Need help with purchasing lower ball joints ....Help!!!

AmsterDutch

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Should I buy the whole knuckle and ball joint assembly which is 14mm or can I just buy the lower ball joints? 2001 Lincoln LS 3.9 V8 at Rockauto brings up 14mm ball joints for my car is this correct I thought I read in a thread a few weeks back that 2001 LS takes a smaller size also I have a nut under the ball joint does that mean the ball joints are able to come off the knuckle I just finished my outer tie rod today and saw that it would be wise to replace the lower ball joints ....anyone got some feed back?????
 
I think that in your case you should measure to see what you have.
The ball joint is pressed into the aluminum knuckle. You have to get someone that knows what they are doing to be able to press out the old one and in the new one, without stressing the aluminum. If stressed, it can suddenly crack apart later. Ford only approves complete replacement of the Knuckle.
My dust boots are shoot, and have been for a while. I'll be stuck dealing with this too eventually.
 
Thanks for the info Joegr So if I purchase the whole assembly I'll be able to swap out the whole knuckle and ball joints? As long as they measure 14mm?
 
I think that in your case you should measure to see what you have.
The ball joint is pressed into the aluminum knuckle. You have to get someone that knows what they are doing to be able to press out the old one and in the new one, without stressing the aluminum. If stressed, it can suddenly crack apart later. Ford only approves complete replacement of the Knuckle.
My dust boots are shoot, and have been for a while. I'll be stuck dealing with this too eventually.
So what I hear you saying is all 2001 Lincoln LS's have the ball joints pressed in the knuckle? Rockauto has A Mevotech complete knuckle and with lower ball joint assembly. Aftermarket of course, I have quite a bit of Master Pro parts on my LS and they are working great. Yes, I'm that guy who doesn't believe everything on my car has to be MotorCraft. After experiencing companies that make great quality parts for half the price I choose to replace Motorcraft parts but I said to much already and don't want to open that can of worms even though I probably already did.
 
All years of the LS have the lower ball joints pressed into the knuckle (on the front). The upper ball joints are in the upper control arms (front and back).
Not all aftermarket is bad. AFAIK, none of it is better then OEM, but some of it is good enough at a lower price. I don't know one way or the other in this case.
 

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