I am going to replace all four ball joints on my 97 f350 4x4 and I need to know if I have to buy anything else? and is there any tricks or tips anyone can give me. thanks

 

Are they bad? I have a 93 F-250 with 200,000 miles and everythings just as tight as new and They are still original. Its alot of work and they are about 80 bucks a pop. But the new ones will be greasable.

 

there bad alright, the truck only has 81,000 miles on it but the guy I bought it from had a 9ft plow on it

 

I can't say I have a trick, but I did use a brute force method to get mine out. You're gonna need a 1-5/16 box end for the lower ball joint nut, a long drift punch to reach the upper parts and a stout pair of snap ring pliers. You might also soak the ball joints in liquid wrench to make removal easier.

After you remove the rotor and hub assy, pop the seal retainer in the steering knuckle - it allows a bit of movement in the axle. Both ball joints come out the top, so you'll need the drift to get the upper one since its in a tight spot. Remove the snap rings and use a pickle fork/drift to get the collar shim out of the top joint, then remove the top joint. You can now get your big boxend under the u-joint to remove the lower nut. Use the drift to drive the steering knuckle down and loosen the lower joint from the taper (unless you have a X-LARGE pickle fork), use a ball pein hammer to drive the lower joint up and out of the knuckle.

If all else fails, there is enough clearance to get a sawzall in and cut the joints in half. Once the joints are out you can pull the steering knuckle out over the axle seals. Its a nasty job and the axle limits the access you have to reach the ball joints where you need, but the feeling of fresh blood on knuckles is always well worth the effort...

 

thanks for advise I took care of it last though, wasn't as bad as I thought, now it drives like new. I also ended up taking the axle out for ease of working on it.

 

I don't have a good manual (yet) with detail on the front axle. How do you remove the axle from the diff?

 

after you get the rotor and hub assembly off, you take the 5 bolts off that hold the brake shield on silde that out with a lot of force, then the axle just slides no clips or anything, it was great.

 

I'd modify my previous post to include removal of the axle after pulling the hub assy. Makes removal of the steering knuckle a breeze and IS required in order to re-install it after replacing the bad joints. Feel like a dumba** for not pulling it in the first place. Then again, live and learn, that's how we keep from repeating future errors. All back together except the rotor that was ordered was TOO BIG, believe it or not, so waiting for a new one from Ford to finish off.

There is one trick tool I can recommend to everyone - Craftsman has an adjustable snap ring plier you screw down to expand a ring. Nice thing is it locks the position so you can place your sprung ring down over the axle. Real tight when I bought it ($20) but loosened real nicely after working it in with some WD-40