loose up and down. The left front wheel isn't moving yet. Would I be better off replacing both sides instead of just the side that's bad or should I wait til the left side goes bad?
 






How long before it becomes dangerous to drive on a bad ball joint? The tire shop said that the right side is worse than the left. They gave me these numbers: current wear: max wear permitted: 0.030, the right side is 0.045 and the left is 0.010.
 






Ok, I've read several write-ups and read in my Haynes manual on the ball joints. I've got a good picture of how to do this, however, what should I ALSO do since I'm already down there. I've been told the wheel bearings and seals (what about the bearing races??), u joints, tie rod ends. What else would be beneficial on a 20 year old rig with no idea how old the front end parts are? I'm trying to gather an idea of how much this is going to cost vs having it all done at a shop.
How the heck do I know what size tie rod ends I need? Also, what about the u joint sizes? How can I find out what size mine are?
 






How about coil spring insulators? Any write ups on those? I'm not paying 50 at the tire shop when I can buy them at rock auto.com for 6 each.
 






Well, i found a gentleman near me that will help do the ball joints for me. Whew, I don't have to do it yay. Gonna see how much parts will be to do what I probably should do.
 






Can someone tell me the part numbers I need for the bearings and Moog ball joints from rockauto. I'm confused as to what all I need. Do I just need spindle bearing kit or do I also need wheel bearings? 94 Eddie Baueur

Ball Joint
MOOG Part # K8676
Frt Susp; Upper; 4WD; w/Dana 35 Axle; Ball Joint uses pinch bolt

MOOG Part # K8673
Frt Susp; Lower; 4WD; w/Dana 35 Axle; Ball Joint uses pinch bolt

Spindle Bearing and Seal Kit
TIMKEN Part # SBK4

What else do I need?
 






Which Bearing are you going to change? The "wheel bearings" are a Set 37 from timken. The spindle bearing is in the spindle and is only used when your in 4x4 mode.

~Mark
 






Which Bearing are you going to change? The "wheel bearings" are a Set 37 from timken. The spindle bearing is in the spindle and is only used when your in 4x4 mode.

~Mark

I'm not sure, I was just trying to fix whatever is wrong with the front end. Going down the road most days it sounds like the front wheel bearings are trashed. If you look on the back side of the wheel you can see a round plastic/rubber seal I guess that was to keep dust out perhaps? I just don't want to be broke down on the side of the highway. The truck has 233k miles on it so any advice is appreciated. Just noticed earlier my driver side lower shock mount has nothing holding it to the frame...the bolt is just sitting there...what a day
 






Is there a universal size to the u joints in the front axles of the 91 to 94 4x4's?
 






Just did the ball joints on my 91 and used this for reference. Much better than my Haynes.

Pretty easy job. Taking my time I had it on and off the jackstands in about 5 hours.
 






Very nice write up. It helped alot. I just did this on my 93
At each step I would come in and look at pictures and read what I needed to do next, this saved my alot of time. Thanks again
You were right about the 6mm 12 point 1/4 drive socket, you do need it !!! I had a 6 point and thought it would work.....WRONG !! It took me a whole day of calling everybody I knew and every auto place in the phonebook, finnaly found one at Fisher Tools ( a local tool place ) they only had it in a 11 pc. set $48.60 That was about the only problem I had with this project.
Word to the wise " order this socket online before you start " YOU NEED IT !!!
 






how do you take off the pinch bolt?!!
 






Its just a bolt, screwed into the top of the nuckle. IIRC, it just use a big allen wrench socket.

~Mark
 






Very informitive write up. The pictures are emensley helpful as well, however I do have one question. On the passengers side, there is a second inner u-joint and it appears that the axle will not just slide out like it did on the drivers side. Because the front diff has no cover, must I remove the entire carrier to remove the passengers front axle stub and change the axle seals as well?
 






thats correct, you need to remove the carrier to get to the e-ring that hold the axle shaft in place. Once there you should do the c-clip eliminator trick.
 






Spindle bearing depth and v-shaped seal direction

This thread has been immensely useful for replacing my ball joints, tie rod ends, and rebuilding the spindle. I'm in the process of putting in the new spindle bearings and wondering how far to drive them into the spindle. I did the passenger side, and compared how far down the bearing was to the driver's side which I've yet to work on and I had driven it in a bit further than they were previously.

Also, it is mentioned in my Haynes manual to install the v-shaped seal with the "lip facing the installer" The question I have is which side of the seal is considered the lip? I thought the open end of the V should be facing the bearing, but when I removed the old seals they were installed the opposite direction, with the closed end against the bearing.

Thanks is advance.
 






check the wheel bearing nut mine backed off and the tire shop wanted me to change all my ball joints and the wheel bearings so i went home and re torqued them and after 50000 more kms there still great with no problems at all
 






...does anyone have the torque spec for the lower ball joint nut for 4x4?..:dunno:
 



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lower ball joint is 95-110 ft lbs..

~Mark
 






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