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No, I originally pressed a new ball joint into the factory upper arm. I know all that stuff was installed correctly as I re-checked it several times. I used the ball joint press I rented from O'Reilly and the top ones were really a piece of cake compared to the lowers.
Now, I've raised it up, removed the tire and I can see that the upper joint is loose inside the hole in the arm. It looks like the ball joint and the hole in the arm are both damaged. I've sent my wife to O'Reilly to get a new control arm/ball joint combo. Now I just hope I can get it apart easily....
OK, got it fixed. Replaced the factory upper control arm, which had a somewhat wallowed-out hole, with the new upper control arm/ball joint combination. Here are a couple images of the old and new:
Now I've got to get the Ex back to the line-up shop! Thanks for the help, senix!
Well, before tackling the original job, I read MANY comments that said you couldn't replace JUST the ball joint in the upper control arm. But I also read quite a few that said it could be done. O'Reilly sold me JUST the ball joint, so they must've thought it was do-able. I really liked the looks of the replacement upper arm I put on there today. If it was free and easier, I'd definitely do the passenger side too. Two things that worry me now: 1. I did the other side the exact same way. 2. I'd like to get my money back on the ball joint that came out.
It's an older thread, but I thought I'd add some information.
It's a common issue for the upper control arm 'hole' for the ball joint to get a little messed up. It will cause the new ball joint to be loose and 'pop out' like what happened here.
Moog Problem Solver line has an over-sized ball joint to fix this problem. The alternative, as was done here, is to replace the entire control arm.
