How To: Upper Control Arm / Ball Joint Replacement (Lots of Pictures)

[mcnulty6807]

Once again your post saved me lots of $. Thanks a lot.

 

[blackjoker]

I'm hoping for a quick response....

Just ordered Raybestos part #5001090 (the half of the right (passenger side) control arm) from RockAuto. Starting to wonder about the 2 piece or 1 piece designs. Can it be converted to the 1 piece, by a simple swap, or is there more to it? And, when getting the "half" of the 2 piece that I got, do I need to get the other "half" (the part that's attached to the body of the truck)?

 

[CDW6212R]

The two piece arm has the bushings in one part, and the ball joint in the other part. Buy the one piece arm, that gets you the bushings and the BJ.

Ask again to find the one piece UCA, see if Raybestos make that too.

 

[00Xplorer]

Great post ill b changing mine next weekend...great info

 

[dsturch1]

How much of a problem will it cause if the camber is not aligned correctly? I am afraid of doing this and then having something else break or cause other problems to arise from this not being done correctly.

Also, I see people recommend doing the outer tie rod ends, how difficult or what is involved with doing such? Thanks in advance!

 

[hpeterg]

Mike I just snapped the alignment bolt on the right side two piece design control arm of my 97 xlt (working too fast in the pouring rain). Did you have any luck finding a replacement?

No luck at Autozone, Napa or my local Ford dealer in Eden Prairie, MN

 

[blackjoker]

Upper control arm bushing problem

Okay, while doing my upper control arms and ball joints I encountered a problem. On the passenger side upper control arm, I purchased the piece with the ball joint, and purchased replacement bushings since I could not find the second piece of the control arm for sale. I intended on using the old piece of the control arm, and simply replacing the bushings with new ones from Raybestos. Unfortunately, replacing them doesn't seem to be as easy as it sounded. Is this bushing replacement possible, or am I gonna have to find this hard to find control arm half, or try and find one at a junkyard (which there are very few of around here)?

 

[hpeterg]

Hey blackjoker. After searching for the adjustment bolt on the 2 pc. right upper control arm without luck (aside for dozens at salvage yards with 2 pc. units as worn out as mine for 30 bucks) I returned the ball joint piece to Autozone ($40) and just bought a one piece off ebay for $60 to be done with it. 2 day free shipping and it fits fine. Seller was "partsman888." Ford parts department has simply replaced the 2 pc. with the new 1 piece design. Probably harder to align but I don't have the equipment to do that anyway. Good luck!

 

[shjbbk]

Has anyone had problems getting the new upper bj back into the knuckle? I have jacked up underneath the knuckle and pounded on the top of the bj and it won't go all the way in for the life of me. Plan b is to heat up the spindle with a torch to try to get it to expand a little and plan c is to put grease in it after it cools down. Suggestions?
Also, I bought a camber washer set for the upper control arm but not new bolts. Am a little concerned that the alignment shop is going to tell me i need new bolts, and i want to put them in now if i need to before i take it over there. Do I need the new bolts or will the camber washers be sufficient?

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Has anyone had problems getting the new upper bj back into the knuckle? I have jacked up underneath the knuckle and pounded on the top of the bj and it won't go all the way in for the life of me. Plan b is to heat up the spindle with a torch to try to get it to expand a little and plan c is to put grease in it after it cools down. Suggestions?
Also, I bought a camber washer set for the upper control arm but not new bolts. Am a little concerned that the alignment shop is going to tell me i need new bolts, and i want to put them in now if i need to before i take it over there. Do I need the new bolts or will the camber washers be sufficient?

Unless they are rusty, I wouldn't change bolts or camber washers.

Make sure the Upper ball joint stem is perfectly inline in with the knuckle, the bore in the knuckle is a tight fit, if it's the least bit crooked, it won't go. If its rusty use PB Blaster or similar and a wire brush to clean the knuckle bore.

 

[justglori]

Help! I read the first page of instructions but I'm still left with a blank. Here's a pic I just took after taking the tire off. What do you guys suggest I do next?

 

[MountaineerGreen]

Wow, that is the worst upper I've ever seen. Remove the fender liner flap remove whats left of the upper control arm from the frame, take the pinch bolt out, try to separate what is left from the ball joint.

 

[chrisoc1@aol.com]

Do your have to unbolt the uca where the bushings are on the passenger side? And those specs on the torque what does that mean is like 51lbs-73lbs on the tie rod?

 

[yourm0m1]

thanks for the write-up and pics....

one note, i had tons of trouble getting the bolt towards the rear on the drivers side out of the bushing. i ended up unbolting 2 clips on the larger fuel line (theres 2 smaller lines and a larger below), there just wasnt enough clearance to slide the bolt all the way out. passenger side took less than 15 minutes, i just unbolted @ the bushings and left the 2 piece assembly together (replaced with 1 piece assembly)

this was on a 98 sport, so im not sure if the fuel lines are ran differently on the 4-doors but that bolt was a major PITA!!

 

[qxx]

Has anyone had problems getting the new upper bj back into the knuckle? I have jacked up underneath the knuckle and pounded on the top of the bj and it won't go all the way in for the life of me. Plan b is to heat up the spindle with a torch to try to get it to expand a little and plan c is to put grease in it after it cools down. Suggestions?
Also, I bought a camber washer set for the upper control arm but not new bolts. Am a little concerned that the alignment shop is going to tell me i need new bolts, and i want to put them in now if i need to before i take it over there. Do I need the new bolts or will the camber washers be sufficient?

Ya, same problem.

:thumbdwn: While heating metal is usually a go-to tactic of mine (heat it up and/or put it in the vise!), I wouldn't suggest heating up the knuckle. Due to it's nature, in order to get it hot enough to flex the UBJ into it, you'd likely compromise the integrity of the knuckle itself.

:thumbdwn: Simply banging the UBJ into the knuckle won't work, usually, because the collar of the knuckle is so tight that the UBJ will bounce back out before it ever goes in.

So, what worked for me was:

-Apply a light amount of grease to the UBJ stem and/or the steering knuckle's collar.
-I aligned the UBJ onto the steering knuckle's top collar; make sure it is straight, not tilted.
-Used a large clamp* on the left side of the control arm and the sway bar to put some strong, downward pressure on the UBJ into the knuckle collar. This downward pressure was enough to stop the UBJ from bouncing out or being pushed out by the tightness of the knuckle's collar after it was struck with a large hammer.
-Strike the control arm with a large hammer! And pound it into the steering knuckle (try not to hit the UBJ itself but next to it on the actual control arm).
-Celebrate

*If you don't have a large enough clamp, you want to use something like a looped chain with a bolt in it to basically keep the pressure on the upper control arm to it will not be forced back out of the steering knuckle's collar easily.

 

[Bustedback]

I just did the uppers on a friends 98 EB with the 5.0 today. The right side was done in 15 minutes, the left side was kind of tricky because of the fuel lines and brake lines are kind of bunched around the rear camber adjuster bolt making it hard to get the bolt out enough to pull the arm out. So far I've done the upper arms and lower ball joints because they were worn and sloppy, plus there was an annoying noise in the front end on bumpy roads. But even after all of that there is still a freakin noise, same as before and everything checks out. What could it be?

 

[qxx]

What kind of noise? Sway bar stabilizers in check? Sometimes those things snap and bang on the lower control arms when you hit bumps.

 

[Bustedback]

It's a knocking rattle kind of noise that happens any time one of the front wheels hits a ripple in the pavement. The swaybar bushings are all intact and tight, there is no play in the tie rod ends, and there is no play in the unit bearings. I'm at a loss.

 

[qxx]

I had the same noise in a 94 Grand Marquis for the longest time. It ended up being a loose brake pad, basically floating around in the caliper, rattling and knocking when I hit bumps.

 

[Legion Prime]

Alright, This thread along with the walkthrough has answered all my questions. I am replacing my DS balljoints before I get new tires & alignment as the DS tire is almost down to the belts, only on the inside edge though. As a heads up I figured I'd let everyone know as of June '11 Rockauto has the UCA w/ balljoint for $57 & the lower balljoint for $30. They are both MOOG parts (they had raybestos & other brands for less) AND they are both stocked in the same warehouse, so no separate shipping charges.
Thanks for the great walkthrough & followup commentary.