My 1996 f150 2WD was pulling to the left and I was driving all the time compensating. I took it to the local tire shop for alignment, and was told I need new tires (steel showing) and driver side upper and lower ball joints, then alignment.
I read through the post on how to replace ball joints (I am not going to try this myself-looks like new tools alone will not offset the repair cost and at least have to know what might go wrong) and found one post that lists some of the problems of bad ball joint but pulling to the side was not listed.
Is this just a omission on the poster's part? The mechanic did say that there was too much play in the tires.
After the check and repair estimate, I have noise from that wheel and it feels like the wheel is going over a series of small bumps (gentle thumps with a turning of the wheel). This is driving over paved road at no more than 30-40 mph. I tried on highway but the thumps and noise got worse so got off it. The mechanic says I can drive as such until the repair day which is about a full week away. I can travel as such if safe.
I have no reason to distrust the shop, but it is new one I'm trying.
So, having had no noise from the wheel but the pulling, does the ball joint replacement sound still ok? That is, do the ball joints have something to do with the pulling or is it just a separate problem they found? By the way, for this old car, I have just about 75,000 mi on it.
Could this be brake caliper seizing on the rotor? On rainy days, the brake (not sure front or rear and have drum on rear) seems to bite hard on the braking surface from the start of braking. Otherwise, I felt no drag or noise from the brakes.
Thank you in advance.

 

Your noise sounds like a wheel bearing to me. As for driving with bad suspension components...not me. Front wheel bearings are quite easy and relatively inexpensive and can be done with common tools.

As for the brakes..."grabbing" like you describe seems to be common on these trucks when rain or moisture is present. I wouldn't be so worried about that until your front end repairs are done.

 

Bad upper ball joints will cause a pull to on side or the other. Bad lower joints will cause the tire to "wander" and pull to one side or the other. If on side is bad the other side is not far behind.

 

Yeah the diagnosis sounds about right, loose ball joints will affect wheel alignment since they are part of the steering system. The thumping you are now hearing could be that the ball joint has further loosened up since the mechanic was playing with it, a loose wheel bearing ususally produces a more constant whine noise but can also be accompanied by thumping.

 

my truck did the same problem and it was just the ball joints
i did it myself and it really wasn't that hard
you can go to advance auto and rent the tools you need (all i needed was the a socket to get the bearing out and a press to remove and install the ball joints) and when you return them you get all your money back
i replaced the upper and lower ball joints on both sides for $60

 

Thank you all for your answers. Now I can leave the car with this mechanic with some confidence. Right now I don't have the knowledge (and never seen one done) to tear into it because it does look like I need some repairs to other parts as well, tie rod ends, sway bar links, shocks, etc. The truck has a lot of play as well when turning. The part of the repair estimate is loose ball bearing. If the car comes back with the same sound, I plan to tackle this part. Again, thank you all.

 

your brakes that you mentioned, does sound like a caliper to me. when it "bites" does it pull one way or the other? if it does, then the side it pulls to is 99% most likely your culprit. Very simple to replace, ive done it in a parking lot after a 4x4 show destroyed my caliper. while your at it do pads and rotors. rotors you can get away with without doing every time, but i personally like to so i know everything is in 100% shape. If you go against doing rotors make sure you check the rotor by checking to see what shape the rotor is in. scoring and what not. if you feel dips and the opposite of a smooth surface, spend the extra bucks to get new rotors ON BOTH SIDES. you will need a special socket to pull the rotor. kinda large and has 4 teeth at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions. this is where your wheel bearings are at as well if youd like to do them also.

Hope it helps

 

3/28/2010.......

 

nice . . . . .

 

I should really look at dates more often...