So the other day, I had my upper and lower ball joints replaced. I took it to a mechanic and he said that on my truck I had to replace the upper control arms. He couldn't replace just the ball joints. Now, I am nowhere close to having the knowledge of a mechanic, but does this sound right to any of you?

 

the upper balljoint is attached to the upper control arm

 

you know I had someone try to "replace" the upper joints... had a good laugh when the truck was towed in and I found out why...

 

It does, and I forget the why. My brother in law repaired the same thing on my 00 a few years ago. I am positive that the mechanic is not lying to you. Wish I could give you the technical terms...I do know that he is a Chevy freak, and he just said, "that how Ford makes them."

 

yep it sux too, not cheap and you have to have an alignment after you replace them.

 

my wifes old 96 Explorer was the same way, to replace the upper ball jpints I had to replace the whole upper control arm. way to go Ford, great design there

at least the replacement I got from NAPA had grease fittings

 

well if you got a 250 and up... then you would have the separate uppers (no control arm) and lower ball joints...

 

Since I graduated to an '06 F350 have 'neglected' at least looking in on here

The OEM F150 upper control arms at least thru '03 (and I believe beyond as well) require that you replace the entire assembly. If you plan on keeping the truck, this is advantageous as new MOOG's have replaceable ball joints plus are greaseable. The OEM uppers are a lot easier to replace then the OEM lowers that require at least one BFH, a "C" press and a pickle fork. The one drawback of replacing the uppers is that you absolutely need a front end alignment ASAP after doing the job - a $50 to $75 add-on. An item that your front end guy will 'love' you for is a $20 MOOG Part # K8740 Cam Bolt Kit for the upper arms.

Dave

 

Is the moog cam kit # K8740 the part for 2 and 4 wheel drive?

 

I'm sorry but 27 months later - no idea.

Suggest that you look on the Rock Auto website:http://www.rockauto.com/

They also have good pricing

Dave W

 

I have a 2000 f150. According to my Haynes manual: Both the upper and lower ball joints:
The balljoint is an integral part of the lower and upper control arm and cannot be replaced separately.
They are saying that to replace the lower balljoints, you must replace the lower control arm too.
Is this true?

 

the lower ball joints are seperate from the lower control arms so the only thing you have to do is pop them out and press in the new ones. the uppers though you have to replace the whole upper control arm but they come with the ball joint.

 

correct