im about to replace the lower balljoints on my 99 explorer. im not sure if the upper joint have been replaced yet and i was wondering if should choose to replace lowers and uppers should i just buy the whole arm? would it be easier. im assuming its going to be a little more expensive but it could be as much as the shop quoted me....

 

I just replaced the lower ball joints on my neighbors 99. The first side took me about 5 hours (not all at once...couple hours here, couple hours there). The other side took about 2 hours from start to finish. You can press out the lower joints from the arms. If you're doing the upper joints, you'll need to replace the whole arm. I understand some aftermarket uppers can be replaced without replacing the arms, but that's not true for the factory arms. As I recall, each joint was about 40 dollars, and I was able to use the loan-a-tool press to get the joint out. That would be a huge savings.

For me, the trick for success was figuring out that I didn't need to remove the front drive axles. Also, you must remove the steering knuckle, which requires undo-ing the upper joint from the knuckle. With rust, it's not exactly easy. Be careful while disassembling the hub. Disconnect the speed sensor to prevent damage.

Hope this helps...

 

roger that man. i appreciate the feedback. yeah im not sure if im gonna re-do the uppers. i was only told the lowers were bad. and an inner tie rod. this will be my first invigorating experience with this task. i heard it can be kinda tricky. well your post helped me alot i appreciate it Thanks!

 

Hopefully I can add a little here...

I replaced the upper and lower ball joints in my 2000 Ex. (4x4) a month or so ago. I knew my lowers were bad but, I wasn't sure about the uppers. I put a floor jack under the lower control arm and wiggled the top and bottom of the wheel and got no play. I put a jackstand under the frame (for safety) but let the jack support the truck and removed the wheel. I took a prybar and pried down on the upper a-arm and got about 1/16 to 1/8" play. That was enough to convince me to replace those as well since I was there anyway.

One other small detail: The lower ball joints I got had straight grease zerks. Since my Ex. is 4WD, I needed to get 90* zerks to be able to lube them. Otherwise, there isn't enough room to get the grease gun between the zerk and the drive axle.

Hope this helps!

 

I replaced the upper control arm and lower ball joints on my 96 4x4. It may not have needed it all, but while I had it at my friends garage with his help and his massive tool collection +air tools I just wanted to do it all. Plus, it is soooo much cheaper doing it yourself.

The main problem we had was on the first side trying to press the lower out of the control arm. The new joint did not have the same flange (bottom) as the old one, so it looked like the flange was part of the control arm. Also, the flange interferred with the press tool, so it seemed like a natural resting place for the press tool. That was extremely unfortunate. In a sense, we were pressing the joint into itself. This had the effect of mushrooming the joint into the LCA. We ended up having to impact wrench the thing out of the LCA. When it came out, it exploded, filled the garage with nearly a tear gas vapor and put a big divet in the garage floor. Luckily no one was severly injured besides not being able to hear for a few seconds.

If you see a flange, it might be part of the ball joint and not the LCA. All-in-all, it did not seem to be all that hard (with the right tools and a little patience).

 

I just replaced them on my 96 4X4 too. I wasn't sure if the uppers needed replacing but I bought them anyway. Sure enough they were bad too. Usually on these set-up's you won't know if the uppers are bad until the lowers are replaced.

If I were you I would get the uppers as well since you'll have some of it ripped apart so you won't have to get back in there again. My rule of thumb is replace one set, do the other as well to save some grief.

 

Good advice from all... I too had a problem with the flange on the lower joint. It took a few tries with the press to get it just right so the joint would come out. The problem is the formed lip at the edge of the lower control arm. There's not enough room between it and the flange of the joint for the spacer (from the press tool) to fit. I can't remember exactly what I did, but it seems like I removed the spacer and moved the joint just a little, then put the spacer in place and pressed it out the normal way.