so today after driving all around town shopping and etc, i go home to drop off the stuff i bought, and i get in my truck to backout of my driveway since i was going over my cousins house for dinner. Well when i get in and start it, i turned the steering wheel to straighten my truck out. Well i was thinking to myself as i was turing the wheel, that it was very easy to steer. Well i didn't think much of it, untill i take my foot off of the break and realized that i moved a foot and stopped. I was thinking about hitting the gas, but since my driveway is downward, usually my truck justs rolls down the driveway. So i get out to see what the hell is going on, and well my front left tire was jacked-knifed inward almost pointing straight out. Well after an inspection, i figured out it was the lower ball joint on the tie rod. well the best part is that it was bone dry. so i guess that means i need to replace the other side since it's probbly just as bad. well luckly i wasn't driving it when it broke other wise that would have been ugly. Well it got towed to my mechanic, so hopefully it's not too expensive. And sorry i didn't get any pictures, but when i get it back i will take some, since i can't really explain it that good.
Did this happen to anyone? if so how much are they? How long does it take for them to be replaced?

Thanks,
James

 

It is a common occurance . If both the upperand lower ball joints on both sides and the tie rods are replaced at a garage, it will probably run about 1,000 dollars. They will most likely need camber kits for both uppers as well as needing an alignment. I rebuilt the front suspension/steering on my 01 expy for about $500.oo, plus alignment. The Blue Oval boys quoted almost $1800.00. Make sure your mechanic gets greasable ball joints.

 

well it's only the lower ones where it connects to the tie rod. So hopefully it's not that expensive.....

Thanks

 

I think some terms might be getting confused or maybe it is me...
James-
I had a similar thing happen to me, upper tie rod mount broke free while I was doing about 20 MPH, caused a VERY bad hop, stopped quick enough and lucky I was just pulling into a parking lot at work. For tie rods and new "ball joints" for the tie rods, it shouldn't be too expensive, labor is where they get you. Check the sway bar links as well.

What Yankee is talking about is the ball joints that the steering knuckle pivots on. If you broke one of these, you'd really know as your truck would been much worse off!

 

yes, it is the upper tie rod ball joint, well i can't look at anything since my mechanic has is since i don't have time to do it myself, i guess this means i need to drive my 250 . Well i figured i would have all 4 of the ball joints replaced, the upper and lower tie rod joints? Does that sound right? And luckly i wasn't driving, because i would have **** my pants.

 

If the ball joints are original, yeah they probably should be replaced, with greaseable units. I put Moog's in mine.
Here's what I found when I pulled into the parking lot!!


Do the tie rods as well as the joints.

 

Now after i have those replaced, do i need to get an alignment?

 

Yeah, anytime you mess with the steering and linkages, you'll want an alignment done. If you are getting it done at the shop, they will probably do it for you anyway...and of course charge you for it!

 

well i'm officially pissed off at my mechanic. He called me up and told me it's all set and i just need to get an alignment. So when i go pick it up, (after he left) i looked underneath because i told him to replace both sides, well figures only one side is changed, which was the side that was broken. But what pisses me off is that i told him to change both sides, and being a mechanic should have known to change both sides. So it looks like i'm taking it to the dealership to change the other one, then have an alignment done to the front.

 

Not too long ago my truck started squeaking like all hell. Over every little bump and turn. One of my lower ball joints was bone dry and shot. I went and took it to a shop that I thought was a good place and they come back with the estimate and want to charge me like $2000 in parts and labor and replace all kinds of crap. I was a bit skeptical and def didn't have that kind of money to spend. I took it to another shop that my Uncle recommended. They checked it out and confirmed the lower ball joint was bad and I had them go ahead and replace both of the lowers cause he was honest and gave me a really good deal. Told me that everything else was fine and I haven't had a problem since. I'm really glad I got an honest opinion and didn't give those Dbags $2000. I also have the Moog grease-able ball joints now.

 

i'm not too sure what joints he put on, i didn't really get a chance to look, i just noticed he only put one on, but i'll try to look and see what he put on before it goes back in the shop for the other side

 

Before you go off on your mechanic, be sure you know where you stand! It is possible that only one side of your tie rod ends were bad. If it had caught a rock and destroyed the seal, that side would have picked up water and gone bad while the other were still perfectly good.

I say tie rod end because that *seems* to be what you're talking about, based on your description. The ball joint is the part that connects to the control arms (the big black part in the picture) from the spindle. The tie rod ends are at the ends of the rods that move back and forth when you wiggle the steering wheel.

That said, if you can't trust your mechanic, you shouldn't even consider having him work on your vehicle!

I keep seeing comments telling you to put in parts with grease fittings on them. Over the course of many, many years, on many, many vehicles, I've not seen any advantage to greasable units, and often the other way around. Especially with the extended life of oil, trying to go 6 thousand miles or more without greasing front end parts is just asking for abnormal wear. That's why Ford used sealed units when they built the thing!

Just my 2 cents...YMMV

Flagship

 

yes, it's the tie rod ends. But i'm not going to have my mechanic do them, i'm going to go to napa auto parts store and pick up the ends and do it myself. I was looking at it today since i jacked it up and took my tire off and got a clear view. I already have the fork or whatever it is called, so i'm good to go. So i found my project on monday afternoon. And i'd rather just replace both since this way i know there both new and safe.

 

ya your best bet jbracket is to do it yourself. i replaced my upper and lower ball joints (but you have to replace the whole upper control arm with the upper) and tie rod ends. It took me about a day to do it all!

 

A similar thing happened to my Bro-in-law's '97, it happened to him in an intersection. Thankfully at low speed.



Just be happy that this didn't happen to you.



That happened to me, backing out of a parking spot.