Lower Ball Joints

[justwufn]

I think my lower ball joint on passenger side has biten the dust literally. I have a few questions that maybe some of you guys can answer. I am contemplating doing the job myself, but it would be a first time situation for me so I am a little hestitate. I have a 96 4X4 with 89K miles.

1. How long does it take to change out each side for a first time rookie vs a veteran?
2. Does 4X4 take longer?
3. What parts have to be removed once I take off the tire? I have a Haynes manual, but do not trust everything I have read in it.
4. Plan on getting a tool from Autozone to help with ball joint extraction/installation process. If tool is not available then what alternatives have you guys used?
5. If I decide not to do repair myself then what would be a fair price for a small back yard independent? I have all ready bought the parts so labor would be all I would need plus an alignment.
6.Should I change out both joints[89K miles] even if driver side looks OK?

Appreciate your input.


Johnny

 

[Robert]

I just did mine on my '97 two weeks ago. It took all day but I had to make three trips to various places for parts. Do both lower ball joints, they are cheap but start with the one you know is bad in case you don't get to the other one right away. I never did a 2WD so I can't say if there is any difference or not. Here is what I found was the best way to do mine:

1) Jack up the front end letting both tires drop as far as they'll drop.
2) Remove the tires.
3) Remove the brake caliper (tie it up with bailing wire).
4) Tie some strong bailing wire from the top of your front shock mounts to your upper control arm so that it doesn't drop too much.
5) Remove the torsion bar (a heavy duty, 2-arm puller works excellent for this, be sure and mark both ends in relation to the lower control arm and the torsion bar adjuster to be certain you get them in the same orientation).
6) Take a 2 pound sledge hammer and hammer on the bottom ball joint stud to knock it out of the spindle (remove the nut and cotter pin first).
7) Remove the two bolts that hold the lower control arm to the vehicle.
8) Remove the lower control arm with the ball joint still in it.
9) Use the largest socket that will fit against the lower ball joint, but still go through the ball joint hole and hammer against the ball joint with a 2 pound sledge hammer until it pops out of the lower control arm.
10) Now you'll have to use some ingenuity to press the new one back in.
11) I took a piece of fence pipe that I had that was a bit too small and cut it to about 3" long. I then slit it from end to end and spred it open to fit it over the new ball joint so that it fit against the metal lip. I then used a piece of pipe on the side of the control arm that the ball joint was going in to and put the whole thing in my vice. I pressed the whole thing together with my vice. I had to go through several pieces of pipe and a lot of cuss words but I got it. It would have been a lot easier if I would have had a 2' piece of 2" diameter pipe to put over my vice hancle to use as a cheater bar though. If the new ball joint seal has a grease weap whole, be sure and position it away from the rotor.
12) Start putting things back together.
13) If your replacement ball joints have grease fittings, be sure and fill them full of grease.
14) Get the front end aligned.

 

[justwufn]

Robert, thanks for the input.

Does anyone out there have any suggestions on what would be a fair price to do both front ball joints just in case I decide not to tackle the job?

 

[Robert]

The Ford book calls for a little over 3 hours of labor for both sides. I paid about $40 each for my ball joints at CarQuest, but Ford probably charges about $70 apiece for them. So Ford would probably charge about $400 to do both sides. An independant shop would probably charge about $250-$300.

 

[wmak8]

Hey guys, where else can I buy the ball joints? I don't think there is a Carquest in San Francisco or nearby. I could be wrong. Is this ball joint a universal size? The dealer tells me that the ball joints on the Explorer are not serviceable. They are telling me to replace the lower control arm in order to replace the ball joint. Thanks

 

[Robert]

Most auto parts stores carry them. I know Pep Boys, Autozone and Checker's also carry them. I chose Carquest since they carry Moog and their price was about $10 less than the rest. Your dealer is full of crap (sort of). It's true that your lower ball joints are not serviceable, but they are replaceable. You do not need to replace the lower control arm to replace the lower ball joints. The new ball joints you get will likely be serviceable (meaning they will have a grease fitting). Your factory upper ball joints can not be replaced without replacing your upper control arms though so maybe your dealer was confused. Once you replace the upper ones with aftermarket ones, supposedly you can then just replace the ball joint if they ever need replaced again. The upper ones run about $110 each. Moog also makes a cool upper control arm/ball joint for the Explorer that allows about an extra 10 degrees of movement for lifted applications (just the ticket for TT lifts). You can try going to CarQuest's web-site to see if you can order them on-line or try going to Moog's to see if their is a local Moog dealer in your zip code.

 

[wmak8]

Thanks Robert!!!