I read the VERY helpful post by RacerGuy on how to replace ball joints on the 4WD. Thank you for all the great pics and detailed text. But here is my problem - What differences are there replacing the lower ball joint on my 2WD. The useless Haynes manual says that I have to replace the whole lower control arm because the ball joint is an "Integeral part of the control arm". NOT TRUE, I have the C-clip on there and can just remove it as shown in the post by RacerGuy. So what now? Do I need to remove the entire steering knuckle? compress the front coil spring? Or can i just turn the wheel, raise the truck, support it, and just press the old one out and put the new one in... I honestly can't believe something as simple as a balljoint is such a inconvience on these trucks and how they go bad so often. One last thing - I haven't bought the ball joints yet... What brand should I go with? - Where do I buy - Should I get greaseable joints or sealed? - I think thats it... any input on this rediculous task would help me greatly... Thanks FTE members.

 

I just replaced the lowers on my 97 (2WD) a couple of weeks ago.

Suspend the knuckle from the spring using wire, then pop both ball joints from the knuckle using a pickle fork.

Once the knuckle is tied out of the way, use a ball joint press (AutoZone $100 deposit or Harbor Freight - $20 purchase) to press the BJ out of the lower control after removing the C-clip.

Base your replacement parts purchase on how long you plan to own the truck. Moog M2 parts are probably among the best quality with the $16 ones from AutoZone at the opposite end of the spectrum. Your chioice...but do get the greasable ones..

The driver's side on my truck was ridiculously tight - took me almost two hours of tugging on the breaker bar 1/6th turn at a time. Passenger side was ridiculously easy after that one, only took me 45 minutes or so.

Steve

 

So im going to have to pop off both joints and the tie-rod end too... ARG... Is it a smart thing to get an alignment after this work is done on both sides, or is that not effected in this process...? - And thank you by the way for replying to my post.

 

Replacement of anything in the front end makes an alignment suggested.

FWIW, I didn't.....

Actually, replacement of the BJ probably FIXED the alignement if the BJ was really worn.

You're welcome..

Steve

 

Agreed on the BJ replacement fixing the alignment - It is so broken that the steering wheel just wobbles a bit and it tracks whatever way it wants to - different on a daily basis... Thanks again Steve

 

ordered the Moog M2's from summitracing.com, got a nice new pair of snap ring pliers and im all ready for the job... I'm going to take a lot of pics and do step by step instructions so i can post that on here for all the other 2WD'ers. Thanks all...

 

When I replaced my uppers I had to get the complete control arm.

 

Yeah, great design huh? perfectly good control arm but because of the ball joint, you have to replace the whole thing... what a waste of metal... good wall decoration when your done though... lol...

 

That's what kept me scratching my head on why it was designed that way. Is it due to ease of installation or something else.

 

Flaw,,,let us know how you get the new lowers back in...this is where much fun is to be had. i messed up the rubber seal on one side pretty bad, and of course i froze the part in our freezer for a couple of hrs before making this attemp of re-installation. for me this was by far the hardest part. one side wasn't too bad, but the other side i thought i'd never get it all the way in. And don't rely on the weight of the truck to help press it. and it will go a little past the c-clip groove, and just make dead sure the c-clip is fully seated all the way around. my .03 worth....paul

 

Today is the day... the Ball Joints are coming in via UPS. Again, I will take pictures, and write down every detail possible when doing this project. Wish me luck. And on getting the ball joints back into their desiginated hole... well... we'll see how I end up doing it...

 

Well... I'm 3 hours into the job... There is where I am at... Wheel/brakes/rotor/splash shield all off... after about 45 mins of persuation with different blunt tools, the tie rod end was going NO where. According to "Racerguy's" post on ow to do ball joints, it whould have just "poppped out with a few hammer hits around the knuckle. So i went and bought a tie rod end puller for $10, off in 5 seconds. Now, this tie rod end puller is too small to pull the top and bottom Ball Joints off... so i go buy a pickle fork another $10, for the bottom Ball Joint, but now 4 hours into the job and $90 total spent. Now i DO NOT KNOW how to get off the top ball joint out of the knuckle without using the pickle fork and destroying the whole thing, and having to buy uppers, which are FINE and I dont have the money for uppers... Can someone tell me, as my truck sits on jack stands over night looking ghetto, how do I get the upper Ball Joint out of the knuckle?! Am I going to have to find ANOTHER puller to fit the top and pull it out. Then I'm on to the almost impossible task of getting the old Ball Joint out of control arm. I now have to rent a press to get the old one out and obviously get the new one in... As I sit here writing this... I just recommend that you suck it up, save the money, and have this AWFUL job done at a shop. It also dosen't help trying to do this is no manual to help me out, caus Haynes says the the bottom Ball Joint is "an integeral part of the control arm and the whole arm has to be replaced, the ball joint itself, cannot". ummm.... WHAT?! did they look at the truck before they wrote that STUPID book? all im going by is what "Racerguy" posted under the how to replace ball joints post and just general vehicle knowledge. This is really becoming an Albatross and makes me wonder why Ford engineers actually get PAID for their design work on the trucks... Ok im done with this rant... I have taken a lot of pics, and written down all my details so far to post when I get done with this terrible job.

 

DONE! first one took me an entire day, and the second one took me 1 hour... it's amazing what you learn after doing one ball joint. My Step by Step will be up in a day or so... but it is almost identicle to the post by Racerguy at the top of this forum. The 2WD difference is the wheel bearings having to be re-packed or replaced, all the other stuff is Identicle. Much Thanks to Racerguy for saving me a lot of money by doing this myself. Total spent was the price of the Bj's and thats it about $63. If you dont have the tools, then It's obviously gonna be a lot more. Needed tools are Ball Joint Seperator a.k.a. Pickle Fork $10/ tie rod puller $10 / Torque Wrench $40-$100 / Ball Joint Press $100 / Snap Ring Pliers $10 / Grease $5 (for the bearings) / A Nice Socket Set (Obviously) $?$ / and LOTS OF PATIENCE! *** ONE ADDED THING I rented the Ball Joint Press from Auto Zone for Free... and by free i mean $100 Down, and when you return it, they give you a full $100 Refund... im sure you can rent all those other tools, but buying them is better and the'ye not that expensive. + they will have future use for other projects... I wasn't about to spend $100 for a ball joint press to OWN for doing my ball joints once... I dont plan on doing them all the time... If you have $100 to toss into a great tool though, buy a Ball Joint Press... Its an Amazing tool that relieves a LOT of Frustration.

 

Good to hear that you got it done

 

One more thing you should have bought is a $3 can of liquid wrench. It made my tie rods and all ball joints pop out. I had one really stubborn lower ball joint. I just sprayed it, ate lunch, cussed...fussed...and groaned, sprayed it again, ate a snack and pop. That stuff is great. I learned about it a couple years ago when I did my tie rod ends the first time (I drive a lot). By all means, buy a can!

Oh, btw, when I got my upr arms out, I noticed the rubber bushings at the bolt ends were well worn and cracked. I'm not sure if this why my "co-workers" at Ford specify to replace the whole arm, but I had no qualms about throwing the old ones out and putting shinny, bright and tight ones back in!


Mike-G