Ball Joints

[squeak93]

So I replaced my driver side front lower ball joint last night. It was really worn out upon inspection.

Now my issue is that I have a TON of wheel movement now. If I stand perpendicular to the wheel/car and reach inside the fenderwell, I can grap the opposite side and pull towards me, It has at least an inch of movement. Now everything was torqued down and NOTHING is loose. I even took it back off and checked all the bolts. Now the car drives ok, steering is very responsive, it no longer has that nasty metal to metal shudder everytime I hit a bump on the d/s front.

So what do I do now? It does not look safe, but the car feels good. I am not sure what to do. I've replaced ball joints quite a few times and have never ran into this before.....

Anyone?

 

[squeak93]

BTW: This is up and down movement. I used the cheapo autozone brand.... Do I need to buy the moog one?

 

[hotcobra03]

balljoints

the wheel should not move when checking for any loose front end part....yes some ball joints have a wear indicator and the movement is minimal....we had a gm break a lower ball joints while at 65mph..not a good feeling,than it broke 2 weeks later, the post of the ball joint must be tight in spindle taper or damage will happen..dont risk it,,,as so if ball joint was pressed out of lower arm and thats where its loose,,,very common,,metal of the control is soft...its always better to buy new lower control arms...the lower control arm bushings cant be check without removing spring pressure ,,most are loose they take a beating.. on the gm ,when we took off the spindle and turned it over ,the inside where the post sits had acouple of bumps and goughs that was stopping the post from completely snugging and the post were snapping off..goodluck

 

[owen02gt]

any type of suspension components i get from ford just cuz advance is F$$$ing retarded. so definately go to ford for that cuz any other brand will definately cause you problems.

 

[Killa]

I think advance auto part or autozone having sell on moog product.

 

[squeak93]

When i got the old one out I inspected the lca thoroughly before I reinstalled the ball joint. I've replaced them many times before and have never had an issue like this. I'm assuming that the ball joint i bought was just a pos and I need to go out and replace it with a moog. (didn't read that moog was the only way to go on sn cars till I already had this one in).

 

[hotcobra03]

after market parts

beware of parts.... borgwarner.sealed power.trw.moog perfect circle,carcraft.beckardly..most of these all have the same part inside of box but priced different..when buying parts any open box is most likly wrong on the inside..fwiw im a ford twin-I beam specialist...now they have ball joints but had king pins before..im not much on the cars but remember others having problems with ball joint being loose when pressing into lower arm on ford products.....you say it moves up and down by hand or is that with a bar under wheel lifting up/down..also all the manufactors have web sites that you can go into specs on the parts and check with caliper for sizes being off

 

[squeak93]

I can move the wheel my self with the car on all 4's on the ground. I can reach inside the wheel well, grab the top of the tire and pull. Get about 1-2 inches of movement. It DID NOT have this even with the trashed factory ball joint. Just made noise when hitting bumps. So now, I guess i'll pull out the ball joint and try another. The moog's are the only ones I can find any info on being as good as the factory bj's. (I said bj's)

 

[hotcobra03]

top of wheel

it sounds like the strut is loose...the lower ball shouldnt be affected buy pulling on top of the wheel.with being on the ground..you need to put a jack under the lowercontrol arm as close to the wheel as you can,lift wheel off ground,and than try moving wheel..

 

[squeak93]

Where would the strut be loose? Up top? The cc plates are tight, the lower two bolts/nuts are as tight as I could make them.

 

[hotcobra03]

loose

my guess would be those 2 big bolts...before cc plates. we would longate the holes to move strut back for caster ,,than on camber thier is option on a cam bolt and wedge kit ,,it goes where those 2 big bolts go..than when on alignment rack,bolts are left loose to move camber settings...its the only thing that i can remember that would move,,unless you wheel is loose..go back into moogs web site..the ball joint is k8749..cambolt is k90476 and the wedge is k80059...search that site for tech notes..i use motorcraft MCS104226 is what i found for the number

 

[hotcobra03]

noise

hey squeak,,,should have asked about the noise before working on the ball joint...2 very common noises that are heard when hitting bumps that sound like the car is falling apart...brake pads are 1..the other is a 2dollar part and is always over-looked...just think about where road shock goes after hitting the wheel?

 

[squeak93]

I got it figured out. It WAS the strut after all. Replaced those and it drives like butter. (needs aligned obviously). Thanks for the help!

 

[hotcobra03]

good job,,,