a few months ago i replaced upper and lower ball joints on my 03 2wd F150. last weekend i had the rotors off to replace the wheel bearings (additional question about tightness of axle nuts - REALLY loose, but cotter pins still in - problem?) and change brake pads. anyway, i noticed then that the bottom BJ boots (both sides) are completely jaggedly split all the way around. i remembered then that i had never greased them up. yes, i AM a moron.
so, should i try to pump them full of grease and see if any of it stays in the joint, or do you all figure the bottom BJ's might be shot by now?

thanks in advance,

jack

 

Wow, you can grease them?? Most of them you can't....like mine. But they should be fine I would say.
And about the axle nuts, I tighten mine all the way down and then back them off like 1/4 turn.

 

u forgot to grease them and now they are real loose.. they are shot.. there reallly isnt any saving them...

replacement ball joins have grease fittings, atleast ones that are worth the money have them..

 

yeah theyre definitely shot. sucks, but hey live and learn lol

 

appreciate the responses, and that's kinda what i figured. it also makes sense that my front end has felt increasingly loose and mushy. i just thought it was odd that when i first got the truck up on jacks, there was no play in the wheels (12:00 to 6:00). uppers look ok, and i don't want to replace the control arms again, so i'm gonna try and get away with just the lowers, unless this would be totally stupid.
and if i'm only gonna replace the lowers, w/o disconnecting the uppers (possible?), do i still need an alignment afterward?

thanks again,

jack

 

idk y you wouldnt want to get an alignment aftewards.. i mean unless u really dont care about your tires...

 

roger that. on a related note, as i'm gonna have to tear back into it, i would like to "shore up" my entire front suspension, and am not sure what all can be done to tighten it up and make it stronger, i guess. i know i need new shocks (only about 1,000 more threads to read before i decide which oem replacements to get...), but what about the other stuff? - sway bar end link, tie rod ends, pitman arms, idler arm, etc. how much of that should be replaced before it's broken? how much of that can have greaseable fittings - what about urethane bushings?
am i overthinking this stuff? will it make any difference at all?

thanks again

jack

 

i re did my entire front suspension.. and went with all moog parts.. they all came withgrease fittings.. wich is nice compared to the stock crap.. it really did tighten up the feel of the truck thats for sure.. but then again everything was worn out and had slop in it.. my theory if its loose replace it.. its not worth the risk of having it fail while driving and causing an accident if that..

 

illness - that's exactly what i'm talking about, and i agree with you. so what all did you buy and replace? a quick list would be much appreciated...

jack

 

Tie Rods (inner and outer)
Idler Arm
Pitman Arm
Sway bar endlinks
Balljoints

 

thanks blackedout. how often do you guys grease your greaseable fittings? also, i bought the replacement lower bj's this morning, same ones i bought last time (greaseable masterpros from o'reilly's), and noticed they already have grease in them? wtf? that means the ones i used a couple months ago did too. still wondering if this was a grease problem...

jack