There seems to be quite a few manufacturers making both upper and lower BJ's for the Van but the prices vary greatly, can you recommend who to buy from that's hopefully not more than $100/set for all 4 ?
BTW, if you have a 92 - 96 E150 plan on replacing all 4 very soon..

 

Not sure I'd want to ride any distance or with any load on a set of 4 $100 ball joints!

No reason to NOT go with the best, Moog! Amazon has them for great prices---just bought all 4 for my '03 E250 for just about $130--- free shipping too. Might find them locally too for a similar price---best to check around.

Good advice changing them all at one time---if one is bad or original to the chassis and without grease Zerks changing them all just makes sense.

Will you be doing this yourself or hiring it out?

 

Ya, I'm discovering Moog is the quality choice, the factory BJ's have no zerk fitting and wear out prematurely, changing all 4 at once and doing the work myself, right side upper and lower then the left.. Found a balljoint press at Harbor Freight for $70 so $130 for the parts will round it out to $200 and that's fine with me, the local goodyear tire shop wanted $700 for the job and that's just ridiculous, got the money but don't want to put it in their pocket.. That comes out to $175 per balljoint, a little greedy if ya ask me.

 

Replaced all four ball joints on my now-idle 2000 E250----was originally quoted over $1100 for parts/labor--without alignment! Shopping around for a good shop found one that would install my Moog/Amazon parts along with urethane axle pivot and radius arm bushings too--alignment included ran me about $380 labor only.

That van still drives almost new---of course new coil springs and Bilstein shocks doesn't hurt!

Before you plunk down money for the press look into renting one for a day---Advance and maybe Auto Zone or even O'Reily's might still offer that.

 

I used an AZ free loaner press when I did my '04 in August. I called ahead to confirm availability. The press kit had a limited number of installing/receiving tubes. Without a master set of tubes I had to get creative when pressing in the replacement Moog ball joints.

Check into the HF master set. You will be grateful that you did.

14 Piece Master Ball Joint Adapter Set

 

As stated by other posts: Autozone and Advance loan the press with a deposit and full refund upon return.
Also as stated by other posts: Moog is the only choice. Quality is lower cost than low pricing, in this case.

Doing the job is not bad, but make sure you have a good bench vise. I did my ball joints with no help and no vise and nearly lost my sanity from the frustration.

I recommend Rockauto for most auto parts. Amazon.com is on the wrong side of the culture war. I wouldn't buy from them if they had exact matching parts for half price.

 

Hello and good morning.

Napa rents a ball joint puller which actually is free as when you return it you receive your check back. I rented one a while back to replace the pivot arm bushings.

Take care and Godspeed

Boon

 

Not sure what culture war we've engaging but given Amazon's insanely great customer service polices AND free shipping they're tough to beat. I've shopped Rock Auto and in the end prices were higher than I can obtain locally or through Amazon.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong though...........?

 

Okay okay, but there's no way that you actually found rock auto pricing to be higher than local stores…
As previously mentioned I avoid Amazon at all costs, but RockAuto pricing is so low that I literally couldn't believe the items were actual real brand-name… but they have been every time I've ordered.

 

Way indeed----just relating what my wallet already knows!

Hopefully needless to say but shipping adds to the cost---I NEVER compare the pre-delivery or advertised price only. As affordable as Rock Auto is over time they're very comparable to local sellers of the same level quality.

 

I'm curious why you and I have such different results when using supposedly the same resources.
I have ordered stuff from rock auto.com five or six times this year, and each of those times I put in probably 15 to 30 minutes of online research with advance auto.com and AutoZone.com and sometimes one or two others.
The rare exception is that I find rock auto.com is within about 10% of the other two major brands. Usually it's a full 30 to sometimes 40% discount, and then the shipping charges will of course cut that margin a little bit.
Oh well, I just thought I'd share some details.

 

Interesting idea: someone should look up this guys ball joints, Moog only, and post the comparison on this thread- Amazon versus rock auto.com versus advance versus AutoZone.
I am driving, using the voice-text feature on an iPhone. So I can't do it.

 

Keep your eyes AND mind on driving---get off the internet!

It could be I enjoy somewhat better pricing with my local sellers including dealerships. I too could spend many minutes comparing final delivered costs of parts but so far in over 13 years I've yet to find anyone with a 30-40% advantage over most any other seller I've used, online or local.

At some point shopping around MIGHT yield something significant however today that's happening less and less---competition is keeping pace with each other.

I guess in the end we'll each use a seller we think gives us the best service and value.

 

MOOG Part # K80196 {#5C2Z3049AA, 5C2Z3049BA} Problem Solver
Front Upper; Incl. powdered-metal gusher bearing to allow grease to penetrate bearing surfaces
Rock Auto $19.98
Amazon $24.49
NAPA $41, wow..

MOOG Part # K8611T {#F2UZ3050A} Problem Solver, Front Lower
Rock Auto $33.79
Amazon $33.71
NAPA $61, wow x 2..

 

Gman, please also do Advance and Autozone.
BTW- thanks!