ckyguy68

Front left side squeeks like crazy, and lately the car has been pulling to the left while cruising. When i start from a stop, i hear a slight clunkish noise come from the front end. Ball joint? If so, how easy is it to do?

primetime5.0

lol i just started a thread about this like 2 days ago, look for my name

FiveLiterRiceEater

if you wanna make sure its a ball joint, jack up the front end and grab your tire in the 12 oclock and 6 oclock position and move it in and out. if you feel a lot of play then you probably got a bad ball joint. its been so long since i did a ball joint on one of these i cant even remember if its easy. probably have to grind some rivets out but maybe not? i dunno.


as for your pull, 95% of the time pulling is caused by tires. check the psi, and look at the wear on the tires. if you feel everything is ok, pop the ball joint in and get a 2 wheel alignment

7upedition

do you rock it from top to bottom or push/pull them together in an in and out motion? where are the ball joints located?

Hawk

Fox body mustangs only have lower ball joints. If your car is pulling it could be a number of things. If the ball joint is bad it could be seizing up (a common sign is if the steering wheel won't center). In terms of checking them, jack up the car, disconnect the tie rod end, and try to move the wheel (left to right) and just listen and feel. If you hear loud grinding, or the tire wont go left to right without a fight, your ball joints might be bad. (You can also pull the tire and take a look at them. If you see a lot of rust or the grease cap is shot, its probably time to replace them.) Replacement ball joints are cheap, $32.00 a piece at your local parts store, but I would recommend doing both sides at the same time. In terms of install, the ball joints are located on the lower control arm. You have to disconnect the tie rod, and to get the lower control arm to clear the rear dust shield behind the rotor, so you will have to take off the caliper, then the rotor. You will probably also have to unhook the sway bar to allow the lower control arm to drop enough to remove the lower ball joint. Then you can unthread the lower ball joint. Just be careful as the lower ball joint is the only thing that holds the lower control arm in place at this point. Therefore, make sure you have a car jack under the lower control arm to keep the spring from just blowing out at you. The ball joints themselves are pressed in, so to get them out you will need a trusty BFH (Big F***** Hammer). Just beat them out while supporting the control arm. Then just repeat in the opposite order to install the new ball joints. The good news is, aftermarket lower ball joints will come with a grease fitting (Why Ford OEM's don't have one I will never know). But this will allow for you to grease them to help maintain them. Once in your steering should be smoother. You might also have to get an alignment so watch your tire wear and also see if the position of your steering wheel in relation to dead center has changed. Then just make sure you pump the brakes a couple of times to reset the calipers and you should be good to go.

(Did I mention I just replaced my lower ball joints this past Saturday.)

spyder90

if you get a haynes or chilton manual, all it says to do is replace the a-arm. so dont do that

TGSXR

I"ve been trying to do mine for the last hour... how the heck do you get the ball joint out of the control arm? I've been beating on it with a hammer, I tried heat... everything.

Help?

preciousroy

rust penetrant and a bigger hammer

TGSXR

She is soaking.... I'll keep trying.

Just to be sure, they come out the bottom, right? So I am hammering on the top side....

correct?

tmajikman

yep, let it soak a while so the penetrating oil can work.