Front End Wear
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New User
Joined: Aug 2004
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Front End Wear
I picked my 1999 SD 250 Diesel up at the garage from insp. today and was handed a list of needed parts , tie rods ,LH upper and lower ball joints plus alignment and labor, $650+. My truck has 63k on it. My ? is this normal wear for SD. I have had other f150 trucks and rarely had to replace front end parts till 100k Thanks
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: Scranton, PA
Is your truck a 4x4? Depending on how you drive your truck also affects the wear. If you are off-road at all, or if your roads are as *****ty as the ones, around here the parts will wear quicker also. I replaced my ball joints at 30k. I think they make cheaper parts these days too. Make sure you get good ball joints with grease fittings.
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Joined: Aug 2004
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Thanks for the reply, my truck is a 4x4 and i do highway miles. Also the garage that did the insp. said no movement is allowed in parts but i called the ford dealer today and he said that there is a small tolerance for movement in ball joints.Who is right? The tie rods aren't bad to change but how hard are the ball joints to change myself? Thanks
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Well they both are. For NH it is 1/32nd of an inch if you want to call that a tolerance. I was shocked an inspection station actually looked at mine. A 2003. I will find a different inspection station next year. I could have driven on mine for another year or more easily. The inspection stations expect you to say sure fix it and I did. I needed my rig back on the road.
