OK, so I have a squeak in my front end on my 98 F-150 4x4. I determinded it's the lower ball joint. I buy a Haynes manual and follow it. Try to remove the torsion bar, yah, it's not coming out anywhere near as easy as the book says it will. But I got it all loose. Say screw it, remove the sway bar and shock, press ball joint away from steering knuckle, proceed to lift it out of the knuckle so I can begin removing it from the Lower A Arm, it's not gunna let it out past the CV Axel. I'm like WTF ! Tried removing the whole A Arm as a whole with the ball joint, no go. Tried to remove the CV Axel with hand ratchet, POS is on there harder than crap. Thinking about going to my other house to get my air tank. Anyone have any incite on this before I start kicking the hell out of my truck? Thanks!

 

I just went through this on my '97 2WD. I couldn't get the ball joint out of the lower control arm either.

Pay someone the $250.00 labor change for both lowers and just get it over with. When it's done, you'll know it was worth it.

 

The lower balljoint is pressed in as a part of the control arm, you have to replace the control arm. You're looking at around $120 for each part, but look around at salvage yards, preferably recycling type places that insurance companies send totaled vehicles to, they pull parts and box them and sell them for much less than Ford would charge you for one, at least 50% off. It doesn't matter if it's used, just make sure the shocks mounts are in good condition, and the ball joint studs are in one piece, it's hard to wear out a piece of metal, if you can get it used.

-Kelly

 

You do not have to replace the whole lower control arm.
This is the case if it were the upper arm only.
The ball joint has a keeper in the control arm that has to be removed and then ball joint should come out fairly easily.
I replaced mine with moog parts about 3 months ago.
All I had to do was remove the ball joint from the spindle
assembly and I had plenty of room to work.
hope this helps.
PS, I hope you didn't go to the trouble of removing the torsion bars and other crap the manual tells you.

 

Well, yes and no. I removed the adjuster nut from the torsion bar, but i could never get the thing out. It's pretty well stuck in the lower control arm. I unbolted the lower control in hopes to be able to clear the CV shaft easier, but still no luck. The ball joints right there, just a matter of CM's before it goes out, but still no go. Guess I'll go beat on it today. See what happens. I want my truck back!

 

OK, scratch all that. Here's what I got right now. I've got everything apart from the lower A-frame other than the torsion bar (still can't get that SOB out) and the A frame loosly attached to the frame itself. Balljoint press is on and we've pressed the hell outta it. I'm talking 225+lb guy pulling on the press. We've heard a lot of cracking but we have no clue where it's coming from. I put the clip up to the balljoint and it still fits. Any advice? Thanks!

 

Have you tried putting any heat on it. That sometimes helps alot.
And maybe alot of rustfree.
Mine came out fairly easy at 88,000 miles.

 

Yours may have come out easy at 88K because it was worn. Ford says the balljoint is part of the control arm.

-Kelly

 

OK, you're gunna laugh at this, but promise to laugh with me and not at me. Remember the whole press problem? Well, turns out I put the wrong cup on it, so the balljoint stud wasn't going through it. Basically, we were pressing the ball joint into itself! So yah, we wore ourselves out, heard a bunch of cracking, took a break and gave it all we had to get the press back off. Needless to say I realized what I did as soon as we saw the big dimple in the balljoint. ROTFLMAO! So, after hooking the press up right, she came right out. While I was at it I cleaned up the CV shaft housing, re-greased it, had the rotors turned, new pads and shocks. I've got my truck back! Woo hoo! As for "the lower ball joint is an intrical part and must be replaced as a whole unit", that's the biggest crock of crap I ever read. Someone needs to go kick the ***** outta the guys who make those Haynes/Chilton manuals. Oh well. Now I'm a little wiser about my truck and I saved some $$$ in the process. Now, to go play with those torsion bars for a little added lift! Thanks to all who helped! I appreciate it! BYE!

 

GetInMyTruck, I am having the same problem you had, and Idon't want to pay $400-$500 for a shop to do it if I can do it myself. If you don't mind, please post the steps you took to do this job. Also, what makes these things go bad? Is it normal after 110,000 miles? Thanks for any input.

 

OK, I'll try. Here goes...

1. Remove wheel
2. Remove ABS cable braket from spindle (otherwise noted as the steering knuckle in shop manuals)
3. Remove calliper, calliper bracket, and disc.
4. Get a puller. Mine I rented from AutoZone. It's called a 2/3 puller. You can convert it into 2 or 3 arms. You need only two.
5. Hook the puller up to the cross member of the truck that holds the end of the torsion bar. There's a dimple in the retainer. Hook you puller up so it's pushing on the dimple. Tighten untill you can see the retainer lift from the little rectangle nut the comes through the cross member and has a bolt running through it. Be careful here, you have a lot of tension on the bar right now. (I've heard you can skip this step, but I'd imagine it's a little more difficult and dangerous with it in. It's up to you.)
6. Remove the bolt that runs up into that rectangular nut. Take out the rectangular nut and slowly release the puller.
7. Now the book says remove the bar, but I could never get mine out. I guess if you want to, go ahead, otherwise, leave it be.
8. Remove the lower bolt on the shock and detach the sway bar/dog bone from the lower A-frame
9. Attach you puller (still 2 arms) to the spidle to where it's pushing on the end of the lower ball joint. Of course, you need to loosen the castle nut that's on the end of it.
After this, if you have the same problem I had, it's not clearing the CV axle. This is where it gets a little harder. You may be wondering why, but this is what I HAD to do to get the ball joint out.
10. Temporarily put the wheel back on and lower that side of the arm so the tire makes contact with the ground. Just enoph to keep it from spining.
11. Remove center hub nut. This involves and cotter pin, saftey nut and a 35MM (huge!) nut.
12. Unbolt the three bolts that are around the CV axle. They are crap to get off by hand, but it can be done with a breaker bar. If you have air tools, USE THEM!.
13. Slip the front wheel (with the lug studs on it) out and bag it quickly to prevent dirt getting in it. You might as well clean all that stuff up anyway and repack it with grease. Wouldn't hurt it if you have 110,000 miles on it.
14. Compress the CV axle into itself. You should be able to set it off to the side for time being. Now you can slip out the lower A-frame/balljoint assembly from the spindle.
15. Remove retainer clip on the ball joint and get your balljoint press (one designed for a 4 wheel drive) and press that little booger out.
16. Now pressing it in is another story. I didn't have the press designed for a 4 wheel drive, but I image this is what it had in it. If your press is anything like mine that I got from AutoZone, the biggest collar is too tall. You do not want to be pressing the ball joint in by it's stud! You need one medium collar under it follwed by the cup that fits in the dimple of the press. You're pressing up. But you also need another medium collar on top follwed by the other cup. If you're is like this, just go back to AutoZone, tell them what's going on and they should let you borrow the medium collar out of another press set. They did at mine.
17. Reassembly is in the reverse of disassebly. Just make sure there's plenty of grease in that 4 wheel section of the spindle.

Note that this is for a 4x4. Not a 2x4. Good luck! Hope that could help!

 

Thanks
If anyone has any other info, please share it.

 

Replaced lower ball joints last year.
The torsion bars were a pain. used a lot of wd-40 a long piece of pipe and a BFH!

 

Why didn't Ford put grease fitting in those ball joints? My ball joints began to squeak about 30K miles, but the dealer said they were still tight and they wouldn't replace them under the warrenty over a noise issue. I proceeded to go to the parts store and get a needle greaser (a large metal needle with a hole through the center and a grease fitting on the end), poked it through the boots and injected grease with a grease gun. Within 100 miles the sqeaking quit. Now I grease them about every 6,000 to 8,000 miles and they are still in good shape at 97,000 miles.

 

I wasn't so lucky with the grease gun and needle bit. Tried to grease ball joints and winded up squirting grease out the conncetions of the hose. Tightened them up, then winded up busting the top off the grease gun. After a messy fight with it, I try again and fitting busts off the grease needle. Got so pissed I threw the now broken needle over the hill and kicked the grease gun around for 10 minutes. Worked on the truck all day and stayed half way clean al day and then had to fight with the grease gun for the last 30 minutes of my day. I said screw it let'em rot out (the balljoints) for all I care. I guess the hole in the needle was to small for the grease gun to push the Valvoline Syntec through it. The handle was mighty tight to push down with the needle on it.