Upper ball joint wont go back in knuckle. Help.

[Jhoskins]

Hello,

I am currently changing the lower ball joint on my 02 ford explorer sport, I replaced the lower, and I am reassembling it, but the upper ball joint will not go back in the slot, both oem. Its the 2 piece design. I have cleaned the steering knuckle and the ball joint itself, I also tried heating the knuckle up.

Also, The new moog lower ball joint seems to have been pressed too far in. There is a tiny gap between the snap ring and the lower control arm. Should I be worried?

Thanks,
Joe

 

[YountExplr]

I am not as familiar with the third gen as the 2nd gen but with my upper control arm I have to angle my ball joint stud and my knuckle in opposite directions.

For example I angle the driver side knuckle and ball joint like so:
/
\

Then i whack on the UCA a bit and it goes in. Also my snap ring is a bit above the LCA also and ive been driving it around for almost a year with no problems but maybe Im wrong...

Hopefully someone else will chime with similar ideas or better ones.

 

[sportrac03]

The reason you have problems is because Ford does not service the upper ball joint seperate. You have to get the arms.

 

[my pos mounty]

I used a ratcheting strap to pull the lower upper control arm down into the knuckle while tapping the top of the control arm with a hammer. Nothing extreme, more like love taps. No bolt in the knuckle of course and greased the hell out of the post on the ball joint. My problem was the upper control arm didn't want to go down that far. Might work for you too.

Dont worry if theres space between the snap ring and the control arm

 

[Jhoskins]

Thanks guys, I did finally get it, I had to call a friend whos a mechanic and he used a 4' long prybar and it litterally slid right in, I also replaced the driver side lbj and I pushed that upper ball joint in the knuckle by hand.

 

[jayton]

Thanks guys, I did finally get it, I had to call a friend whos a mechanic and he used a 4' long prybar and it litterally slid right in, I also replaced the driver side lbj and I pushed that upper ball joint in the knuckle by hand.

Was it a regular pry bar like they sell at Home Depot? Did he set it in while the control arm was off the vehicle or on?

Thanks,