Ball Joints - 2000 Expedition

My I have a ’99 Ford Ranger pickup and a 2000 Ford Expedition, both with just over 70,000 miles on them. The Ranger went to the shop for an alignment after getting 4 new tires. Both of the old front tires were wearing down on the inside edge of the tread. The shop mechanic said we needed new lower ball joints and an outer tie-rod end (all 4 shocks had been recently replaced). I was doubtful due to the relatively low mileage of the truck, but the mechanic says Fords are famous for lousy ball joints. Looking at the front tires of my Expedition, they are wearing on the inside edge as well. Is my mechanic right? Neither vehicle drifted, wobbled, or shook driving at any speed but the tire wear is obvious.

Yes, Ford Trucks are notorious for poor quality or weak suspension parts. >:

I have a 1997 Expedition and I have replaced all the front end bushings and ball joints. All bushings that I installed are Eurethane (Energy suspension). The ball joints I installed have grease fittings. The factory ball joints are not greaseable, so they wear fast. I would insist the ones that you have installed also have grease fittings. I also replaced the tie rod ends, pitman arm, idler arm (steering components) and the steering box (I damaged that one :rolleyes ). New shocks, and new anti-roll bar bushings too. When I did my truck, I had the whole front end apart in the garage, torsion bars too! My wife freaked :eek , but she commended me after she drove it when I finished, she said it was well worth all my work! :rollin

But the short answer is yes, Ford has weak front end parts, even on their 3/4 ton trucks. We had a 2000 model Expedition Gov lease at work and it had 2 sets of tie rods and one set of new ball joints in 18 months.

If you have the time and money, I would replace all the parts as I did (You don't have to replace all bushings, but use quality replacement tie rods ends and ball joints), get one alignment instead of many, and have peace of mind. My truck drives better than new now. I did all the work myself except for the alignments, and it wasn't that much.

Good luck, and I hope I have helped.

I have about 120,000 miles on my 98 Expedition and was planning on replacing the following items. I was wondering since you replaced everything on your expedition if you recommended replacing anything else?

Both outer Tie Rod Ends
Both Inner Tie rod Ends
Pitman arm
Idler arm
Both Lower ball joints
Both Upper control arms

The parts I was looking at ordering are pre-lubricated high quality OE Brand aftermarket replacements with a warranty.

Thanks,

Ken

If you are taking the time to do it right, and it sounds like you are. I would use ball joints that have grease fittings (zirk fittings). You will be able to add grease periodically and prolong the life of them. Sealed, prelubricated are ok, but if they get hot or seep, you cannot add grease and will wear faster. The aftermarket pitman and idler arm will have these already.

If you haven't done so recently, make sure you check your shocks. Since you will have the front end apart, these are easily replaced. I went with the Rancho 9000 adjustable. A good shock for off road, but I would not use these again. I wish I had went with a good self adjusting gas shoch like an Edelbrock or Bilstein. I would replace all 4 if you do this. If will make the vehicle handle better as a whole rather than replacing only the front.

Be very careful removing your pitman arm from the steering box! I used the "tool" the parts store gave me, and in doing so, I damaged (read cracked) the steering box and had to replace it. I have a 4wd truck, if yours is 2wd this may not be a problem. In the 4wd, the cross member is very close to the steering box and you cannot get the correct pitman arm puller in the close tollerance. The parts store told me to use a ball joint seperator or pickle fork. All it did was put a strain on the top of my steering box and cracked the top plate causing it to leak. I would recommend you remove the steering box if the tollerance is too close, so you can use the correct tool. Make sure you put a pan under the front to catch the hydraulic fluid (power steering fluid). You may want to change that anyways. There is a small adjusting valve on your power steering pump which changes with the speed of the vehicle (speed sensitive steering). I believe my valve was hampered by old fluid.

The only other item I might suggest is to examine your bushings closely. Look for excessive cracking. These are the upper and lower control arm bushings and anti sway bar bushings. Replacing the anti sway bar are easy. Replacing the control arm bushings are a major pain. I used eurethane, and the ride and handling are very tight. Almost too tight. I hear every squeak, and feel every little imperfection in the road. Unless you really need that, I would go back to rubber bushings. If you have the 4wd, you will need to remove your torsion bars. Mine were frozen into the lower control arms and were also a major pain. If you have the 2wd, you will need spring compressors.

If you remove your upper control arms, make sure you mark the cams (alignment). You will require a full alignment when you are done. Even if you don't remove the upper control arms. When you replace your tie rod ends, measure the distance or length. Measure twice. Write it down! Then count the turns too. My turns didn't match, but the distance did. My alignment wasn't too far off, but then again, you are only going to drive it to the alignment shop when finished. Use torque wrenches, even if you have to borrow these from Auto Zone too!

Last, if you find you need to replace the bushings on your control arms, it may be cheaper and easier to buy rebuilt control arms. These will come with new ball joints and bushings.

Good luck. I was very happy and pleased with my finished product. The truck drives like new, and all the slop is gone in the steering. At times, it is almost too sensitive!

Thanks for the helpful advice and tips. It's probably going to be a few weeks before I have time to tackle the whole job on a weekend but I'll let you know how it goes.

My expedition is 2WD so hopefully I won't have to take off the steering box.

I just recently replaced all four of my shocks, so I am OK there. I ended up using toxic shocks that are designed for a 2" drop since my truck lowered about that amount. Seemed to handle a little better when I replaced the shocks.

Lately however, I've been feeling a little more play in the front end and it feels like something is loose or moves when I go over a speed bumb. My guess is a bad tie rod end or ball joint so I just decided I might as well replace everything while I am down there.

Thanks,

Ken

Well,

Finally got everthing done on my 98 expedition (2WD).
I replaced the lower ball joints, upper control arms, inner and outer tie rod ends, idler arm, pitman arm and stabilizer bar links and bushings.

Total job took about three to four hours. The only thing that got a little tricky was removing the Pitman arm and putting the new one on. Broke one of my pickle forks trying to take it off and ended up having to heat it a little bit with a torch and hammering it off with another pickle fork. Had to be careful though not to heat it too much because I didn't want to damage the seals above.

I believe the majority of my problems were bad lower ball joints but I also had missing bushings on one of my stabilizer bar links that was also part of the problem.

Handles great now that I have everthing replaced. All of my replacement parts even came with grease fittings except for my outer tie rod ends.

Got all my parts from a store on eBay for $300.00.

If you are looking for any of these parts I highly recommend
world suspension.

stores.ebay.com/World-Sus...viewQQtZkm

I ordered my parts on a Monday and had them by Wednesday.

If you don't live in florida then you could get it even cheaper since you won't have to pay sales tax.

Thanks for the help.

Ken

Glad to hear it all worked out. The truck probably drives better than when it was new!

Vincent