Last weekend with the help of this forum I replaced the lower ball joints in my F150, 4WD, 5.4L. I'm not entirely satisfied with the way it feels and am thinking I should've done the uppers too. I didn't tackle them because I've heard and they are much harder (take a lot longer) to replace. Is that true? Looks like you separate the upper bj, and then two nuts and you can pop the control arm out.

Am I missing something? Also, I think since I've done my lowers, I can just take my tire off, leave the rotor, knucke, etc, in tact, to do the upper. True?

Thanks

 

The uppers are WAY easier than the lowers. The whole control arm is replaced, not just the ball joints. It is just a matter of taking the tire off, seperating the ball joint, and taking the cam bolt out and than putting it back togather the same way. Although the whole control arm has to be replaced, it is not any more expensive, it is about the same price you paid per lower ball joint.

 

Ford says the uppers must be replaced with the A frame, but i think some auto aftermarket are starting to build the ball joints to change out seperately. biggest thing on the upper is that they set the alignment. move the "bolt" on each side and your alignment is off. mark them first and put back in the same spot, but still plan on doing an alignment in the near future. why do you think the uppers need changed? do they have extra movement? i would check the idler arm and bushing anchored to the frame in front of the axle first. that normally has more wear than the upper *****.

 

I replaced the lowers because when I was turning corners or getting off the highway on a cloverleaf I could feel some wobble and play. Although it is somewhat better, it still feels loose to me.

In doing the lowers, it was pretty obvious that all the weight is really on them and not much stress on the uppers. I just figured that I would replace them next, and if it wasn't cured, then I'd do the tie rods. Sounds like I should do the tie rods first?

 

If you are starting to change out ball joints, you should change out all four and the tie rod ends. If you only change out some of the parts, they will ware out pretty fast and you will be doing it again prematurely. Now that you have the bottom ball joints changed, the rest of the parts are fairly cheap and also easy to change. Then get the front end alighnment done, This is most important so you do not ware out any parts and should tighten up the feel of the front end.

 

Ok, that makes sense. Sounds like I need to mark both the location on the bolts for the upper ball joints and also the tie rod ends, and then from there get it aligned, right? Appreciate the help guys.

 

i only change out parts that are worn. if you ran several thousand miles with bad lower ball joints they might have caused some wear on the other parts, that needs to be checked. my upper joints were o.k. so i did not replace. i dont spend money on new parts when the old parts still meet spec. the bushings on the idler arm anchored to my frame had some wear and was causing some movement after i changed the lower joints. tie rods and upper joints were still good.

 

Steve,

I know this is going to be a tough question, but how do you know if they need to be replaced? Obviously my lowers are a lot tighter than the uppers or the tie rod ends. That was evident when I had it all apart. I used to have a Ranger that had tie rod ends and ball joints that almost fell apart in my hands. Now those were pretty obvious. But how do I know if they truly need replaced. Also, I don't know what the idler arm is. Are you talking about the control arm on the ball joint? sorry for being dense.

 

Ok, I found the idler arm, along with the Pittman arm and center link in my manual. I get it. But I still have the question, how do you know when your ball joints or tie rod ends need replacing? Like Cleevesj says, maybe I'd be better off doing them all to make sure I get even wear, especially since I don't know exactly how to tell if they are worn out. I don't want to get into a debate about whether or not you should replace parts that are or aren't worn, but in my case, maybe I should just bite the bullet....

 

The way I check mine is to take a pair of channel lock pliers and squeez the joints together. If they squeez together more than 1/8 inch, I replace them.