My wife drives a 2000 Mountaineer with AWD. I noticed one day when my wife was turning into the driveway something silver on the inside of the driverside tire. After she came to a stop I looked at the tire and it was the steel belts. I drove my wife to work and took the Mountaineer to the shop to get new tires all the way around and aligned. The mechanic called me and said that the lower ball joints were bad and would cost me around $500. I told the mechanic to just put the tires on and I would look around for a better price. I found a mechanic that would do the work for around $300. Is this a good price? I then looked at my Haynes manual and it tells me that I can't replace the ball joints. That the whole control arm must be replaced. Is this true? While I drove the Mountaineer I noticed the front shaked. Not long ago I replaced the driver side bearing assembley brakes and rotors and the thing still has a squill while going slow, like in a parking lot. Could the squilling and vibration be due to the lower ball joints?

 

Found this on autozone's web site... it looks like you have to replace the entire control arm.

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...3d800bba33.jsp

 

I wouldn't wait too long on this job since you already put on new tires. Worn ball joints can cup your new tires pretty quickly, resulting in tire noise, rough ride, not to mention excessive tire wear.

 

So does anyone know where I can get the instuctions on how to remove the control arm?

 

I have a 2000 AWD Mountaineer and have replaced the ball joints. The control arms do not have to be replaced when replacing ball joints! Get 2 Moog, greaseable, ball joints @ $30/per from CarQuest or other supplier. The old ball joints pound out of the control arm after removing retainer snap ring. The new joints press back in with large C-clamp and cup tool made especially for the purpose. You can borrow the tool from Autozone or buy one from Harbor Frieght for $40 like I did. The lowers are easier to change than the uppers where the control arms do need to be replaced and consequently screw up the alignment.
I pulled the lower control arms out and replaced the ball joints on a bench. Others have replaced the ball joints with the control arms in place. How you do it depends on your imagination! Be safe and good luck.

 

how did you remove the control arm to replace the ball joint? Did you have some type of manual to remove the control arm?

 

I had a Haynes Repair Manual ($18) found at any parts store. You'll need to disconnect the sway bar, lower shock mount, ball joint nut, and torsion bar from the control arm. Follow Manual for removal procedure. You'll need torque wrench, large two arm gear puller (to release tension from torsion bar), and various wrenches and rachets. Oh, and a big a** hammer. Do one side at a time. Support the front corner of the truck on jack stand located at cross member near the control arm hinge bolts. Be sure truck is supported securely, your going to be under it and, when all the parts are removed, the only thing between the bottom of the truck and the floor is you! If you don't have the tools or equipment your probably better off having a shop do it (doesn't have to be a Ford Dealer shop). The Haynes Manual has detailed removal and installation procedures and the job really is straight forward providing you have the tools. Get the manual (you can always use it for maintenance and other repairs) and review it to see if you want to tackle the job.
I replaced all four ball joints along with the control arm bushings. Took me only 26 hours to do it!!!
Good luck.

 

I am in the middle of replaceing the upper control arms and lower ball joints on my 98 explorer AWD. I have so far replaced the passenger side upper control arm and removed to lower ball joint. I have jack stands under both ends of the frame cross piece near the lower control arm joint. Before removing the lower ball joint, I jacked up the lower control arm under the point provided for usual truck jacking, the hook welded to the front of the control arm. I jacked up until the nearest jackstand started to loosen up and then lowered it back down about an inch for stability.
After removing the caliper rotor and brake splash guard, I tied the wheel hub up to the fender above. I then removed the axel nut and two bolts holding the upper control arm. I tied up the outer CV joint and slid the wheel hub assembley off of the axal end. I removed the nut from the bottom of the ball joint and pressed the tapered shaft out of the wheel assambley. With the axal and upper control arm free, the wheel assembly can be slid down off of the ball joint shaft. Be careful not to damage the CV Joints or tie rod end.
I removed the Clip from the top of the ball joint with a screwdriver and pounded on the ball joint with the recommended big a** hammer until it came free.
Tomorrow I'll be borrowing the cup for pressing the new ball joint in from advance auto

A few lessons from my stupid mistakes;

Loosen the axel nut before jacking the tire off of the ground, otherwise it is tough to hold the hup in place to apply enough torque.
Don't press the ball joint out of the wheel assembley until the nut is off. I did and then discovered I had to rip the boot off of the ball joint so I could grab it with vise-grips to keep it from spinning while I got the nut the rest of the way off.