Hi,
Looking for opinions on this.
I have a 94 explorer sport with 59,000 miles on it. I have a problem with the driver side front tire giving uneven wear on the inside. I got a new set of shocks for it in October 99 took it in today to get a new tire and they told me the front shocks were bad. Being they put them on they replaced them for free (Sears). They said that the shocks going bad and the tire wear were probably due to bad springs. By the way only had 8000 miles on the shocks and only do highway driving no offroading. They say the camber is
-1.0 out and bushing adapters will only correct to .3, but this is the case on both sides and only one side is wearing, they say new springs will bring the camber back in and stop the uneven wear. So my question is whats a reasonable mileage to change springs?, If I do change them as they recommend will this solve my wear problem?, and would worn springs cause the shocks to fail after such a short period of time or were they just defective?

Thanks for any input..

 

From my experience its the Ball Joints causing the problems . First off , Sears wouldnt be my first choice for expert opinion unless your buying some curtains or a dishwasher . In 6 yrs , 59K miles I doubt either the shocks or the springs needed replacing . Have a shop / tech that is accustomed to working on Ford Twin I Beam Suspension have a look . Since the Camber adjustment is made from the top Ball Joint and they say they cant correct it to spec that means the Ball Joint needs replacing , not the spring(s). Either have a Ford Tech do the alignment or a reputable alignment shop.
Paul

 

I agree with Paul....have a reputable shop do it... I refuse to go to my dealership or any other because they tend to see a female and start adding on all kinds of crap that I don't need.(most aren't used to females walking under the lift and telling them they are liars right to their faces) Im pretty sure they do it to guys that seem to not know what they are doing either.. (after all they have to have someone pay for the fancy new showroom and tech center) Almost any suspension problem can be the culprit of uneven tire wear...could be as simple as the fact you need an alignment...to cambers....uuhh if your shocks were bad enough to cause uneven tire wear..you would have noticed that long ago..
could be springs (unfortunately Ford is famous at Coil and Spring shops for having pretty crappy springs and coils) and I do hope you replaced those (uuugghh) crappy Wilderness A/T's for some B F Goodrich's or something of that caliber..

 

Ever notice that the front end of any explorer seems to look the same, the tires and the camber adn tow seem out of wack. Maybe it's time to complain to the proper folks and get Ford to put out a recall. I talked to my local parts dealer and he said it seems like every day some explorer owner is coming in to do work on the ball joints. I wonder how many people have the same problem with the front end of their Explorer?

 

there are a few honest dealer mechanics out there

 

98 F-150 XLT,245 70 yokahama AVS/ST's
prarie tan w/tan int.
K/N gen.II fipk
B/M electronic shift improver
COBRA 75 remote mount CB with weather
alert
SNUGTOP LID/body color
4.6 litre V-8
Dual exhaust/rear exiting/Gibson
rectangle tips
Slowly but surely losing the chrome
front end,in favor of body color steel
bumper with no rub strip. body color
grille shell and speed grilles for both
pieces, painted black or metallic dark
brown. custom body work and paint to
follow

If they are wilderness at's, turn on CNN. The're
being recalled after many lost the tread,causing
major accidents.