hey all - need to replace my upper and lower ball joints (hopefully this weekend), and from reading know that the uppers are a one-piece unit and lowers are not. if i go all moog parts, it will cost me around $300 (to do the work myself) from schuck's/oreilly's. if i were to use their brand (masterpro), it would basically be half the cost. my question is this: would it be foolish to use the cheaper upper control arms ($58/ea as opposed to $113/ea) and moog lowers? i'd like to use moog lowers for sure, but what do you all think about mixing and matching? is that stupid - should i just bite the bullet, or does it not matter that much?
appreciate your opinions...

jack

 

If you're going to start lifting your truck...you might as well go for the Moogs. I just put Moog tie rod ends in and they are pretty nice. Do the materpros have grease fittings?

 

i do want to lift the truck in the future (year or two, maybe), and yes, the masterpros are greasable - just double checked with schuck's

 

Unless someone else chimes in...try the masterpros. I guess if they're greasable, they should work fine.

 

Wow I just ran into the same problem... kinda... My front left lower ball joint is going out (read really bad screeching noise) took it by a shop to look into it … they want $624.42 out the door with Ford parts (#6L3Z3079B) or say I could save about 25% by going with aftermarket. I believe this was for the upper and lower control arm and alignment…
Is the ball joint a one piece with the lower control arm?
And if I replace the lower do I have to replace the upper as well? ($$$ tight right now)
Would this be a standard price or an over the coals kinda thing?
I am in a 2001 F-150 4x4 Super Crew with 105k miles….

 

Shops are always high. Ford wanted 600.00 per side to change my hub bearings, Firestone wanted 465.00 to change it .. I think I changed mine for 142.00 perside with aftermarket.. Just an example...

As for Upper and Lower ball joints My upper assembly from Oreilly ( Masterpro Brand ) is 59.00 and my Lower Ball joints are like 29.00 ..

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/home.oap

 

The lower bj is separate from the lca. You can just replace the lower bjs if you want. I would keep an eye on the uppers. With the lowers being bad, it could have put additional stress on the uppers. Be prepared to hate life for a little bit when changing them out. I haven't done any on an F150, but I just did a blazer a couple weeks ago (lower and upper). It took a lot of patience.

You want to go aftermarket so they are greasable. Or at least that's my opinion...

 

thanks for the replies, guys. decided to go with the greaseable masterpros. it SUCKED. getting the front end alignment done tomorrow morning, and hopefully everything went back together well...
thanks again

jack

 

update: got the truck back from the alignment shop - they said it all looked great, didn't need a camber kit, and the truck drives awesome. appreciate the responses.

jack

 

Nothing more satisfying than getting a job done...correctly...and saving some money. Ha- I bet it's the last time you ever volunteer to touch a ball joint again.

 

any follow up on the quality of the Master-pros? i was having the same idea of moog lowers and master pro uppers