OK, I had my truck in a dealership yesterday for a WDS scan, front end/suspension/brake inspection. Everything checked out fine except ball joints. They said I needed upper and lower ball joints, both sides and an alignment and that they would be happy to do it for $900. That isn't going to work. I think I will do this myself, except for the alignment, even though I have never done any front end work. I'll just follow the Haynes manual.

My questions are, should I go ahead and change the tie rod ends while I'm there being that is the part Ford sent the letter out for( I didn't get one, read about it here) or just the ball joints? Shouldn't the tie rods have worn first?

I have a vibration at highway speeds and the steering does feel a little "loose". I have had the tires balanced twice in the last 6 weeks and the vibration is still there. Ball joints cause this?

Thanks,
Rich 2000 4.2 5spd 2WD 106,000+ miles

 

If you had the alignment and still have vibration, it’s likely the ball joints are causing your problem. You can check the tie rod and pitman arm ends by lying under the truck and having a second person turn the steering wheel back and forth. The end should have no visible free play, intact seals, and no leaking grease. The individual parts are not very expensive so you might choose to simply replace them. Replacing the ends is fairly easy – use a pickle fork to pop the bolt out of the socket screw the old one out and the new one in then move on to the next end. The ball joints are a little harder. You usually need a hand or die grinder to cut off the rivets and a ball joint tool. Remember the spring is under tension even with the truck jacked up. You have to keep the spring compressed when you pop off the ball joint or you could get hurt. It will probably take you 6 or so hours to do both sides.

 

I haven't had it lined up yet. I think I will seek a second opinion on the ball joints, as was suggested in the 97-03 forum, just to make sure I'm not being sold some ball joints. They didn't mention the tie rod ends as being bad. 6 hours to do the ball joints? Is that with beer or not? I kid...Thanks for mentioning the spring compression. I hope when I get a chance to get it done, that the second opinion will be different. I'd much rather do the tie-rod ends if I had to, just from a casual glance through the Haynes.

Rich

 

I just replaced my driver side lower ball joint on my 2000 about a month ago. After I got done I swore to myself to never do it again. They are pressed in. I rented the ball joint tool from Autozone but it was just a little bit too big in all the wrong places. If any of the ball joints fail on me again I'll just replace the entire control arm. It will cost more to replace but would be a much easier job and the extra money spent will be well worth my sanity.

 

I have a '97 F150 109,000 mi and just had all 4 balljoints replaced and realigned at the dealer last week for $600. They billed 6hrs labor and said the tie rods were OK. Mine started getting a dead space in the middle of the steering (which kept getting worse) and started wandering left and right on the hwy with no notice of which way it was going to zig or zag at any given time. I didn't want to wait any longer as it was getting a little unsafe.

 

I'm hoping to do mine this weekend. New ball joints and shocks at least. I may go ahead and do tie-rod ends,rotors and bearings while I'm at it and have everything new again. It may have to wait a little longer. My wife's birthday is Saturday. She's already irritated that I may be planning on working all day. That's OK. This year, on my birthday, I'll be demanding an all day celebration for getting another year older. I may have a mechanic friend of my dad's do it, then I can clear brush a half day. If he can do it on Saturday, he said he'd change everything for $150 labor.

 

Well, not sure if I found my vibration or not.

My dad's mechanic buddy changed my ball joints,front shocks, new bearings this past weekend, for $100. I haven't had it lined up yet, but there is still a vibration coming from somewhere towards the front of the truck. At least, I think it's coming from the front. I'm hoping the alignment takes care of it. If that isn't it, it has to be those stinkin' Uniroyal Laredos I put on the thing. Too loud, too hard, even adjusted to door sticker pressures. I haven't liked them since day one. One tire has worn just like a picture in Haynes shows one worn due to a damaged rim. Oddly enough, that rim did take a hit by something on the interstate one night right before I bought these tires. A couple pieces, very small, of the rim seem to be missing . I have had the tires balanced and rotated pretty frequently, twice in the last 2 months and each time I've been told that it balanced up fine.

We'll see if the alignment helps. I'm doubting it, because even though it hasn't been aligned since the parts change, it's running pretty straight.

Rich

 

Have you rotated the tires since you had everything replaced? The steering wheel was still shaking after I got done with mine. After I got it aligned I asked if the shaking problem was taken care of and they told me no. The shaking was from the tires being "pitted". They said it was a common problem when ball joints go bad. I took it home and rotated the tires and it fixed the problem. The steering wheel won't shake but you will probably get a little bit of a vibration coming from the rear. As the tires wear down the vibration goes away.

 

Nope, I will try that after I get it lined up this weekend. I'm waiting until then so I can go to where I bought my tires and maybe try to get a couple of prorated replacements. Two of them have worn very odd. Two are in great shape treadwise. I need to check the mileage on these things. I know I have the receipt, showing the mileage when installed. We'll see.

Rich

 

Rich,
If your tires wore funny because of bad ball joints, etc, the ride can still be compromised by unevenly worn tires, even after the problem is fixed.
Try moving the suspect tires to the rear and see if that makes a difference.

 

Well, I had it lined up this past weekend. I wasn't able to get into where I bought the tires. I have decided to just replace them in the fall with something else anyway. Being that I couldn't get into that place, I had to resort to going to Firestone at the mall. I hate those places. I got to listen to the sales guy ripping a little old lady off. He was telling her she only had 8/32 tread left and could probably get through one more oil change with the tread. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't 8/32 still be about half way on a typical passenger car tire? Then he was pricing her high performance tires for her '93 Chebby Celebrity, or whatever it was. Sorry, that just bothered me. If they weren't on the phone, I think I would have said something. I was there when she dropped it off and went to the mall. Then he called her with the bad news.

Back to my truck, I guess my tires are the problem. For the most part, the two that are the worst are cupped like I have been running them way overinflated, even though they haven't been. They are also worn a little on the very outsides, but not consistently...like each tread is sloped. The other two are similar, just nowhere near as bad. Still have 9/32 where treads are best. I should call that guy at Firestone and ask him what he thinks I should do. I'm running them a little low to see if they will level out a little, 28/30. The door sticker is 29/32psi. I'm still hearing something. I can just feel a little something in the steering wheel. That has to be the tires, huh?
It seems I am feeling vibration more in the gas pedal and seat than in the steering wheel. U-joints? That reminds me, I need to start another topic regarding checking the joints and yoke.

Rich