Upper Control Arm Ball Joint Replacement (Ball Joint vs. Control Arm)

[celsoglima]

I have been reading all over the forums as well as in my Haynes manual that an upper control arm ball joint cannot be replaced unless the whole control arm is replaced. I have a 2000 Ford Ranger 3.0L 2WD, and pretty much every online auto parts store I look at has the ball joint available for sale in addition to the whole control arm assembly. I am referring to the front suspension. Am I misreading the forums and the Haynes book, or are those sites listing the wrong parts for my vehicle? The price difference between a ball joint and the whole assembly is at least $50.

Could some of you guys share some of your thoughts on this?

 

[mounty71]

Is your ranger an xlt or edge? If it's an xlt, i don't know if the following info will apply, but if it's an edge, you can find new arms with a "problem solver" balljoint, which is replaceable. But if you go with an OEM replacement balljoint, the entire arm will be replaced with it. Someone please correct me if i'm wrong, but after much deliberation i believe these are the two available options.

EDIT: I just realized 2000 was before the introduction of the edge model. So my whole post may be irrelevant for you. Now i'm curious if there was a 2wd offered with torsion bars similar to the edge of the following model.

 

[YountExplr]

Original upper control arms are non pressable and need to be completely replaced. The indvidual ball joints for sale are for the aftermarket control arms because the aftermarket companies make their UCA's pressable. This is at least true for the explorers. Cant think of any reason why the rangers would be different.

 

[celsoglima]

I guess that makes sense to me now. I wished those sites mentioned something about those ball joints not being compatible with the OEM upper control arms.

My truck is a 2000 Ranger XLT/Sport, 3.0L, 2wd, Flex Fuel with the regular coil spring suspension. It looks like everything is still original on it.

 

[gijoecam]

Ditto. The individual upper ball joints are for that manufacturer's specific upper control arm. They are not compatible with the OEM upper ball joint that is molded (forged?) into the OEM upper control arm.