My ball joints are bad, so I will be replacing them with MOOG's. I was thinking about replacing my outer tie rod ends just because they are not that expensive and easy to swap out, but they have not gone bad yet. Do you think I should replace them along with the ball joints or just leave em be since they are still in working order? I have searched on here and other websites to try and gather information on outer tie rod ends, but can't find any information regarding how long they tend to last. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Sorry I guess it would help if you knew what I was driving. See sig below!

 

if it ain't broke don't fix it. i just replaced my tie rods at 120k or so.

 

I'm not familiar with the procedure to replace the ball joints, but if it leads to having to do a wheel alignment, maybe replacing the tie rod ends isn't a bad idea. Tie rod R&R definitely does require alignment. Would suck if they crapped out soon. If ball joint changing does not require alignment, I would leave them alone.

 

Patman replaced my upper A arms and the lower ball joints today. We did not do the tierod ends as they appeared to still be good. I am a believer in not messing with something that is not broke. !22,000 miles on it. Did an alignment afterward and it drives like it did when new.

 

If you're going to do preventative maintenance, replace everything while you're in there, not just the outers. Do the inner tie rods, idler arm, and pitman arm all at the same time. Still only couple $100.

 

Thanks guys for your input on this. I will see what 4 Wheelparts say about the tie rod ends and other components when they do the ball joints next weekend.

 

Patman did my UCA, LBJ and outer tie rod ends. I went ahead and got the ends since the other items were bad. Easy to do since it was all apart anyway.

 

Stealth and Bluejay I wish I knew someone in town like you guys who could help me do mine. I'm going to have to pay somewhere in the $350 range for 4 WheelParts to do mine.

 

Hey, you're just in Austin. Take a Saturday morning road trip to Frisco and get Patman to do it. It's worth the peace of mind to know your truck is treated right by someone who cares and you can watch him do the work.

here's Patrick with my truck from last Saturday.

https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...over+shop.html

I ordered the parts from Discount Auto Parts and saved a lot of money.

 

Bluejay I would definitely do that, but it looks like he is 3 1/2 hours away from me. I just called 4WheelParts to confirm the estimate they gave me the other day which was around $300 for the labor on both the upper and lower ball joints. Now this guy is telling me it is going to be around $400 bucks wtf.... He said the lower ball joints would take an hour and a half on "each side" and the uppper about an hour and a half total. I thought the lower ball joints were a piece of cake and the uppers were a little more involved? I am thinking about doing this now myself now, but I am not sure I can take this on. I change my oil and stuff like that, but in no way am I a mechanic. For those of you who have done this before can you tell me how hard it actually is to do?

 

Hmmm....I live in Grapevine so thats only about 30 minutes away from me

 

Patrick did my upper A arms and lower ball joints and an alignment in a total of 3 hours. That was taking his time and talking a lot. had he been on the clock, maybe 2 hours. The first side took longer of course, getting out tools, etc, but he did the second side in about 30 minutes. The problem I see with doing it yourself is you really need the special ball joint press to get the old one out and press the new one in. You may be able to rent it. If you have seen it done, it is not that big of a deal, especially if you have a lift rack. If you don't know what you are doing, I can see it being a little difficult, especially using a floor jack. If it were me, I would plan on enjoying a 3 1/2 hour road trip and go see Patrick. You will save a bunch of money, meet a great guy, and know it was done right. He can do the alignment, too. I got my parts from www.discountautoparts.com and saved a lot as well. He is 1:15 from me and it was well worth it.

 

04+ trucks do not have a pitman arm or idler arm. They have rack and pinion steering.

They aren't that hard to do if you have done them before. I'm surprised there is not a how to on it. I would have made one last fall when I did my other lower ball joint (again). The book gives you 1.5 hours a side to do the lowers so that is what the shop is going to charge you no matter what.

I'm a firm believer that if it isn't broke don't fix it. I go through my front end once every 6 months, replace what is needed, and align if necessary.

 

I just did Lower Ball Joint, Upper Control Arm, Outer Tie Rods and new shocks this weekend in my garage. The passager side took me close to 8 hours on Friday, that included three trips to Autoparts stores to get the correct tools. I used the Loan-a-tool program at O'Rileys. The Ball Joint press I got did not have the correct adapter for pressing the new one into place, I need the 4WD adapter that is in another kit. I ended up destroying the ball joint. Went back and got the correct adapter and new ball joint. The new one went back in with out problems. The drivers side I did in about 2.5 hours on Sunday. This included replacing the shocks during the process.

It is amazing how much faster the job goes once you know what you are doing and have the correct tools. It is also a great feeling once the job is done and you know you did it all yourself and saved $300 dollars to spend on beer or other mods.

BTW 122K miles on my 2004 Supercrew. All the ball joint had lots of play in them. Truck is getting an alignment done right now. Can't wait to pick it up and get out on the freeway to make sure the steering wheel shake is gone.

Update: No more steering wheel shake. The alignment only cost me $40 because all they had to adjust was a slight toe-in issue.