How to replace your Super Duty Ball Joints

[Racerguy]

You might damage them when you pull it apart but even if you don't they should be replaced anyway to prevent future, expensive damage. It doesn't take much water and junk in the bearings to destroy them.

[Kenwood]

Just wanted to say thanks to racerguy...this thing was a lifesaver this weekend.. My lower RF balljoint was Wasted at 60K.. I followed these directions and they worked great.. Only thing I would add is BUY some extra pickle forks... I broke 1 trying to remove the lower ball joint..

It was nice though.. I used the NAPA Ball joints.. they even give you the PLUG for the upper zerk fitting..

Truck feels like new again..

[2002f2507.3LPS]

hey i only hear this cluck when i come to a stop mostly, and some times when i hit the brakes. safe to say its ball joints? im goin to go with the napa ball joints as well. and get brake rotors turned, new pads, slide pins for the callipers.

[Kenwood]

I never noticed any clunk or noise or anything out of mine.. What I did notice was excessive camber in the RF wheel and funny tire wear>>actually the tire wear led me to look at the camble angle..my UPPER was perfect but my lower was beyond trash..When I lifted the truck up and pulled on the top and bottom of the wheel I could feel it wiggle..

Ironically Brakes still had a ton of life left... Initially like yourself I decided While I had it apart Id do this and that.. well my brakes look like they could go about 60K more...


Oh the only other beware I can say is ..when making the seal press tool if you chose to make your own... Measure the flange.. My flange from Home Depot ended up being 4".. I spent about 15 minutes on a grinding wheel reducing the diameter to about 3.75" to fit the seal..

[2002f2507.3LPS]

well as far as going over any bumbs i cant say i notice any noises out of the usuall, only hear the clunk when im stopping, or mostly once the truck has stoped it will do it. but i dont hear it any other time. nothing when excellerating from a stop. just when comming to the stop. but still ill have it jacked up tonight and ill wobble the wheel in all directions, see what it dose.

[oldsw-31]

just did my 99 f350 and i wanted to add that all I i needed was a 21mm socket for all the hardware except for the Balljoints


i found this job to be real easy only took me 3.5hrs for the both sides . most of the time was spend cleaning the crap.

[oldsw-31]

Just did my 99 F350 and I wanted to add that all I needed was a 21mm socket for all the hardware except for the Balljoints which were a 28mm and 34mm
I found this job to be real easy only took me 3.5hrs for the both sides . most of the time was spent cleaning the crap.

[jetskiman6969]

I have a question about the seals that are inside the axle tube near the carrier(on the front axle), there ARE seals in there, right??? Just wondering, how do I get them out, and HOW do I get new ones in there?? I didn't see this mentioned anywhere, so I'm a little concered because of the amount of gear oil I had dripping out of the axle tube. Thanks

[oldsw-31]

need to remove the carrier and remove and install from inside the diff yopu need a spechial driver to install

[flkeysff]

Hello I am new here and would like to say that is a very good write up on the ball joints, however I have one question what year vehicle did you do this on. The haynes manual I have state for 1999-2001 ball joint torque should be 101 lb-ft upper and lower and for 2002 models should be 63 lb-ft for upper and lower. Thanks

[Racerguy]

Hi flkeysff and welcome to the forum

I don't remember what year the truck was that I used in the write-up. I do lots of thse so it becomes a blur.
It appears that Ford has changed the torque spec a couple times.
The Ford manual I have shows 101 lb-ft for both ball joints on a 1999.
The 2000 and up shows 150 for the lower and 69 for the upper.
I'm not sure why the change.

[flkeysff]

Thank you for the reply, that makes me feel better that I torqued the ball joints correctly. I wish I had found your write-up when I had to replace mine it would have helped a great deal. but I managed without to many problems.

[sdnomad]

My F250 has 71,000 miles and it wanders while going down the rode. I was told the ball joints usually need replaced around 70,000 miles. How can I diagnose whether the ball joints are the problem? I saw it done once on another vehicle where they jacked it up and pried somehow on something but can't remember how it's done. I don't know if grabbing the tire and attempting to move it by hand to diagnose the ball joints is possible on something this heavy duty.

[skuteman]

.................Here is a question I have , In dec-'06 I had my whole front end rebuilt with new parts . Currently , it feels like it is alittle loose in the front end ! My sensory inputs are coming from the steering wheel . The truck had 99k miles when the work was performed and currently has 104k, so it has had alittle over 5k miles since the work was done . I've taken it back twice for an alignment check and something minor . The tech says everything is kosher but my steering wheel says othwerwise . I'm kinda at a deadend currently so my question is this.....Does\do the front ends on these trucks get alittle loose as we put over 100,000 miles on them ?? Logically , it would seem to make sense that any vehicle that accumulates lots of miles would just be somewhat more loose than a new truck . In other words , even using new parts is it inevitable that we cannot restore the precision of the frontend to what it was when New ??? thanks , skuteman

[redford]

No, if you replaced all the front end parts you should have a tight front end.

Your problem may be front tires (try rotating them) or your steering box may need adjustment.