First I have NO noise or wear.

But while rotating tires i noticed a metal-on-metal noise in the front end (popping). when i shook the front tires, vertically i could hear it and see the movement in the upper ball joint. So both of my uppers clearly need to be changed...

(nice and tight horizontally)

Is this a common problem? Ive talked to a few people that say they have changed lowers due to the weight of the engine sitting on the lowers and wearing them out first, but never the uppers. And my uppers are shot!!

The lower looks fine. And i have no reason to replace. Is this smart?
I know most will say to replace all while i'm in there, but the uppers look much easier.
And i'd rather not go any deeper than i need to... this was just something i came across while doing normal maintenance.

Truck is a 99 with 101k miles. but most days it just sits...never been driven hard or off road.

Thanks for the input.
Im just putting together a plan and parts list.

 

The uppers on my 2008 wore out before the lower bjs. I replaced them a couple years back along with the sway bar links. So, there you have it, uppers can wear out first.

Recently, I did the rest. Lowers, inner and outer tie rods and coilovers. The main reason was because I wanted to do it myself, use the parts of my choice (moog problem solver) and not have to worry about having an issue while traveling and have to pay a shop 20x what it would cost me.

Up to you. You can just do the uca's, or get it all taken care of. Your lower ball joints could last a while longer, or since they have 100k and 16 years of use, could fail sooner than later. You can fix it when it fails, or be proactive and do preventative maintenance. But if it sits most of the time and is not your dd, you might not care as much.

 

If i choose to do the lowers...can i simply replace the ball joint. or do i need to replace the control arm also. The Chilton manual shows that they are not serviceable...to replace the control arm also. But i've seen allot of comments on here about removing and pressing in a new lower ball joint.

Yea, my biggest concern is i have a 14year old...and soon will be driving this beast!
May be best to refreshen the front end..

 

If you plan on letting the young driver drive the truck soon, I'd take care of anything that could cause an issue for them.

Rockauto shows the actual ball joint for sale, so they must be serviceable. Parts stores will loan you the ball joint press, fairly simple job.

I'd highly recommend moog problem solver upper and lowers. However, they have a fitting and need to be greased every oil change. They will outlast the sealed units. But if you don't think you want to deal with that, go with a sealed unit.

https://www.rockauto.com/ is a great place for parts.

 

Uppers require replacing the entire control arm, lowers can be replaced by themselves but are a pain without a press, impact wrench, and a source for heat if they're seized in place.

I did the lowers on my old 98 using basic hand tools and it took the better part of a day to get the old ones out and the new ones in. Uppers took all of 30 minutes per side. If I had to do lowers again I'd rather pay the local shop in my area the $100 they quoted me for it (with me supplying parts).

Also, don't forget to get an alignment afterward as well.

 

I believe in replacing what needs to be replaced. If you checked all of the joints correctly and the uppers are the only ones that are worn, just replace the uppers.

I'm not familiar with the 2wd but I recently noticed my 4wd needed lower ball joints, tie rod ends, idler arm, a sway bar bushings and that is what i replaced. It's easy enough to go back and replace the upper A-arm when it is needed. In my case the upper control arm does have to be replaced as a unit and it isn't that expensive. the LCA is expensive.

My Ford manual states that the lower ball joints are not serviceable and the control arm must be replaced. But, there are numerous youtube videos showing how to replace the lower ball joints and the ball joints are available.

The local auto stores loan the press needed to install lower ball joints but I bought one from Tool topia. Spray with penetrating oil and hammer it out.