Opinions needed on suspension work

[Tyleryac]

Over the past winter I had a friend replace both of my upper ball joints and then come to find that the UCA bushings are bad...

I have two new UCAs, lower ball joints, and tie rod ends. Is it worth it to take my truck and parts to my mechanic and have him do the work?

After this suspension work the truck will literately brand new...

 

[Onuma]

If you don't have to deal with too much corrosion, like I did, the work isn't too bad to do yourself. My truck had a TON of corrosion underneath, and I actually had to replace the original shock bolts & nuts. If I didn't have air tools, there's no way I'd have gotten it done alone.

It really helps if you have a lift, or at least have access to one. I'd hate to have done that at ground level.

 

[MAS Tequila]

Do you have, or have access to a ball joint press?

I did mine in the driveway, and it took about 2 hours per side.

MT

 

[drdoom]

If your mechanic is good, just get it done there. Should be a straightforward job.

 

[Tyleryac]

Do you have, or have access to a ball joint press?

I did mine in the driveway, and it took about 2 hours per side.

MT

I do not have a press.

 

[Tyleryac]

If your mechanic is good, just get it done there. Should be a straightforward job.

I have been using him for about 10 years. He does a pretty good job. I already spent about $200 on the parts. Hopefully the labor isn't too much...

 

[Tyleryac]

I crawled under the truck just now to discover that the "noise" I was hearing from the front suspension is not the control arms or ball joints. It is the sway bar bushings.

I sprayed some WD40 on the sway bar bushings and the noise went away! So it looks like I will just replace those bushings and tie rod ends myself to save some $$$

 

[Onuma]

Troubleshooting skills seems to be primarily what separates the good mechanics/technicians from the bad ones.

Good job.

 

[apenland01]

I basically replaced my entire suspension over the past month. I had to do it in chunks because I have to drive it every Monday for work, so I only have the weekend to work. I planned it out and everything came together just fine. I don't have corrosion issues in Arizona.

Weekend 1: both front wheel bearing hubs, rotors and pads
Weekend 2: all 4 strut coilovers replaced. Alignment
Weekend 3: front UCA's with new ball joints, camber adjuster kits, sway bar end links and sway bar bushings and inner/outer tie rods. Alignment
This past weekend: removed and cleaned MAF and throttle body (neither had ever been cleaned)

The lower ball joints were still good, so I'm done with suspension work for quite a while. All my suspension parts were factory original and I now have 172k on my Explorer, so most of the work was way overdue.

It drives nice and quiet now.

EDIT: I did all this work on the ground with 2 jacks, 2 jack stands and regular hand tools. I went to AutoZone and O'Reilly to rent the free pitman arm puller, 250lb torque wrench and large inner tie rod tool.