Ball Joint Replacement
Elder User
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 767
Likes: 1
From: Franklin, GA
Kinda hard to give you an accurate answer considering I don't know your capability or what your tool inventory is. The job is definitely a good way to kill a Saturday. Especially if you are replacing all the ball joints on both sides. Your best bet is going to be purchase a Haynes manual for your truck and spend an hour reading what the process entails. Then decide if you want to tackle the job. I will add that you ought to get a can of grease and new seals and maybe even new brake pads and go ahead and repack the bearings and freshen up the brakes since you'll already be in the "area" anyway.
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Freshman User
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 43
Likes: 0
From: Frisco, TX
Well, I'm going to rent the tool from Autozone. I am a pretty good home mechaninc so I'm not to scared to get under there. I did this once on a '79 Monte Carlo so I have a general idea of what I need to do. I was just hoping that this was something I would be able to get done in one day. And no, I don't have to do both sides. When I took it to get it aligned, they said they couldn't do it because the driver's side bottom ball joint was bad. I figured the reason it was shaking was because it was out of alignment. Oh well. Any tricks anyone has learned to make this go faster?
Posting Guru
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,008
Likes: 0
From: Annapolis,MD.
Only the lower balljoints are pressed-in on your year truck,The uppers are made into the control arm.The replacement control arms have removable balljoints though.If yours is 4x4 the hub/bearing is a sealed unit,so you can't re-pack the bearings.You can probably do 1 side with basic handtools and floor jack in 2 hrs.Definitely easier than your monte (no rivots to cut on upper balljoint)
Last edited by SRD4X4; Jan 13, 2005 at 05:56 AM.
Postmaster
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,628
Likes: 0
From: Calgary, Canada
I did uppers and lowers on my F350 2wd, also taped, sandblasted and painted both front wheels and the spindles in about 6 hours. Without air tools and had to mess around a lot because the proper Ford cups didn't come with the C-clamp tool.
