Help me make sure Im getting everything I need...

Whats the condition of your inner and outer tie rods and wheel bearings? Theyre about the only things left that you havent thought of replacing. Just noticed my passenger inner tie rod is a little loose but Im not going to bother with it since the cars more or less parked for the winter. Now Ive been spending money on the Mountaineer....

Tie rods on our cars are ridiculously easy to change. Prices will vary on brand, naturally. I prefer Moog chassis parts, which typically run between 30 and 50 per component. Granted, if you check for play and theres none there, in theory you wouldnt have to replace any of the components. I recently priced new bearing and hub assemblies from Advance and they ran about 60 per side. Ill be replacing mine in the spring due to the fact that the car has 150K and theres enough corrosion to get an excessive runout reading, even after a thorough cleaning with a cookie wheel. Again, like I said, if theres no play... technically no reason to replace any of these components.... but if youre going with new components everywhere else, why not do it all at once? That way youll have true peace of mind that everything up front is new and performing properly. Keep in mind that when replacing the inner tie rod ends, even if you get several key measurements and count threads on removal, its likely youll still need your toe set, if not a full blown front end alignment. If your cars already lowered, Im assuming you must have gotten one at some point.

The Green GT said:

How hard is all that jazz to change?

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Changing this stuff is not hard in itself.. BUT it took me hours of trying to get my front control arms off without sucess (bolt was bonded to the bushgin sleeve) before I finally went and bought a 4.5" cutoff tool and went to town. The downside is I also went to Ford and bought $50 in new nuts/bolts for the new arms...

As stated, with our cars being 14 - 15 years old and most seeing their fair share of rain, the bolts for any of the major chassis components (A-arms, K-members, rear control arms, etc) are going to be very happy where they are. Are you doing the install yourself or having it done elsewhere? More often than not a torch is needed and then it helps to take the bolts to a wire wheel to clean up the threads.