Ok well I bit the bullet and changed my own upper and lower ball joints myself. Ball Joint=(BJ)..Bare with me, this post may be long! I had my driver-side upper ball joint to make terrible noise and I decided enough was enough! I recieved two different quotes to replace the upper and lower ball joints on my 2005 f150 supercrew 4x4 lariet with 51,300 miles. The prices for everything out-the-door ranged from $600-$900, these prices made me cry inside! I installed my own Top Gun Customz leveling kit, which is the same as all other leveling kits, and had a gut feeling that there couldn't be much difference. Well first and fore most, if you can install a leveling kit on these trucks you are more than SKILLED to replace the ball joints on these trucks!! I may sound negative on the job, but overall its VERY simple. Well I searched the best I could over the internet forums with no luck retaining to replacing ball joints on our own to these newer trucks. It seemed if everyone just took the truck to a shop and never looked back, well, I HAD to once I recieved my quotes and felt like I could do it myself! By the way, I planned to do an indepth article "How to" before-hand, but once the tools/parts start flying covered in greese, my biggest concern was to take pictures for an online chatroom. (Sorry I wanted to!) So onto the process.........

1) Parts, I only decided to replace my upper and lower ball joints. Many believe that once you have gone this far and have everything apart, why not go ahead and change the tie-rod ball joint? I didn't, but it's nothing that is hard and wished I would've ordered the parts in the beginng. Ok, enough with me... On OUR trucks models 2004-2008 I was aware that you can ONLY replace the lower ball joint alone with just the joint only. The upper ball joint CANNOT be "pressed/removed" from the Upper Control Arm (UCA), this means you must buy the ENTIRE UCA with ball joint in order to replace the joint. I'll make this short...-The best parts for our truck that I came up with was MOOG. MOOG carries all BJ's that we would use and are priced very ressonable. Why did I choose MOOG? Well because of price, and mostly due to the greese fittings they have. (*A little tip* Im just helping out and have no ties to this company, therefore I'm not advertising for them, just giving a tip.) I used rockauto.com and found that this place had the lowest prices by far. The upper ball joints come assembled and ready to install on truck as the UCA is in one piece. My total for parts= $241.69. At first my price was $260.00 give or take, but I simply googled rockauto.com discount codes to find a 5% discount code (Don't ask me for it, since they changed them regularly, just google for them).

Ok lets refresh everything. My quotes were anywhere from $600-$900 from a regular mechanic to the Ford dealership. My parts that are better than stock, was a grand total of $241.69 which gives me a savings of roughly $500 doing it myself. Ok, onto the process of how to replace these bad boys.

2) Here is a list of tools and parts need. PLEASE, PLEASE understand that I DO NOT have all the parts infront of me and that I may leave a tool here or there off. Just bare with me and understand Im trying to rethink the tools/parts and how I did everything.

Tools I would reccomend (I may forget some):
+2 floor Jacks- make sure 1 is tall enough to clear tires off ground. Other is used to only lift the Lower Control Arm to adjust height with strut.
+Ratchets!
+Sockets-some NEED to be deepweld, but then again you can get by on SOME with regular. I high reccomend to have deepweld sockets on hand because you will have to use them.
+Wreches- helps to get hard to reach places.(will give sizes later.)
+Needle Nose Pliers- just good to have for carter pins that come with new BJs. Helps remove snap rings.
+Breaker bar/Cheater bar- gives leverage to undo/tighten bolts.
+Shop light- must be able to see as I worked to the wee hours in the am.
+Greese gun- fill new BJ's with greese duh!
+Ball Joint Removal tool- Go to Autozone/AdvanceAuto/Napa/etc. they will rent it to you for free. You give them roughly $100 and when you return the tool you are refunded your money fully, aka FREE!
+PB blaster/WD-40/etc.- helps free up any bolts that stick.
+5mm allen wrench- removes ABS sensor from hub/rotor area.
+Torque wrench- allows you to set lbs on OEM bolts etc.
+Sledge hammer/mini sledge- I'll go into more detail later. (breaks bj free)
+Pry bar- I use a huge flat blade screwdriver, helps give leverage for re-installing the strut/coil spring assembly.
+Jack stands- Just for safety if the floor jack was to fall.
+Ratchet/Socket extensions- helps for some areas you cant reach.
+Socket sizes- (Please forgive I may leave some out). DEEPWELD SOCKETS: 7/8inch. 24mm. 15mm. 30 mm. Please understand, I may leave 1 out on accident. REGULAR SOCKETS: most tend to be metric. Just have a large supply on sockets because our trucks may be different. Have METRIC sockets from 5mm to about 20mm and you should be ok!
+Wrench sizes- I honestly want to say I only used 21mm, 15mm, and 2 more sizes that were to only use for the new greese fittings, which could be installed via pliers. YOU MUST HAVE TWO(2) 21MM WRENCHES, personally! These are used for the cam bolts, at first you may think you can use a wrench and a socket, but once that strut/coil is in place you CANNOT fit a socket in there.
+Shop towels- helps clean hands. (Somewhat)
+GoJo/any TOUGH hand cleaner- don't run to me complaining how your wife beat you up because your hands were filthy. Understand beforehand that your hand are going to get the dirtiest they've ever been mostly with greese/oil.

Parts: Understand this parts are what I personally ordered for MY truck. Your truck may be different and require different parts. rockauto.com has a VERY simple part search for your correct size. MOOG K80306. MOOG K80308. These were my UCA's with ball the ball joints installed $92.79 each. One is right side(passenger side) and one is left side(driver side). MOOG K80149 is the ball joint that is used in the lower control arm $27.79 each. You need 2 if you plan to replace both sides! These parts are cheaper than any stock/factory part plus they have greese fittings.

Ok, so these are some parts and tools that I used. I can't stress that I may have left something out, so when you get started and have to make several trips to the auto store for tools, forgive my soul for forgetting them. ALSO, you truck may be a different year/model and have different sizes. I would check to make sure you have all the correct tools before starting. Nothing makes the job worse than having to use another vehicle to go buy a tool. I covered steps 1 and 2 already and I know your ready to begin the process! Its a shame I forgot pictures, but I may take some to point out different things!

*Note that I've gone into deep detail already and Im getting bored so these next steps will be short and to the point. Ask any questions!*

3) Jack truck into air on side you want to start. Remove tire and place under the trucks frame as extra safety if the trucks was to fall off jacks.

4) Take this time to breath and look the devil in the eyes and keep telling yourself, "I CAN DO THIS,I CAN DO THIS". You will begin to ask yourself, "What the ........... have I gotten myself into!" (Believe me it will happen many many many times.)

5) I began disconnecting the ABS sensor wire. this is to the left of strut tower and goes into the hub area. Follow it back up to the fender well and you should feel the connector up ontop of the plastic fender. Feel the wire where there is a fitting. (male into female) and feel the "latch" that holds them together and simply unlatch it. Remove out of the way.

6) Where all the vaccum lines/ABS lines are held onto the frame right beside the strut tower. Remove bolt to loosen these lines so that you give them slack to not tear.

7) Remove brake caliper and set aside, be VERY careful to not let this drop or you could damage the brake lines(tear). I used some wire to hold it onto the frame. Anything will work (rope,twine,zip ty,etc...)

8) Take the rotar off and set aside.

9) Place one of the floor jacks under the lower control arm to support it and use to raise the control arm to relieve some of the pressure on parts. If you've gotten this far you are smart enough to understand my concept.

10) Raise lower control arm with jack enough to reduce pressure that is on the UCA BJ. (Make sure when you jack up, to be safe! Lifting on control arm with the pressure/weight it has on it may cause the truck to lift off the other jack, hence the reason why I suggest to use other jack stands and the tire under the truck frame incase this was to happen!!!). Proceed to partily remove the nut on the upper ball joint. DO NOT remove the nut all the way, leave it on the threads enough to withhold the weight of spindle.

11) Use sledge hammar/mini sledge/pitman arm puller/pickle fork to break the ball joint itself. Understand that once the nut is removed the spindle WILL remain fastened to the ball joint due to the joint being tapered. I personally just use a sledge hammer to "break" this taper. The constant hitting to the spindle creates vibrations that will break loose/free this connection. A pickle fork can be used since you are throwing away these joints so there is no worry on damaging the boots. Using sledge- Don't give up, you wont damage spindle hitting. Don't hit the BJ itself, hit around BJ on the spindle. Dont knock the pee pee out of it just good, solid, hard , and consistant licks will create enough vibration. *one BJ took me 30 mins to break free while the other took 5 seconds, keep hitting!*

12) Once upper BJ is free from UCA. Loosen the 3 nuts ontop of the strut tower.

13) Remove sway bar link nut. My 2005 year model has a different sway bar setup than other models I have noticed. Slacking this will allow the lower control arm to drop to a lower level allow the strut removal MUCH easier. Removing the nut may cause the entire "sway bar/strut" to rotate. There is a 15mm place to use a wrench to stop the rotating.

14) The UCA should be free from the spindle by now. Begin to remove nut on the tie-rod ball joint located by rotar area/hub. This is also another BJ and will require the taper to be "broken" in order to move the tie-rod out of the way. If you don't plan on replacing this, don't use a pickle fork, the pickle fork is known to damage the boot, which will cause greese to excape and you will have to do this all over again later. Just use a sledge and it only takes about 2 or 3 good hits to pop it out. DONT hit the tie-rod or ball joint itself, hit AROUND the BJ creating vibration to break taper.

15) On the Hub (The part on the spindle where the wheel lug nuts are). Look at your lug studs, inside of these studs you will see a circular cap looking thing. This cap covers the bolt/nut which holds the hub/rotor area to the axle. Removing the cap can be intresting and fun! All you simply do is grab the cap with a pair of pliers and "wiggle" the cap back and forth in hope for it to pop off. This cap isn't fastened special and I had to use a flat blade screw driver for leverage to work the cap back and forth. One side took a quick minute to pop off, while the other side took nearly 15 minutes. Once cap is removed you will find a small 13mm or 15mm nut. Remove this and set aside. This allows the hub to come away from the axle itself.

16) Once this is completet, look at the backside of the the hub. You will find 3 small bolts (I don't know, maybe 7mm?) and take these bolts out. All this does is hold a flange type cover over the cv boot to the hub to keep dirt out. On this "piece" you will find a hose that is composed of 2 lines connected together. These from what I understand are a vaccum line that turns the 4x4 on and off. Pull/tug lightly on this hose and it will come off easily. You will notice one of the hoses is small and other is big, just plug the back on once you are done. Its very very easy.

17) Once this is completed you will also notice another line/cable that goes into the backside of the rotor/hub area. Use a 5mm allen wrench to unscrew this and set aside. This is the ABS sensor or I believe.

18) Loosen the nut on the lower BJ. This is located on the bottom side of the lower control arm and looks just like the BJ on the UCA. Again, like the other BJ, DO NOT completly remove the nut just yet, just lossen it enough for there to be a gap between the spindle and the nut. Like before, use the same tactic to break this BJ taper with sledge hammer/pickle fork/etc. Once this is done then remove the lower BJ nut and be READY to almost catch the spindle since nothing is now connected to it. You will have to play with this step a little by pulling the axle out the hub, tie-rod, and UCA BJ while at the same time holding onto the entire spindle/hub so it doesn't fall to the floor crushing your toes. Its heavy!!!

*Lets refresh! Ok so at this point UCA BJ, tie-rod, Lower BJ, sway-bar link, and all hoses/cables should be disconnected and put aside. Now the entire hub/spindle should be free and removed from the lower control arm. Set piece aside.

*KEEP UP WITH ALL BOLTS AND NUTS! It would be awful to misplace one of these and need a replacement.

19) The 3 15mm nuts should be removed from the top strut tower by now as said in step 12. Now you have much more working room to access the lower strut bolt that is located on the lower control arm. Using a 30mm deep socket remove the nut. The nut tends to move on its own and you may not have to stop the bolt head from spinning. If the bolt tends to rotate while removing the nut, just use an adjustable wrench or pliers to stop it.

20) By using the floor jack that has been used to help control the lower control arm level height, you can go up or done in order to have the bolt come out easy. BE CAREFUL! This strut may be under alot of pressure depending on how much force you have on the lower control arm. Once bolt is removed, I SLOWLY let the jack down, this lowers the amount of pressure the strut coil has so it doesn't POP out. Mine didn't have alot of pressure, but yours may.

21) By this point pretty much all of the front suspension should be out of the way. Still use the floor jack to support the lower control arm so its not on the floor. Now you will be able to access the UCA very easily. You will see 2 bolts on either side which connects the UCA to the frame. Using the 2 21mm wrenches, remove these nuts/bolts which will allow the UCA to be removed. Toss the old UCAs away since you will never need them again.

22) On the lower BJ you will see a snap ring, remove this. By using the ball joint removal kit that you rented or may already have, remove the lower ball joint. This may be tricky and after reading the intuctions on the tool, it will be simple to understand how to work this step. Once joint is removed, clean the BJ hole and make sure no debri is in the hole.

23) Using the BJ removal tool, press your new BJ into this hole. It aint the easiest thing in the world by all means since the diameter of the BJ and hole are almost the same. Once set, place new snap ring on and insert the new beautiful greese feeting Ford should've used! I like to place the fitting facing forward so that its easier to fill with greese.

24) Now everything is pretty much done in reverse order. Re-install the new UCA with the greese fitting also installed. Do not tighten the cam bolts that hold the UCA to the frame very tight at this point or else it will be a pain trying to put the UCA into the top spindle.

25) Place strut back in, hub/spindle into the axle and lower ball joint, insert tie-rod back into spindle. Once axle is back into the hub, put the nut and cap back on. Rotate axle to make sure everything is working right. Put the 3 screws from the axle "cover" near the boot back on and insert the new UCA BJ into the top spindle. Place the 4x4 vaccum hose back on. Large hose to large nipple, small hose to small nipple. DONT FORGET THE ABS CABLE! I forgot all about this little sucker and had to remove the rotar and brake caliber to re-instal. Once ABS cable/wire is back on, put rotar back on and brake caliber. Put sway-bar-link back together. All these steps may have to be done with the floor jack to help get things to go back together. Reconnect all hoses/sensors and what not. Now go back and tighten those Cam bolts that hold the UCA to the frame. This is where the 2 wrenches come into play. If you were to only use a socket and wrench, you couldn't access this nut/bolt due to the strut being in the way. Tighten these bolts up and go back over everything to make sure everything is connected properly.

26) Torque nuts and bolts to OEM specs or specs that were given with your leveling kit. Place tire back on and lower down. Fill BJs with greese through the new greese fittings.

27) Give yourself a pat on the back, drink a cold one or few, and congratulate yourself for saving hundreds of dollars by replacing the ball joints yourself.

PLEASE NOTICE: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PROBLEMS,INJURIES, OR DEFFECTS THAT HAPPENS BY MY STEPS.

I realize I may have left some steps out or tools, but I tried my best to give guidelines. I researched hours on how to do this and could only gather information from many different vehicles and had to just tackle this myself. Hopefully I made the process a little more clear to help others. Feel free to ask any question and I may post pictures to help describe some things. Also: I am nothing more than a DYI who wants to save money, my terms I used to parts are more than likely wrong or what not so bare with me on my terms. Make sure you have an alignment done soon. I had mine done this morning and the guys were impressed with me doing it myself. Some places may need cam bolt adjusters? but my tires aligned fine without this. Thanks!

Feel free to add any info/tips and what not.

 

no pics?

 

To the OP!

Great job! Thanks for that!


Here:



Happy now?

You may not remember, but there were these things called 'novels'.
Lotsa words, no pics.
Gawd gave you (well, most of us anyway) an imagination. Use it.





MGD v5.0

 

It appears that you did not use jack stands. I would definitely include jack stands for safety and also, that eliminates the need for two floor jacks.

 

I might have worded it wrong. I said to use jack stands to ensure that the truck doesn't fall off the floor jacks. I even suggested to place the tire that is taken off to be placed under the trucks frame with the jack stands. All these are safety procautions!

You must have Perferably:
-2 jack stands for safety under trucks frame.
-2 floor jacks. 1 to lift the truck up for working height to remain. Another 1 to use under the control arm to help in raising/lowering control arm.
-place removed tire under the truck's frame near front incase any of the 4 jacks were to fail. The tire would give you a few inches to not have a smashed head.

Please add to this!!

 

Ok, that is very safe then.

 

Thanks! I plan on changing mine pretty soon. I need to get my spark plugs changed first, but then ball joints are next on my list.

 

It seems that you left out a very important step:

WHEEL ALIGNMENT After work is done.

 

Just did this job yesterday.

Here is a photo for reference...

 

great info...looks like a project for next weekend...

 

Just a question... your lower shock mount looks suspicious to me. It looks like the shock could slide from side to side? I'm not familiar with those shocks either so maybe I'm wrong. Like on my Rancho ones and factory ones the lower shock loop is tight up against both sides of the lower control arm, yours looks like it would slide and hit each side of the mount?

 

bought all moog parts from advance auto parts...(2) lower joints (2) upper w/control arms and (2) tie rod ends...
used coupon code BIG35 and BIG30 to buy online...made 4 seperate orders to use the coupon for $35 off 3 times and $30 off once...saved $135
and the total was $335 w/tax including $15 for the snap ring plier kit...
will be on it first thing Sat morning...wish me luck...

called shop to find out on an alignment and asked for a quote on the labor...
just for the labor to install my 4 ball joints was $400...plus $95 for the alignment...
even if I take off a day without pay to do this I am still money ahead...

 

Great post! Extreamly informative. Glad everything went well

Again I must say MGD your posts are always hilarious and entertaining!!

 

My truck has 98,000 on it with aftermarket 20" rims. I My ball joints have been bad for a while now, what would you guys worrie about replacing first.. ball joints? or spark plugs?

 

I now have the courage! Thanx a bunch! I have a 2004 1/2 F150 and Pep Boys just quoted me $1200 for just the right side, they said there was play in the upper BJ, probably due to going off-road.

So I'm going let them finish changing the struts and shocks ($500 alone) and I'll take on this challenge of the control arm myself.