Front end needs work 0 1997 2wd F150. Doing idler arm,tie rods, and lower ball joints, the whole shmear.
Went to ROCK AUTO and ordered all MOOG. I go to the Haynes book, and it says Lower Ball joint is not serviceable - all one unit. Has anyone replaced the Lower ball joint by pressing it out? I can't imagine that MOOG would sell a ball joint that is not removable from the Lower control arm. Can anyone shed some help here?

 

The 2wd ball joints are serviceable and yes, they do need to be pressed out/pressed in. I couldn't do it on mine so I paid a shop.

 

Thanks for the quick turn around. I have someone in mind to press them out/new in. Did you do the bushings also? How much time should I set aside?

 

The lower ones should be servisable. The 4x4 lowers are but the uppers aren't. To my knowledge the 4x2 is the same way. If you pay a shop to do it you're probably looking at $100-200 for the labor for them to tear down the front end and press in new joints. If you do it yourself the only specialty tools you need is a pickle fork (tie rod separator that looks like a giant tuning fork) and the ball joint press. The press is only $20 or so from harbor freight tools and the pickle fork is less than that.