so i got my new tires put on and the guy said i need ball joints, how do i figure out if their bad and how much are the parts going to cost?

 

Lift the front of the truck (make sure it is secure). Now grab the front tires and try to move them. If the ball joints are really, really bad you will be able to wiggle the tire/wheel. Since you have a 99 model, odds are they are shot. Mine were replaced at about 60,000 miles. Thank God they were covered under warranty. All four ball joints, an idler arm and installation/alignment ran up a bill close to $800.00

 

will it wiggle up and down or will it wiggle side to side or both... i don't the money to be throwing into parts that don't need to be replaced... so any info. on checkin and replacing would be tons of help... Thanks

 

With the tires up in the air if you can get them to wiggle (up & down) the odds are the balljoints are bad but be aware you could have bad tie rod ends also. I checked mine about 6 months ago by pulling the front tires and putting a floor jack under the rotor and put a little pressure on the joints and witht the wheels and tires off it was easy to see the top balljoints were worn. Since I had to replace the top ones I changed bottom also, then had a front end alignment done. Drove like a new truck going down the road then. Cost-- the bottom ones were like $70 and the top was $155 at Napa.
I picked up a press kit on the loan-a-tool program at AutoZone, deposit was $100 but you get that back when you return it. All in all it took about 4hrs start to finish. Mine is a 97' F-150XLT 2wd.