Need some help with front suspension

[jarakat]

Hi everyone,

I figured its about time I joined this forum because I am always on it...its' great. There is so much good info, I'm so thankful. However, I now have a question / problem I need some help with and I figured what better place to ask.

So I have a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer AWD. I am replacing struts, upper control arms and lower ball joints in the front. I have removed everything (on one side), replaced the strut assembly and attempted to replace the lower ball joint but actually ruined the new one . I couldn't believe it but I did. So that is the first problem I am needing help on. I pressed it out no problem actually. But when I attempted to press the new one in (it is a Motocraft one that came with a boot on it and the boot is on there GOOD), I put one of the cups underneath the ball joint and it fit perfectly on the lip of the ball joint. I began to press the ball joint in and all seemed OK. Then it started to get tight (OK I expected that) but then it got extremely tight and very hard to turn the press. But I kept trying. After a min, I thought to myself, this doesn't seem right, it is waayyy too hard to turn. So I loosened up the press and looked underneath the lower control arm at the ball joint. The ball joint lip had folded up and was preventing any further pressing! The ball joint was ruined. I am now assuming I should of only used the cup on the lip of the ball joint to get the ball joint started and then moved it. So if I am thinking correctly now, my dumb a** should have used a cup that went completely over the ball joint lip and pressed against the bottom of the lower control arm so that the ball joint is being pressed up by pressure on the bolt of it?? It seems that is the way I should of did it, is that right? So now, I am obviously getting a new ball joint.

Now on to my next problem. The upper control arm was a B to get off. The nuts were so rusted. I sprayed them days ahead of time and sprayed them more and more as I worked on it but they were still difficult to remove. I was able to get them loosened and about half way off before the rust just filled the threads and I could just no longer turn them. So I cut them off. I was replacing the whole arm so I didn't care. BUT during the struggle of trying to remove the UCA nuts, the 'teeth' on the OEM shims bent. So when I removed the shims, the teeth were bent and they were pretty rusted as well. So I want to replace them. But I cannot find those exact shims ANYWHERE. I even checked Ford dealers. I have a part number from a ford manual and still cannot find these exact shims. They are in tutorials on here (they are squarish shape with two fang like teeth that lock into place with a hole in the middle for the UCA bolt to go into). So, I was wondering if you guys could tell me if there is something I can use as a replacement unless you know where I can get these shims? Or if a replacement would be better anyway? If it matters, I bought Ford UCAs so they match exactly BUT I got Monroe struts. So I am at a stand still right now because I cannot put the new UCA back on until I figure out what to do about the shims. Any help / advice would be greaty appreciated.

 

[albi1cnobi1]

Hi everyone,

I figured its about time I joined this forum because I am always on it...its' great. There is so much good info, I'm so thankful. However, I now have a question / problem I need some help with and I figured what better place to ask.

So I have a 2004 Mercury Mountaineer AWD. I am replacing struts, upper control arms and lower ball joints in the front. I have removed everything (on one side), replaced the strut assembly and attempted to replace the lower ball joint but actually ruined the new one . I couldn't believe it but I did. So that is the first problem I am needing help on. I pressed it out no problem actually. But when I attempted to press the new one in (it is a Motocraft one that came with a boot on it and the boot is on there GOOD), I put one of the cups underneath the ball joint and it fit perfectly on the lip of the ball joint. I began to press the ball joint in and all seemed OK. Then it started to get tight (OK I expected that) but then it got extremely tight and very hard to turn the press. But I kept trying. After a min, I thought to myself, this doesn't seem right, it is waayyy too hard to turn. So I loosened up the press and looked underneath the lower control arm at the ball joint. The ball joint lip had folded up and was preventing any further pressing! The ball joint was ruined. I am now assuming I should of only used the cup on the lip of the ball joint to get the ball joint started and then moved it. So if I am thinking correctly now, my dumb a** should have used a cup that went completely over the ball joint lip and pressed against the bottom of the lower control arm so that the ball joint is being pressed up by pressure on the bolt of it?? It seems that is the way I should of did it, is that right? So now, I am obviously getting a new ball joint.

You were doing it right. The cup should rest on the flange(lip) of the ball joint. That flange should be pretty wide and thick(all of the ones I've ever done have been). Although I have never used motorcraft joints, I've always gone with a heavier duty after market piece. The cup should rest firmly on the flange, in towards the boot or at least centered not on the edge. For that lip to fold up I'm thinking that the cup was riding too far out to the edge. Just my .02 but I have always had good luck with Moog or Mevotech ball joints. They are far more stout than the Ford parts. Not telling you what direction to go, just offering an opinion. If you go with the Ford parts just make sure the cup is as far in from the edge as possible. Maybe the ball joint got ****ed a bit in the hole and bound up, causing the cup to do that. But as I said before it had to be riding right on the edge to do that. As for the shim issue I can't help you there, my truck is a 99 and doesn't use them. The uppers are similar but only have alignment washers. Maybe someone else came jump in on that part. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

 

[jarakat]

That explains it

You were doing it right. The cup should rest on the flange(lip) of the ball joint. That flange should be pretty wide and thick(all of the ones I've ever done have been). Although I have never used motorcraft joints, I've always gone with a heavier duty after market piece. The cup should rest firmly on the flange, in towards the boot or at least centered not on the edge. For that lip to fold up I'm thinking that the cup was riding too far out to the edge. Just my .02 but I have always had good luck with Moog or Mevotech ball joints. They are far more stout than the Ford parts. Not telling you what direction to go, just offering an opinion. If you go with the Ford parts just make sure the cup is as far in from the edge as possible. Maybe the ball joint got ****ed a bit in the hole and bound up, causing the cup to do that. But as I said before it had to be riding right on the edge to do that. As for the shim issue I can't help you there, my truck is a 99 and doesn't use them. The uppers are similar but only have alignment washers. Maybe someone else came jump in on that part. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

Thanks for your quick reply...So yeah, that explains it. The cup was in fact right on the edge of the lip. I guess it was just a noob move, I wasn't even thinking about that lip folding up. So at least I know I was doing it right, I just need to use a smaller cup so its more toward the inner part. Feel a little more dumb now ..But that was helpful none the less, thank you!

 

[Ronin8002]

As for the shims, just use some Grade 5 or Grade 8 washers in the same thickness and roughly the same outside diameter and you'll be fine. You're going to have to get it aligned since you've pulled the upper control arms off.

 

[FR-425]

Those shims will only be used if the front cannot be aligned without.

Reasons for this: The truck was crashed and the frame is slightly tweaked.
Or it was aligned with the bad ball joints.


Any alignment shop will have shims. Not vehicle specific.