First off, let me say, what a great place for info. I have been around the different Ford forums for a lot of years. But this place has the best content..Hands down!

I have a 2000 F250 SD EXT cab XLT 4WD ESOF with V10 and 5spd stick and run Michelin tires and 210,000 miles.

I spent last weekend replacing both sides upper and lower ball joints. I had failed my saftey insection and had a big red R on my windshield. What a "fun" weekend. Big Thank You! to Racerguy for his procedure written in the tech folder. And also more thanks to those that responded to him with more info. It made the job easier. Total working time was 15 hours. About 6 hours for drivers side and all told about 9 more for the passenger side (had a few problems).

Drivers side: Had he!! of a time getting the stupid snap ring off the shaft. I know....shouldn't be hard but it was. Once off getting the hub/bearing assembly off proved to be more fun. Tried a 3 jaw puller, tapping the 4 studs with a drift, and finally just a few good whacks with a 2lb hammer did the trick. Hardest part was not knowing where the hub split off the knuckle. The rest of the removal went straight forward like in Racerguys writeup. I sprayed the upper and lower Ball joint nuts with good PB blaster penetrating oil and let sit for 20 mins or so. Even with the "juice" It took a 24" breaker bar and 4 feet of black iron pipe to get it to "break" free. I "borrowed" the universal ball joint tool from Autozone. While I had to mess around with it...eventually it did work for both removal and replacement. I used the 1-1/4" pipe pieces from the Big Orage Box store installer for the axel seal. It worked well. Reassembly was straight forward.

Passenger side: Armed with my new found knowledge from the drivers side I tackled the passenger side. First problem noted...Rotor was shot and pads were gone. Being a Sunday..I had to wait till Monday for the parts. Figured I press forward and get the ball joints done. I had better luck with the snap ring and broke the hub assembly out in about 10 minutes. I did notice the hub seemed dry inside and had some rust color in it. But it turned smoothly and seemed fine (yeah right). Replaced the ball joints with no problems. Re-attached the hub with ample greasing to the needle bearing. Waited till Monday, down to parts store for a rotor and a set of pads. Got em', and replaced the rotor. Drove the caliper pistons back with a C-clamp and ran into my next problem. The caliper slide pins were frozen. Ended up making a second trip to parts store for new caliper. Replaced that. Bled the pass side brakes and was feeling good. Drove it to work Tuesday. It felt good, nice and tight. On Wednesday I took it into the inspection station and failed again. Drivers side was tight but I never checked the play in pass side. I know...fool!! Well any way, another trip to parts store for new Hub assembly $289.00 (I'm gonna start bringing the guy coffee in the morning). Anyway..Replaced that today. Now it has no shake. Tuesday I take it back for another re-inspect. Wish me luck.

Lessons learned:
-PB Blaster needs time to work ~ 20 minutes
-Hub Assembly seperates at the dust shield.
-AutoZone loaner toll service is great,
-AutoZone pittman arm puller needs to be the largest one they have.
-If Hub assembly is dry inside...... replace it.
-When driving out the ball joints from the knuckle, remove the lower one first.
-90deg zerk fitting will clear the axel shaft u-joint on the upper ball joint.
-When ordering the Hub Assembly get 4 new mounting studs and nuts. PITA to swap over.
-Nonpaved seashell driveway hurts your knees after 15 hours replacing ball joints.
-FTE website is an amazing resource.

Thanks,
---Nailed_Nailer---

 

Welcome to FTE!

Glad that you are already finding FTE a great resource. OBTW: Stop in at the V10 forum once and a while...bunch of good folks down there too!


biz

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2003 F250 SD SC 142" XLT FX4 V10 Auto 4x4 3.73s