Ball Joint Replacement

Have You Driven Your Ford Lately?

I am posting this information with hope that it might help others who are experiencing the same problem I had. If you find it of good use, please drop me an email to let me know. Please read the disclaimer at the bottom of this document.

my email: kzahorec@neo.rr.com

my homepage: http://home.roadrunner.com/~zahorec/

Forward

I bought my 1997 F150 back in late 1996 from a dealer in Bedford, Ohio. It is a big red XL with an extended cab. The solid bright red color makes it look like it could be used for an emergency vehicle. The vehicle has been treated very well over the years. No off-road or extreme use, only highway and city driving. My F150 has about 75000 miles on it—very low mileage for its age.

Problem described:

I was experiencing squeaking in the front end and some stiffness in the steering column. The steering in the vehicle just did not have that smooth controlled feeling that I expected while cruising down the road.

Possible solutions:

My first thought was that the problem might be that some of the steering linkages might be dry and in need of grease. I greased all linkages that had a grease fitting, which helped somewhat, but some stiffness and a minor squeak remained. My next thought was that the ball joints may be worn.

I also checked the shock absorbers by jumping on and off of the front bumper and watching the vehicle recover. Testing both sides, the vehicle suspension recovered immediately with no bounce. Although the appearance of the shocks is less than desirable at 75000 miles, they do seem to be working well--perhaps another time for new shocks.

Problem identified:

To check the ball joints, I jacked up the vehicle and placed it on Jack stands. I jacked some tension off of the front control arm on one side to relieve spring tension in that control arm assembly. This was done by placing a jack directly on the base of the shock absorber and raising it slightly. This raised the tire, which was already off the ground, just a bit higher.

By prying a little, with a shovel, between the pavement and the tire I was able to detect considerable play in the upper and lower ball joint. I had my friend pry up and down with the shovel while I placed my hand on the upper and then lower ball joint to check for excessive play. This is a very easy test to perform and should be done regularly, perhaps once a year. It should also be done if you have experienced a severe driving impact at one or both of the front wheels, such as from an accident, or from hitting a large pot hole.

If you live in an area that experiences winter snow plows, thawing and freezing, and tons of salt applied to roads, then you know what I am talking about when I say “pot hole”--these babies can swallow most of wheel on a car or truck. The resulting damage is immediate and can be extreme in some cases. Most of the time they are filled with water, so you never really know how deep they go until you actually hit one. During late winter and early spring, drivers erratically weave left and right as they go about their way trying to dodge the next encounter—less they end up at the repair shop $$.

What I did to solve the problem:

The first thing I did was to get to Auto Zone and purchase new ball joints. On the F150, according to the service manual, Ford recommends that the entire upper and lower control arms be removed and replaced for ball joint replacement $$. I did not have to go quite that far...

Lower Ball Joints:

As it turns out, I was able to use a ball joint press to press out (remove) the lower ball joint from both lower control arm assemblies. I then used the ball joint press to press in (install) the new ball joint into both lower control arms. Being able to use the existing lower control arms saved a considerable amount of time and money. Besides that, had it been necessary to change the lower control arms, I would have had to disassemble the lower front suspension system which involves dealing with that dreaded coil spring—egads, whew! a knuckle buster, glad I didn't have to deal with that. :). Replacing both lower ball joints cost a mere $40 and took about 2 hours of my time—how can you beat that in today's grief-stricken economy?

I was able to purchase the ball joint press from Auto Zone. The Auto Zone in our area sells used, special purpose, tooling at full price with the expectation that you can buy it and return it after you have completed the work you need to do. This is a great deal because you don't have to keep this expensive tooling, which you may only ever need to use once. I'm sure it helps them sell many of the more difficult parts which require use of this tooling for installation. They let you buy it, use it, then later return it for full purchase price.

Upper Ball Joints:

I tried to do the same with the upper ball joint as the lower. I tried to use the ball joint press to remove the ball joints from the upper control arm, but I was unable to press out the worn ball joints from the upper assembly. Believe me, don't waste your time, it is impossible to remove the upper ball joints from the upper control arm assembly on a F150 using a ball joint press. As a result, I had to purchase the upper control arm assembly complete with new ball joint as part of the assembly—no big deal but just a little more costly. Both left and right upper control arm assemblies, with new ball joints intact, cost me $150 at AutoZone (Duralast w/lifetime warranty). The bright side of this approach is that the upper control arm assemblies are a cinch to replace. Replacing both upper ball joints with control arms cost a mere $150 and took about 2 hours of my time—how can you beat that in today's grief-stricken economy?

Now the vehicle steering is as smooth as silk as I drive down the road. The front end is tight and right and I feel much safer operating the vehicle. I also learned a few things and if you have read this then perhaps you have learned a few things also.

Summary:

Total cost to replace all ball joints and upper control arm assemblies is ~$190

Total time for repair work is about ~3 hours. ...Now that I have done it once and had to do it again, I'll bet I could do it in half that time. :)

Just to make myself feel a little bit better about spending my time dealing with the problem; I thought it would be interesting to find out how much money I saved by putting up with the hassle of doing it myself. I called my local Ford service center to get estimate which I included here.

What this would cost using a Ford Service Center:

labor $441
parts $420
tax $50
Total: $910 !!

Wow, that means that I saved about $720 by doing the job myself! To put this in another light, I can consider the 3 hours I spent as earning me 720/3 or $240 per hour!

Granted, it is money that I did not have to spend, but it sure helps to look at it this way. To take that just a bit further assuming that ~40% of everything earned (typical) normally goes to taxes FICA, etc...

It would be like I was earning $400 per hour at a job dealing with this problem. Hmmm, not a bad return on the time spent!

Although it would have been great to include pictures of my progress above, I really did not originally plan on posting this information so did not take pics. I can offer some graphics of the used ball joints which I pulled from my F150. As you can see, you would not want to be driving a 3000 pound vehicle around supported on these worn joints. Can you imagine what would happen if one were to fail as you were hauling a load of mulch and a couple of precious family members down the road at 60 MPH. These pictures serve as reminders that you should not assume your vehicle is safe to operate if you hear ratttling or squeaking, or feel stiffness, in the front end.

Below is the set of worn-out F150 ball joints pulled from the vehicle. Upper ball joints include the control arm assembly, which could not be separated.

Below is a closeup of the lower ball joint. This baby is seriously worn at 75,000 miles. It should have been replaced long ago!

Below is a closeup of the upper ball joint. This baby is seriously worn at 75,000 miles. It should have been replaced long ago! E-gads.. Notice the ball is visible!

After replacement, the upper ball joint and control arm look like this.

Here is the new bottom ball joint installed in the vehicle.

Below is a picture of the suspension control arm assembly showing both new ball joints (highlighted) installed and ready to go.

Disclaimer:

This is not a suggestion or endorsement that anyone perform the activities mentioned on this site. This information is provided as-is to show how I solved the problem described. Any repairs you make on your car or someone else's car are done at your own risk. The author assumes no responsibility or liability for the actions of others or the results of others actions from use of the information on this page.

In other words; You better know what you are doing before trying your own repair work. If you are unsure as to what you are doing, then you are encouraged get a qualified mechanic to perform repairs.

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kzahorec@neo.rr.com

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Document data 2009-02-28