Upper ball joint replacement - new arms are different

[rscamaro73]

Working on the upper pass side, since its the one that broke.

99 Explorer, XLT, 5.0L 4 dr, 2wd....blah blah blah......anyways,,,,,

Go get the new arm (cuz I can't get a ball joint by itself, it HAS TO come with the arm)....look at it, and its a FULL arm. On my car there's 2 1/2s that mke this one up. 4 bolts holding it on. But the guy at the parts store (and I trust this guy - my mechanic buddy sent me to him) said its the right one. Twice.

Did anyone else have this problem?? Old upper ball joint on pass side has 4 bolts holding it to a 1/2 an upper control arm.....

I just didn't want to swap out the whole damn arm.........glad this new one came with bushings at least already pressed on. Am I looking for problems trying to get this one on or what ??

I'm experienced on older cars (restoring a 73 Camaro, so I know about old cars).

Thanks for any help....

Wayne

 

[rscamaro73]

UPDATE.....

Got the replacement...it was a one piece. That's what NAPA calls for...

Anyways....I dunno if its the rack or something is bent....but I have some bad toe out....and the right side wheelbase is almost 1.5" SHORTER than the driver side.

???

Anyways...upper control arm replacment was a piece of cake. Took me less than 30 min do do it frmo start to finish with a 1/2" ratchet, breaker bar and a 21 MM socket. Just had to move some stuff out the way to get it done....


EDIT - just noticed my rear lower control arm bracket is bent inside some, kicking the toe out. Torsion bar is close to binding and looks bent.

Ugh...guess I'll need to visit the frame rack afterall......

 

[XplorinGuy]

I have a 98 ford explorer and I was given a one piece upper control arm instead of a two piece. Will it fit without any problems?

 

[jimbo74]

yup.... it will fit....

rs.... what did you do to your truck? bent both arms and the tbar is close to binding?! did you plow into something? or what?

 

[Hartman]

The drivers side should be one piece while the passenger side should be two piece so you can adjust the toe. That is how all 2nd gens come from the factory.

 

[rscamaro73]

The drivers side should be one piece while the passenger side should be two piece so you can adjust the toe. That is how all 2nd gens come from the factory.

I'm sure you're right...that is how they come from the FACTORY.....but if'n you go to replace it, all they have are 1 piece arms....as I got one from NAPA. Guys there weren't ignorant neither...they deal with lots of garages.

As far as me plowing into stuff....yeah, back in Feb I got into some black ice and slammed into some parked cars at about 30mph....(and insurance totaled my truck), I got it back and am fixing it back up.

From the looks of things underneath, the rear pass side lower control arm bracket is tweaked. This is causing the torsion bar to hit the outside edge of the hole its thru (plus it looks a little bent to me as well compared to the other side). I'm not 100% sure what it was, but the truck spun around and hit the pass rear into the back door of a 4 dr neon (and ate its lunch, it was totaled as well)....front end had hit into the dr rear qtr of a newer S-10 blazer, which caused the spin-around ( I was headed at it at a 45 deg angle ).

Anyways....I'm gonna try and take some measurements and compare side to side. My right front wheel sits back about 1.5" compared to the driver side. I guess that is also causing this problem.

As far as the arm goes - I (and a mechanic buddy of mine) compared the one piece arm to the 2 piece and it was about the same thing (w/o taking measurements). Took all of 20-30 min to replace it.

 

[Hartman]

My passenger side tire is pushed out about 1" more than my drivers side is. You might not have any serious problems.

 

[rscamaro73]

When I meant my wheel was back, I meant in wheel base length. It sits closer to the rear in the fender well than the driver side.

Anyhows....guess we might be getting some info to formulate some answers about these replacement arms...

 

[etc]

My replacement parts from Car quest were just like factory, driver side 1 piece, passenger two pieces. Calls to Autozone, Discount Auto Parts, and Napa all yielded the same (drive-1, passenger-2).

 

[XplorinGuy]

I got my part from Kragen/checkers and it came as one piece. I went over to another autoparts store and they pulled out a one piece also. I guess I will try to call ford to see if they might know of the change.

 

[97BlackX5.0]

you can order just the second piece of the arm from advance auto.... its under 50 bucks.... thats what i got for my 97.....

 

[XplorinGuy]

I found the 2 piece arm at autozone for 80 bucks. I got that one and returned the other one. Thanks

 

[explorer4x493]

My passenger side tire is pushed out about 1" more than my drivers side is. You might not have any serious problems.

HHHWHHAAAAAAAAATT?? LOL

 

[Garth]

I got mine from the dealer and it was a one piece.