Hi Fella's.....its a long time since my last post....house move , job change......but I've come across a problem on my 97 Explorer SOHC 4.0...the second problem i've ever had with it...it has perfomed faultlessly for thousands of miles with the minimum of maintainence unlike all my previous Range Rovers no matter how much money i spent on them they broke down monthly!...
Took my Explorer for its yearly Ministry test..and the tester told me that the top front ball joints had play in them and recomended that i change them in the near future when i could....so i checked my local UK Ford dealer and how he laughed..........then said we don't know anything about them...they don't go wrong!...... we would have to ship the parts in...Ok i said How much?.....130GBP(230$) for the left side and70GBP(125$) for the right side + labour + tax....i thought that was a rip off!!.....
I've bought parts before from the US before (for a Skyline )and always had excellent value and service ...so can anyone recommend a parts supplier willing to ship to the UK or give me a rough guide price for the parts.....
Does the joint come with the top arm as a unit?..or are they pressed in separately?......are they reasonablely easy to replace (i used to be a mechanic)..or do you need special tools?

send me your thoughts...feel free to e-mail me

many thanks

fatjap

 

The top is the whole A arm assembly. Right and left are different costs because one is adjustable. They are in the US$80 range here. Top is pretty rare to go bad. Lowers are more common about $40 and there was something about a run that had bad seals. Try www.fordpartsnetwork.com

 

Thanks for the info...i've mailed them at the fordparts network....our dealers haven't a clue about Explorers or buisness

thanks..... i owe you one

Tim