Please forgive me if this post is not approporiate for this area and please feel free to relocate if there is a better area for this type of question.

Standing directly in front of my '96 F250 7.3 PSD the tires appear to angle out slightly. I am not sure if the correct term is camber, caster, toe-in, or what but I do know that the angles look like this:

/-------\ <---- Not this extreme but in this direction.

I took my truck to a local 4WD shop here in Atlanta and after crawling underneath and having me move the wheel back and forth a bunch they determined the following (they never put the truck in the air):

1. Upper ball joints are worn out. (the guy first said they were broke but then the mechanic looked at it and said they were shot)
2. Tie rods need to be replaced - inner, outer, and middle (the middle was around $200.00....)

By the time I left the place I had a quote in hand for new upper and lower ball joints on both sides, new tie-rod ends on both sides, new shocks and a quote for around $1900.00 which included an alignment and all heavy duty parts.

My questions. Can this much be determined by laying on the ground and looking rather than checking things out on a lift? and does this price sound reasonible for the work they recommend?

FYI, the tires are not wearing badly BUT there is slight wear on the inside of each tire.

Thanks for any help.

Jim

 

The negative camber you are experiencing is commonly caused by sagging leaf springs. How many front leaf springs do you have? You should have 3. Ford issued a TSB on this, fix is to add another leaf spring.

When I added a leaf to correct the sag, it fixed the problem for a while but the front continued to gradually sag. I added a fourth leaf, but again after a while the front again started to sag and it rode like a tank too. Finally I tore the Dana 50 out and installed a Dana 60, and my alignment is great.

The prices you are being quoted are ridiculous. I rebuilt my Dana 50 couple years ago, greasable Moog ball joints with lifetime warranty were less than $30 each. Check AutoZone and Advance Auto (Parts America), you can get high quality parts for not much $$. Remember that Spicer, McQuay Norris and Perfect Circle are subsidiaries of Dana Corp, good quality parts made in the USA. You can probably get all your steering linkage for $200 or less (I just checked Advance Auto's web site, you couldn't pay $100 for a steering part if you wanted to).

I don't see how you could tell a ball joint was bad with the wheels on the ground, they would have to be so worn out they would be knocking with every bump, even then I'm not sure. You have to put the tire in the air and check for side to side movement of the ball joint.

You can rebuild the axle yourself if you have time. It isn't that difficult, all the tools you need you can borrow for free from Autozone. If you can't or don't have time, I recommend for sure you take your truck to another shop for a second opinion.

Keep us posted on your progress!

 

Thank you.

My first quote I have been told by many was at best a shot in the dark. I have a close friend that runs a shop and he has looked into it and confirmed, as you have said, that the prices for parts quoted are a joke. He also said that to try and diagnose ***** joints with the truck on the ground was a joke. I am meeting him tomorrow night and we are gonna put it on the rack and take a real look.

Thanks for the tip on the TSB. Any chance I could shame Ford into addressing this problem even though it is a '96 with 94k miles? - I doubt it...

 

Ford won't honor the TSB beyond the 36K mile warranty, but you can buy a pair of add-a-leaf's from any of the major suspension suppliers for about $100 (Superlift, Tough Country, etc). Excellent that you have a friend with a shop!

 

Well guys, we got it on the rack and was able to get about 1/16" play on both sides which is a definite indication that the BJ's are shot.

The first guy was right on the diagnosis - guess he got lucky - but was about $800 high on the repair estimate. Only one tie-rod end was bad so bottom line, to replace both upper and lower BJ's. new Rancho shocks x4, one tie-rod end, alignment, and front brakes/repack wheel bearings I am looking at $1000.00 including parts and labor.

How does this price sound?

My mechanic was somewhat suprised that the BJ's were worn out at 94,000 miles. Since this truck was on the road new in Washinton State, could the salt and sand commonly found in that area be a contributor here or is it a common problem with this model year?

Thanks.

*** BJ's in this message refer to Ball Joints ;-)

 

Stock ball joints aren't greasable, 94K sounds pretty good, didn't get that much out of mine.

Replacing the ball joints isn't difficult, you should consider doing it yourself. About $100 for 4 ball joints, $20 total for grease seals if it's 4x4, replace the U-joints for like $10 each if 4x4, repack front wheel bearings ($5 for synthetic grease) and your steering components. Borrow the tools from AutoZone for free. You will still need the alignment when done, so I guess that's about $200? Don't know if your estimate is good, nobody touches my truck but me.