2 weekends ago, my truck started making this horrible squeeking noise in the front. I was embarassed driving it because it sounded so bad. I made sure everything on the front end was tight where it was coming from. After that I injected grease into the balljoint boots with a needle that fits on the end of a grease gun. The squeek was still there so I was getting ready to bring it to a front end shop the next day. The next day.........the squeek is gone. I bought the truck brand new 2.5 years ago. I don't know if they are supposed to be greased every so often or not; but i'm pretty much convinced it's due to the level kit. Just wanted to share this and was curious if anyone else is having balljoint issues yet.

 

how many miles are on the truck?

 

probably within the next week im replacing everything in the front end. Tie rods, tie rod ends, OE upper control arms with Camburgs, lower ball joints, and stabilizer links. Ive got a hideous clunk and im tired of it, if that does not solve it lets hope the kings do...

Should i go for regular ball joints or greasable ball joints?

 

Get the zirk fittings... Not such a good idea on Fords part in failing to put the zirks on in the first place.

 

56,000 miles

 

Hmm, not sure about the leveling kit. I have an 04 that's had a leveling kit on it since 05, 92,000 miles ball joints still peachy. (I do grease everything once or twice a year)

 

The same thing happened to me around 60,000k on my 04+ and my mechanic said the ball joints that Ford uses are not that great of quality and have been known to be problematic.

 

Get some Moogs!

 

2nd that...get the HD version if available but even the non-HD's were beefier than OEM (at least for my '95 Tahoe).
I think I am heading in this direction myself before things go bad (~30k mi).

 

I was going to get the greaseable ones off summit but i just went ahead and ordered some HD spicers from rockauto.com, also picked up sway bar links and bushings, and tie rod ends. If yall could not tell im tired of the constant rattle on rough roads and the clunk when turning...

 

Leveling kits and cranked shocks suck. Keep your factory angles, you have no problems. 90k abusive miles and counting for me.

 

I am going through the same hassle you are right now. I had my lower ball joint replaced by ntb about six months ago, and it has started to squeak horribly!! I refuse to drive it around like that. I went to ntb so they could look at it, and when they expected it they of course found nothing wrong. When the guy checked it with a pry bar he believes it "set" itself back in, and the squak was gone. I drove it 120 miles yesterday, and low and behold the squeak was back. I went and bought a new grease fitting, because the injection needle wasnt cuttin" it. I greased the holy daylights out of it, and there is no more squeak for now.

 

All of my ball joints and my idler arm were replaced just before 60,000 miles on my Screw. My truck is never offroaded and only had 33's at the time. Thank god I had an extended warranty.

 

the inner tie rods on these trucks cause more clunks then any other front end part from my experiance but is almost always over looked. VERY minimal movement(not even visible) can cause them to clunk like crazy. get a buddy to shake the steering wheel and listen near the inner tie rod boot. if you hear a clunk pull hard on the tie rod and if it gets quieter its the inner tie rod.

 

does anyone even make greaseable ball joints and tie rods for the 04+ models for sure???

i looked EVERYWHERE when i put my lift on a year ago because i hate this "greased for life" crap but could'nt find any. My local ford dealer i called told me no one makes anything else for them.