Hey all, I have a question. In the event of loosing my right front tire Sunday I ground up my rotor and lower control arm stud/nut. I need to replace the lower ball joint because it ground down the cotter pin with it and I don't want to loose the nut one day. How hard is it to press out the lower ball joint on a '98 F-150 4x4. I would like to hear from someone who has done this before, any help would be greatly appreciated though.

-Kelly

 

No big deal to replace the lower ball joint. I did upper and l lower last weekend. I pressed out the lower balljoints with a hand press. The upper are made on the "a" arms and you replace the whole unit.

 

Whiplash,

Just curious, did your wheel come off, or did you have a blowout? Just wondering exactly what happened.

 

I lost the entire wheel/tire assembly, pretty freaky ride, but I was more mad than scared. I just hope I don't have to remove my rear axles to put those studs in.

-Kelly

 

Whiplash do you have any pics?

 

Look at my Signature, it's all there.

 

You probably know this but they do make a ball joint tool that you can use to press the old lower joints out with. Find someplace to rent you one and it might save some time. That or you could try a large c-clamp.

 

Umm... i couldn't help noticing, but where did you get your lift & how much... the biggest i have been able to find is 4" suspention... i have a 2000 reg. cab sport, and i think 10" would look rather nice with 42" tires

 

The 10" kit os from Whiplash Performance. Have fun cramming 42's under a 10" lift though... Also 42" Super Swamper TSL's measure the exact same as 39.5's so theres really no reason to get 42's unless you go with a different brand then you will be surprised to see that a true 42" tire will not fit well.

-Kelly

 

Not only 42"s, but 44"s will fit under the truck if you have the 3" body lift. When I was having my tires installed, the shop tried to get me to go with the 44" swampers but the $400 a crack would have really hurt the pocket. I have tons of clearance with the 40"s though.

I'm back.
Snowball

 

Super Swampers 42" 6 ply tire measures 42.0". Their 42" 10 ply measures 39.4". You could fit the 10 ply's up in there pretty well actually. The body lift really helps when you want to clear big tires though.

-Kelly