Ball joints how to

Tony8470

Registered User
I was told once that if you tug the wheel back and forth on the top you need new ball joints. And on the side you need new tie rods.

There is a clunking noise coming from the front when I turn the wheel back and forth rapidly. Had the car up and pulled back and forth on the top of the wheels and the driver side wobbled well enough to notice. I'm sure that the passenger side isn't too far off. I'm assuming I need new ball joints. So I'm going to go ahead and do both.

Messing with the suspension is something I have never been too excited about considering there is sprung weight with alot of tension from those springs. Is this something that is safe to do?

I found this write up for a how to. http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88605&highlight=ball+joint

My biggest concern here is getting whacked by a spring when I get one of those nuts off.
 
Upper ball joint come as the whole control arm assembly, $25 or so each.
As fars the lowers, I changed the ball joints once. And 60 years from now, I will stay that I changed them once. They were pretty much rusted solid to the control arm. Using a big $450 impact and ball joint press and hammer and pry bar I BARELY got them out. Just change the control arms. $60 each I think. And you get new buchings.
 
$25 for upper? They are $75 at autozone let me know if someone finds them cheaper. As far as the lower ball joints go how much do those go for at a shop installed?

Thanks,
Jerry
 
The lowers are actually easier to replace. With the suspension hanging, there's really no spring force on there, so you just take the bolt out where the shock mounts to the LCA. The spring load is kept within the coil mounts on the shock itself so there's nothing there to worry about.

Frit
 
Ebay is the place for upper and lower control arms I paid $58.00 shipped for both uppers and $60.00 each for lower ones.Good quality and man does it drive much better.Dont forget an alignment too.
 
First of all, a bad wheel bearing can also give you play at the tire, both side-to-side and vertically.

Also, you don't need to remove the springs or shocks when changing either the upper or lower control arms. To do the uppers, you will really want an 18mm ratcheting box-end wrench for the nuts inside the engine bay. For the lowers, they are not necessarily easy, because many people have the lower shock bolts rust to the sleeve inside the bushing. They can be a PAIN to get out. My solution was to get new shocks and springs (they were old anyway). Another option is to leave the LCA in place and replace the ball joint only. That's not a bad idea if the bushings are in good shape. But, based on what backtobirds said, that is no picnic either. So you may want to see what is easier. And inquire about alternate transportation for the week, just in case.

Oh yeah, and getting the lower balljoints out of the spindles can be a real nightmare as well. On my car, one side was easy, and the other was nearly impossible. It took a beefy pitman arm puller and a pickle fork and some serious exertion to get that thing out. Not fun at all.
 
Yeah I'm due for new tires anyways. I seem to go through a set every year. Still trying to figure out why? :mad: I'm gonna get all that done at once. I've also read about ball joints with grease fittings on them? Think that is really necessary?

I think I can do this myself! Hopefully....
 
I found a few suspension kits on ebay. That include tie rods and lower control arms. You think it would be a good idea to replace any of that while I'm at it?
 
Tie rod ends, you can do without disconnecting anything else, so you can do those now or wait until later. It really depends on the condition the current ones are in. The only caveat to that is that you will probably need an alignment after you do the tie rods OR the LCAs, so you might want to combine them and get one alignment. Especially, especially if you get new tires. Tires cost as much as suspension parts if not more, so you don't want to skimp and ruin a new set.

You don't really need an alignment when you swap UCAs, although it can't hurt to get it checked.
 
If your car has 150k or so on it why not just do the entire front end? Especially if you have tire wear issues. My tires were wearing even but I had noises and a loose feeling on certain roads.A car with a properly aligned front end will get better fuel economy (at least a little bit better).Bottom line is if you plan to keep it rebuild it while you are in there.
 
Ditto, rebuild the whole thing

The UCA's and LCA's can be bought assembled. replace the strut (LCA to K-member) more than likely they are shot and allow front to rear movement of the LCA (not good).
Use good spring compressors I've used the threaded rod type but they are a PITA! the strap type might work better, better to keep the spring where it's at AND in a safe condition. It's easier to clamp the springs and replace the LCA than to rebuild it, been there done that (didn't know you could get LCA assemblies at the time).

Good luck,
MikeH
 
You don't need to compress the springs on the front. When you jack the car up and leave the suspension hanging, the coil over set we have will be fully extended so there will be no force on the LCA. Just take the bolt out and away you go.

Frit
 
If you do want to take out the front strut/spring assembly, it can be removed as a unit without any danger of flying springs. To do so - Jack the front of the car up and support on jackstands. Place the jack under the lower control arm and raise it enough to make contact and relieve a little pressure. Mark the position of the spacer under the three bolts holding the upper shock mount to the tower so you can reinstall in basically the same position. Loosen the upper three bolts holding the upper ~~~'y mount to the shock tower. Remove the lower bolt at the control arm. Now remove the three bolts at the top. The ~~~'y will now be loose. Lower the jack a little at a time and as the ~~~'y drops it will clear the shock tower. A little wiggling and turning and it'll slide out.

As long as you're in there, might as well rebuild the front. It's easier with all the stuff out rather than ripping it apart several times.

All these cars take is time and patiences - oh yeah - and a few $$$$$.

Good luck.

Mark
'95 SC 5spd
 
what all does a "front end rebuild" consist of? I was planning of replacing my UCA/LCA's - anything else I should go ahead and get done?

Is this a good deal here?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/89-9...727|39:1|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

then just get the LCA's...

I was planning on going to www.rockauto - I am not sure what all I need aside from control arms (anyone here think certain brands are better then others, or just go with the cheaper spicer brand?) - I was planning on getting my car aligned, so I figure I should go and do this first...
 
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what all does a "front end rebuild" consist of? I was planning of replacing my UCA/LCA's - anything else I should go ahead and get done?

Is this a good deal here?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/89-9...727|39:1|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

then just get the LCA's...

I was planning on going to www.rockauto - I am not sure what all I need aside from control arms (anyone here think certain brands are better then others, or just go with the cheaper spicer brand?) - I was planning on getting my car aligned, so I figure I should go and do this first...
Inner and outer tie rod ends and sway bar links and you have pretty muck rebuilt it if you replaced all the control arms.
 
what all does a "front end rebuild" consist of? I was planning of replacing my UCA/LCA's - anything else I should go ahead and get done?

...

then just get the LCA's...

I was planning on going to www.rockauto - I am not sure what all I need aside from control arms (anyone here think certain brands are better then others, or just go with the cheaper spicer brand?) - I was planning on getting my car aligned, so I figure I should go and do this first...

Do NOT buy Spicer RED. Spicer GOLD might be ok, but the RED is cheap for a reason. I had end links from that brand, and they wore out FAST.

My brand choices are:
1. TRW
2. Motorcraft
3. Moog
4. NAPA
 
so I assume it is worth just doing a complete front end rebuild then? Anyone here try the "kits" they have on ebay? It would seem buying the parts indivudally would end up costing an arm and a leg... I do get somewhat of a discount at the Ford dealer... would it be best just going this way? Thanks guys!
 
I wouldn't say it's too expensive to buy individual, good quality parts. Motorcraft uppers are $55 each at RockAuto. Moog lowers are $61 each. All control arms - $232. Assuming you need all the strut rod bushings, that's about an extra $120 for Motorcraft (nothing else matches exactly). Good quality end links are about $40 each, so $80 more. Tie rods are pretty cheap - about $35 each, so that totals $140.

So you can replace every bushing and ball joint on the front end for $572 plus your own labor. I know that's a lot for some people, but consider that you will probably only do this once for the life of the car. I mean, it went 100,000 miles on the originals!

If you want new shocks and shock mounts, that adds some cost, but yours may still be okay. Even so, that should be about $300 in parts, plus the shop labor to get the springs swapped over.
 
well its been awhile since I looked under there, so I am not sure what all parts I need anymore - I know the upper/lower control arms need replaced. The car has about 70k on it, so I don't know what condition the other parts are, but I am going to get an alignment, and figured if anything is bad, now is the time to replace it... once again - spending way too much $$$ on her!!! Mine as well get her an engagement ring while Im at it... hahaha
 
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