Are these the upper or lower control arms? I thought they were the lower because the ball joints look to be pressed in, but the paper on them says "Upper"... if these are uppers, then has anyone purchased ball joints off of ebay and had those pressed into your old lower control arms? jsut wonder how well that works.
are these upper or lower control arms?
- Thread starter Gipp
- Start date
Right on the Mark
Dedicated LVC Member
Those look like uppers. I just bought a pair of the lower ball joints off ebay and they worked perfect. Just make sure you lube up the rubber boots when you press in so they don't snag and rip. Don't ask how I know. LOL
hite337
Hite Performance
ya, those are uppers. i got the ebay lower ones also and i took my lower control arms to the ford dealer and they pressed the old 1's out and the new 1's in. they charged me $20 each. i didnt feel comfortable doing it myself on a cast aluminum control arm. of course u should get an alignment afterwards if u take the control arms off. i bought a lifetime alignment at firestone for $150 and have 5 done in the last year
Right on the Mark
Dedicated LVC Member
You have to pull the hubs out to access the lower ball joints. Let me tell you mine and others are FROZEN in the steel and alum have a reaction where they like weld together. I had to air chisel them out messes up the knuckel some but just filed down and have to file hub flat too. You can't install the ball joints with a kit you rent from auto zone but you can pop them out. I made all the adapters to do mine on the car with the autozone ball joint press.
Right on the Mark
Dedicated LVC Member
Yes you can pull the knuckle off DIY.
hite337
Hite Performance
on my passenger side the wheel bearing was 'welded' in and the ball joint stud was too. thats the only reason i had to remove my lower control arm cuz the ball joint is in the knuckle. i took the knuckle and lower control arm to the dealer and let them mess with it...after i smacked on the ball joint stud for a few minutes. i removed the bearing by loosening the hub bolts about 1/3 of the way, putting a deep well socket on the hub bolts and tapping on the socket with a hammer in a criss-cross pattern. it took a few smacks but it finally came loose..