Got it done for $680.00. Drivers side wheel bearing was replaced and new Mogg's lower ball joints both sides. Bearing was a little over $200.00. I can now grease my ball joints. Thanks for all the help.





Well over the weekend I jacked up truck and found the drivers side lower ball joint was cooked. Passenger side not as bad but needs to be replaced. Drivers side bearings are cooked also. I took truck very carefully to nearby mechanic. They quoted me $800.00 for new front lower ball joints and new bearings on drivers side. He also told me something about ABS brakes that had to be done when doing ball joints. I then took it to another garage close by and he told me call him in the morning for a quote. He also asked me if I had ABS. (can't figure out why)I do but not all away around.
? is what should this cost? I live in Massachusetts.
I'm pissed at FORD. Owned truck since day 1. Let's see broken torsion bar at 50,000, leaking back window, generator, door cracks both doors and now ball joints and bearings, drivers side power window doesn't work right. Hood had to be resprayed when new because of pitting ie: acid rain they said. Oh yea Pitman arm too. How much to have repaired? Thanks for any help. Other mechanic just called me now and said he will use Moog (spelling?) ball joints with grease fittings. He quoted me at around $600.00 to 700.00 both sides lowers only, he will let me know better tomorrow. I think I will let him do it. What's every
1 think of price? Oh Yea 97 Ford F150 4X4 4.6L

 

I've been hearin more noise than usual from my front end and was wondering about my ball joints and/or bearings.

How do you check the ball joints?

I think the bearings are ok as the wheels don't have any slop when I try to move them when up on a jack.

WT.

 

You can check the ball joints by wiggling the top and bottom of your wheel when it's up on a jack. You should wiggle it from top to bottom, if there is play then they probably need replaced. If there is play when you wiggle it from side to side, then your probably dealing with pitman/idler arm.

 

Do I jack it from under the frame ,with the wheel/ suspension hanging or jack it from under the A arm ???

 

It shouldn't make a difference. I usually just do it from the A-arm. You don't have to go up as high.

 

Thanks.
WT.

 

I had to replace my balljoints at about 50,000. The front end squeeked like crazy. My mechanic put Moog parts on mine also. I did some research on here before I let them do it and found out that the Moog stuff is quality and recommended by other people. Cost me about $700. That was for new upper a-arms (because you cant take the bushing out) and new lower bushings. You don't have to get a whole new lower a-arm. (I think I remembered that right, I might me wrong)

yea I was shocked at the price too. It sucks!!

BTW, the Moog parts are greaseable. How often should you regrease?

 

I replaced my balljoints about 2 years ago with the Moog and have greased them about once a month once again my front end is squeaking but this time it appears to be the tie rod ends which i had replaced at the saem time with MOOG parts ,looks like the tie rod ends are a pretty high maintence item just so you know though. You should NOT have to replace the upper ball joints they are not a load bearing ball joint and don't go bad very often unless you really are abusing the font end .That is what i was told by the shop that did my lowers. So beware if a shop is telling you to replace the uppers which is s ealed unit and requires the rplacement of the whole Upper A-Arm.

Richard D.

 

How hard is it to replace the lower ball joints? Is this something a normal person can do themselves? The reason I am asking is I am getting a noise from the front end. The dealer identified it as a bad ball joint shield. He said it was cracked, or something like that. They want $180 to replace both sides. It looks like it is necessary to disconnect the lower ball joints to do this repair. The parts are cheap, but I don't want to get into something over my head...

 

$600-700 sounds about right. On 97+ F150s you have bearing ASSEMBLIES, not just bearings. This inlcudes the whole bolt in housing and new wheel studs. This is the ONLY way you can get this unit, they're not rebuilable. This part alone is $200 at the cheapest. I've replaced both of them on my 97 and I've found em from $200-360 for the same part. They're also non greasable (another one of Fords brilliant greased for life ideas) The reason they have to ask if you have 4wheel ABS or 2wheel ABS is that the front bearing assemblies have ABS sensors in them if you have 4wheel or not.

Labor to do these repairs is somewhat involved. You need to tear down the front suspension to the A-arms. You need to pull the calipers, rotors, remove the spindle nut, remove the bearing assembly, then you need to separate the lower A-arm from the knuckle. When I replaced just 1 bearing assembly on my truck I estimated $400-500 for the same repair if Ford had done it. I did it for $200.

If you have the ability to do these repairs yourself you can save yourself a few hundred $$$. You could probably do the repair for $300-400 yourself.

These 2 things wear out over time, its not because Ford built a bad truck. All the other stuff you had go wrong is Fords fault, this stuff is just normal wear and tear.

 

Wow! I didn't think they cost that much. I had both of my front ones replaced around 60k miles under my ESP.

 

Save yourself some cash if you can wait and order your parts from www.rockauto.com there prices are close to half of retail and they carry name brand parts. Stick with the home delivery shipping method otherwise the shipping cost are insane.

Richard D.

 

Thanks for the great site.

 

My Ford mechanic who is also a F150 owner said in all his years he has never seen Upper ball joints go bad.

I suspected my lowers were wearing out at 40,000 but they lasted until about 80,000. The cost was about $550(about 2 1/2 years ago).

Also, I was told that you can't determine tie rod problems on the F150 until after the front end is disassembled. Don't let anyone sell you tie rods until they get into the job. They run about $25 each (I thought I remember the mechaninc saying there were 4 tie rods on each side though.)

That sqeak may be the pitman arm. Another one of Fords non-greasable parts. After 4-5 years the bearing dries out. The steering wheel gets a little harder to turn. Replace it before you blow the power steering unit. I had mine replaced in year 2000 at a cost of $250.

 

Well it looks like the Pitman arm is what is making all my noise anyone replace one of those on their own ? Looks like i will be undertaking that job next.

Richard D.