Does the upper ball joint press up and out of the control arm or does it press down through the control arm when removing it?

 

Ford service manual indicates control arm to be replaced with ball joint.

 

most of the OEM upper caontrol arms and balljoints are one piece. you have to replace the whole arm. does it have a snap ring on it?. I dont know what direction it comes out from. I ahve read that some people had to remove the arm so they could press in the new BJ

 

It can be changed separately and I did the other one 2 years ago. I just can't remember which is the right way. I had it backward the last time and it took 3 days to do a simple job. When I got it turned right it pressed out without any problem.

Does anyone have any idea if it presses up toward the top of the truck or down toward the ground?

 

Yes I know what the dealer manual says.

 

copy-that, 10-4, affirmative

 

What year Ranger. I just done my upper and lower on my 96 2wd Ranger

 

it's a 99. he has it in his profile........we tried to help him but he did not want to answer our questions. he just wanted to tell g_k50 that he knew what g_k50 suggested......I wonder what else the OP knows.........lets see well he would not answer the question about if there is a snap ring.......so he must know that if there is no snap ring .he would never separate the ballpoint form the arm...........what else might the Op know.......well if there was a snap ring on one side......i wonder if he know that the snap ring holds the ball joint tight........hmmmmm..........now if you take the snap ring off............hmm what might be holding the other side in............hmmmmmmmm..................

 

I missed this post. so thats why I posted the wise guy one earlier. I thought you were being rude to g_k50,........my bad. ............you should check the side(the control arm) you want to change for a snap ring. the other arm could have been an aftermarket and this side still original. if you do have a snap ring thinking logically isn't there usually a flange on one side of the ball joint and a snap ring on the other thus sandwiching the arm in between. that being the case I would press away from the snap ring side... if you buy the ball joint in advance you should be able to tell what side gets pressed out by looking at it......Moog is the best product... I changed my upper arms rotors, pads and wheel bearings all at the same time .took about 2 hours a side.....if you do have to change the arm.you have to get it aligned immediately or your tires will be trashed.......... a friendly reminder also if you make a nice profile of your truck similar to mine it helps out a lot.........eaglefixer did not know what year truck you had

 

There is no snap ring!. I have figured out which way it goes by reading my post on when I did it the last time. the only difference was that the ball joint was so bad it came out in 3 peices. IF you read any other posts on changing the ball joints in a Ranger made since 98 the first thing anyone who answers says is " the dealer manual says"! IT CAN be done without changing the control arm. Is it a bear? YUP.

 

there was no snap ring and you were able to get the ball joint out of the arm...wow...and the arm did not get trash......that is weird I would have thought the seal/weld would have kept you from doing it.....interesting

 

The ball joint is now out and there was no weld or seal holding it in. It's just like the other one was. Well its in 3 seperate pieces. Putting the new one in now. I did NOT take the control arm off. I will post pictures of the control arm still on the truck and the now 3+ pieces of ball joint.