Among other things, I am trying to change out the ball joints on my 2002 Ford Explorer XLT 2WD 4.0L. I've been puttin' it off for as long as I can, but it's time to get it done! I've got everything taken apart on the first side, EXCEPT the lower ball joint. I can't get that sucker out! I've beat that pickle fork into that thing about ten times with no progress. I've looked at a few videos on YouTube, and I've read several threads on here, but I haven't even seen one that looks like the one I have. Most of the videos I watched showed vehicles with the smaller top control arm with the built-in upper ball joint. Mine looks like this:




The hub is off. The top ball joint is loose, but the bottom one isn't. The bottom ball joint shaft moves in and out. Am I doing something wrong? I saw one video that showed 2 pickle forks. Am I gonna have to have another one to wedge that thing out of there?

Any and all help and direction is greatly appreciated!!

 

put the pickle fork back in it. spray that sucker down.

get the top out of the ball joint so it is free.

Take a 4lb hammer and a punch or something and beat on the hub housing to break it loose

 

You could also try jacking up the control arm and wedging something solid (ratchet handle, pickle fork, etc.) between the knuckle and the control arm. Then, lower the control arm. This only works if the clearance between the knuckle and control arm gets bigger when you jack up the control arm. I've used it on my Honda. On my Explorer, the pickle fork worked well.

If that doesn't do it, smack the knuckle near the ball joint stud to shock it while it's loaded. Of course, be very careful not to have any digits or appendages located such that they could get damaged when things break loose. I use one regular-sized hammer to smack it and a 3 or 4 lb hammer on the back side of what I'm smacking.

Is that steering knuckle aluminum? If so, be careful with the hammer. Don't want to cause too much damage.

 

Yeah, the knuckle is aluminum. I keep having these visions of that thing breaking, which definitely would NOT be good.

I've got both sides torn down to the same point now. I borrowed a few more pickle forks of different sizes. We've driven those things in as far as they will go, from the front, and from the back, and the lower joint will just not come free. One fork is about 3/4" thick! We even drove two forks at once in there a time or two. I soaked both joints with WD-40 before the last round of frailing. Maybe after it has time to penetrate more, something good will happen. Not sure, but maybe the steel joint inside the aluminum knuckle has something to do with it. Just hope I can get it soon. Need to have that thing rollin' by Thursday!

THANKS for the help, senix and Mikeman!!

 

apply a little heat around the bottom side there and then give it a couple of wacks.

 

senix, I was thinking about using the blue flame wrench. It might take that to get the job done! THANKS!

 

I had to use the heat to get the ball joint (old one) out of the lower control arm. So it may help with that also.

 

Took a LOT of heating, but we were finally able to get those suckers to pop out of there!! I would've never thought it would take as much as it did. A smaller, hand-held torch would never get it hot enough. Thank God for oxy acetylene, and for neighbors who are willing to help! And that includes everyone on here!! Now we can start putting everything back together....

 

A tip that worked for me.

On the upper one I put the control arm with the new ball joint in the housing first. Then the lower ball joint and then put the whole assy up in place.

I tried the lower one first but then I could not get the upper control arm to come down enough.

Make sense?

 

Well, I installed the lower first, then I used a jack to raise the knuckle/lower CA up to the upper CA. I can see where doing it the other way around might've been easier. THANKS!

When I tighten the ball joint nuts, how tight should they be? I've seen a couple of different numbers recommended on the 'Net....

 

I tighten till they were around 90 ft lbs...or darn tight.

We have driven about 1K since and all is well. I checked them a few times and they are good.

 

FINALLY got it back rollin'. All new ball joints, new hub/bearing assemblies, new front brakes, new front struts! It drives like a brand new one! I am extremely pleased with the results (except for the cost), but I can't say that I would be anxious to tackle this kind of job again any time soon!!

I wanted to say again how much appreciate the help! Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums comes through for me yet again!!

 

Congrats!!

 

It's been a couple months, but I thought I'd just piggyback on this same thread. Everything we did to the Explorer seemed to be great. The thing handled and drove like new. Then we started having some weird things happen in the front end. Weird clunks, especially when backing up. I looked the thing over and it appears that the new upper ball joint on the driver's side has dislodged from the upper control arm. I'm going to jack it up and take a closer look to see exactly what's going on. I remember back to the stuff I read about pressing in ball joints on the 2002 Explorer. Different size ball joints and whatnot. I thought everything went the way it should when I reassembled everything. Something's definitely not right now however. Hopefully it's not too major....

 

on the upper, was it a ball joint and control arm in one? If so then It may be defective.

Check the ball joint for the snap ring. Maybe it came off or is missing.