How To: Replacing Upper Ball Joints on a 3rd Gen 4x4 [Pictures]

[Extremistno9]

thepotroast, very nice write up. I have been searching the forums with no luck trying to find the answer to my question. Hoping someone watching this one may know. I am getting a noise from what seems to be the front end thinking it is a ball joint but am not sure. I followed the haynes manual for checking the ball joint for wear. There was no movement when I applied force at these areas.

The sound occurs when I am going over a large bump or dip and can be felt as well. Almost seems like a rubbing but only occurs when the suspension is compressed more than normal. Also occurs when going down the highway around a turn that drops. So the truck raises and then compresses quickly while turning and dropping in elevation.

This is hard to describe. Any ideas? Is this a ball joint or something else? Look forward to hearing back.

Thanks in advance.

 

[laffslast]

Hey everyone, I just got my ball joints and plan on putting them in tomorrow. I ordered the same moog part number from OReillys and got one that is sealed and one that is greaseable. So I called them back and exchanged the sealed one for a greaseable one. Yay me! Also the greaseable one just looks like better quality.

I was in the same situation, received one sealed and one greaser. Were you able to get the greasers to work? There's a .05" difference in size of the collar.

 

[thepotroast]

I was in the same situation, received one sealed and one greaser. Were you able to get the greasers to work? There's a .05" difference in size of the collar.

You have an incorrect ball joint there. The one with the grease fitting is the wrong one. You want MOOG K80008's. See those splines on the body of the wrong ball joint....ya, those aren't gonna press in too nicely to the smooth control arm!

Get your money back...

 

[Gf0rc3]

Actually the greaser does work

Sorry I took so long to respond laffslast. Thepotroast, you may be right, technically. If I were using the tools you were using it may not have worked. But I used a 70 ton shop press to press mine in and it worked just fine. So laffslast if you have access to a shop press or can get someone to press them in for you, then go for it. By the way these are the same Moog part numbers.

 

[DenverExp]

Thanks for writing this up. I especially appreciate the photos.

 

[xTOM153x]

Could the ball joints be creating a creaking noise when the the suspension lifts up and down?

 

[Extremistno9]

Think I solved my problem. It turns out it was the stabalization bushings were making the noise. They were in decent shape, no deteroration or anything. I sprayed some lube in there and the noise is gone! See if this was a long term fix or a short term...TBD

 

[xTOM153x]

Wrong Ball Joint?

I'm a little confused on this whole ball joint thing but I ordered (2) Moog K8008 off of rock auto and i recieved (2) of the ones in the picture. I'm going to talk to them about the ones described in the picture but these look like they will not work in my truck. I dont know how to upload a pic on here so heres the link to the picture http://s992.photobucket.com/albums/af47/TOM1534262/?action=view&current=11-09-09_1249.jpg&newest=1

If you cant see it then scroll up to laffslasts post and I have the black covered ball joint with the ridges around it not the clear ball joint with the smooth press.

 

[xTOM153x]

Well I called up rock auto apparently its the wrong item in the right box go figure.

 

[jbear210]

Sport Trac XLT

Does anyone know if the procedure documented so well will work on a 2003 Explorer Sport Trac?

 

[Rumsfield13]

You have an incorrect ball joint there. The one with the grease fitting is the wrong one. You want MOOG K80008's. See those splines on the body of the wrong ball joint....ya, those aren't gonna press in too nicely to the smooth control arm!

Get your money back...

I also purchased the K80008 from Amazon.com and received exactly those 2 DIFFERENT ball joints, when i exchanged them i received 2 of the greasable ones with the black boot. All the boxes say K80008 and look the same. Has anyone determined if these are OK to use before i tear it apart and have a problem?

thanks!!

 

[Rumsfield13]

Answered by Federal Mogul:

Both parts are good, but the greasable, black boot parts are the updated version. I would personally stick with the greasable version, but fit will be fine with each part.

Thanks,


Adam Richardson

Federal-Mogul Corporation
Global Aftermarket
Marketing Analyst - Chassis

 

[gsmaclean]

I sprayed all of them with a good couple coats of pb blaster and it still didn't make much of a difference, and living in Kansas there is a lot of salt used on the roads in the winter. The nuts that took so long were the ones that hold the upper control arm on. I ran into the same problem with my rear struts as they were extremely hard to remove as well with the rust on them.

Whenever I am going to work on anything with rusted nuts, I will start spraying PB Blaster on it a day or two earlier. Spray, let it sit for half a day, spray again, over and over.

Impact wrenches normally make short work of things, but you have to be careful on really rusted parts of stripping threads. In this case, both the rod and the nut are being replaced, so feel free to put a massive torque impact wrench on it and go to town - if it shears off or strips, oh well, you're throwing it out anyway.

 

[Rumsfield13]

You have an incorrect ball joint there. The one with the grease fitting is the wrong one. You want MOOG K80008's. See those splines on the body of the wrong ball joint....ya, those aren't gonna press in too nicely to the smooth control arm!

Get your money back...

Here is what Federal Mogul engineering said about the splines:

"I checked both engineering prints and spoke to engineering and they confirmed that they are the same part, but the greasable version is the updated design. There could still be an old design getting mixed in with the updated design."

"The splines he is talking about are the knurls that Moog puts on the ball joint housing. The hole in the arms are not splined. The splines have an advantage on irregular or stretched holes. They will keep pressing in sufficiently."

 

[thepotroast]

Here is what Federal Mogul engineering said about the splines:

"I checked both engineering prints and spoke to engineering and they confirmed that they are the same part, but the greasable version is the updated design. There could still be an old design getting mixed in with the updated design."

"The splines he is talking about are the knurls that Moog puts on the ball joint housing. The hole in the arms are not splined. The splines have an advantage on irregular or stretched holes. They will keep pressing in sufficiently."

I would still prefer the K80008 smooth housing as pictured above, simply because it has a hex tip, which comes in very handy when that shaft starts to turn...whether you're loosening it or tightening it. Not to mention it's a longer shaft, and if you've done the ball joints before then you would appreciate having the extra length to line up to the spindle.

The K80008 without the splines and without the grease fitting are exactly like the OEM part...same size, shape and look. I'll stick with those

 

[High_Order1]

Hey PR -

another good write up! I like the formatting on this one, too. I may steal that for my next one. We keep this up, someone will copy all this, burn it to DVD and start selling it on eBay.... LOL!

Good pics, too. You use a helper? I find it a PITA to shoot and work, I don't like getting my camera greased up.

Shawn

 

[High_Order1]

Oh yeah - something that might help... diagnose bad ball joints. How would I know it was time for a new set?


-Shawn

 

[thepotroast]

Hey PR -

another good write up! I like the formatting on this one, too. I may steal that for my next one. We keep this up, someone will copy all this, burn it to DVD and start selling it on eBay.... LOL!

Good pics, too. You use a helper? I find it a PITA to shoot and work, I don't like getting my camera greased up.

Shawn

Hey High Order,

I did this ball joint write up last year after searching around here and seeing mixed reviews from people saying you can't replace just the ball joints, and some that said you can...but didn't find any pics or write up, so I made my own

I did do the entire job by myself, as well as the pics. I really tried to shoot as much as I could through the process, but also knowing that I needed to get my truck back on the road by Monday for work, so I didn't go super in depth with photos! As far as the camera goes, I believe I was being extra extra careful to not damage the new Nokia that the wife gave me for my birthday, with grease! Your front hub replacement write up inspired me to do this one. We need more write ups around here, and truthfully I think they need to be stickied. I already reported yours for a sticky as well...as I do see very commonly people asking about how to do specific work on their trucks, when there are complete write ups on it already here, such as this ball joint replacement one, and your front hub/bearing replacement one.

 

[High_Order1]

Your front hub replacement write up inspired me to do this one.

That's EXCELLENT! I find a lot of people that are capable to do something, but they can't read just werds in a book and follow it. AND, chiltons / haynes can leave a lot to be desired sometimes.

That's why I started, I came here trying to solve a problem with one of these exe's, and I never left. I would LOVE to see a large sticky section with these types of things. Especially now, people can really save money, and not mess things up DIY.

I hope you'll continue to build these as you go along with your car - you absolutely have a knack for clear writing and good pics.

As for me, I am about done here. I'm tired of rarely getting answers to my questions. I have one small, and one HUGE project I am doing that I will write / shoot up, then I think I'm done. Especially when you see involved, major project stuff like you (and I) do not get a sticky, and then some guy tapes tint to his taillights, and he gets one AND a month of elite status. :roll:

I considered even consolidating all I learned about PCM replacement (yes, they CAN intermittently / partially fail. FOR A FACT), but I dunno.

Thanks again,

Shawn

 

[thepotroast]

That's EXCELLENT! I find a lot of people that are capable to do something, but they can't read just werds in a book and follow it. AND, chiltons / haynes can leave a lot to be desired sometimes.

That's why I started, I came here trying to solve a problem with one of these exe's, and I never left. I would LOVE to see a large sticky section with these types of things. Especially now, people can really save money, and not mess things up DIY.

I hope you'll continue to build these as you go along with your car - you absolutely have a knack for clear writing and good pics.

As for me, I am about done here. I'm tired of rarely getting answers to my questions. I have one small, and one HUGE project I am doing that I will write / shoot up, then I think I'm done. Especially when you see involved, major project stuff like you (and I) do not get a sticky, and then some guy tapes tint to his taillights, and he gets one AND a month of elite status. :roll:

I considered even consolidating all I learned about PCM replacement (yes, they CAN intermittently / partially fail. FOR A FACT), but I dunno.

Thanks again,

Shawn

Good call on that elite status thing, I remember when the admins were handing those out to those that were making a difference on here (ie tech writeups), but those seem to be few and far between. So instead I paid the $20 fee to become an Elite here, because of the invaluable information I have gotten since I joined last year, not to mention that I can post in the classifieds section which is always a plus