Hey everyone, I finally got around to ordering upper ball joints w/ control arms from www.rockauto.com & they are MOOG brand! I can't wait till they come in so that I can get an allignment... FINALLY!

Brenton

 

You do know Moog makes the upper ball joints without buying the whole control arm right? It's a pain in the *** to replace them and it takes using some 3/4" drive sockets on the ball joint tool but it can be done...

 

I thought that the upper ball joints were inseperatable?

Brenton

 

Normal aftermarket balljoint dont fit the stock arm.. however most aftermarket arms.. arent as good as stock as far as adjustment....

Rand

 

Nope, Moog actually makes a ball joint that replaces it. What happened is the ball joint pushes out through the top which means you've gotta push it out from the pecker end of the ball joint which is completely *** backwards from other ball joints and if you do it wrong you'll fracture the ball joint. I was lucky enough to do upper and lower ball joints when I worked at a GM dealer because the used car department didn't want to buy the whole control arm for 140 some dollars a piece. It paid 6 hours and because of those ball joints it took every bit of 5 hours. For the bs you go through to change them it probably is just easier to buy the whole arm. Oh and a word of advice: Before you remove the old control arms if you're doing it yourself take a can of spray paint and paint over the bolts and the arms and then make comparisons when you do the new ones so it's close enough on camber and caster to even drive to get aligned. Plus if you bring it to them too far out they will sell you a cam kit for your truck to fix the alignment even though it doesn't need one.

=john=

 

I'll probably just get my truck hauled up to the place to get my allignment. And I got my upper control arms for $93 & $97, so I was pleased since Ford wanted about $147 a pop...

Brenton

 

why is MOOG so good?

i dont know anything about this stuff....

 

Well Moog is a quality name in the land of cheap imported parts...they are also
greaseable.

 

Yeh, I got the arms & joints...

Brenton

 

John, Are you saying if I am replacing the upper control arm with new ball joints that the bolts that come out of a position hole in the control arm on old ones should go back into the same position hole on the new control arm to help with alignment.

 

I have a 1998 Ranger with coil springs on the front. It only has 105k on it so not sure what to do to replace the upper ball joints. They both have cracks in the rubber seals but not sure if you can replace the ball joints only on the 3.0L V6 with the coil springs.

 

I've got a 2000 ranger 4x4. It's a 4.0... torsion bar suspension... the truck had a suspension lift kit with a drop spindle in the past. It has sat undriven for awhile..... I need help choosing parts... upper and lower ball joints. Inner outer tie rods.sway bar link bushings and wheel bearings.. that's the parts he told me need replaced.

My main question is,, I see that most upper ball joints come with the upper control arm... but since my truck was lifted I'm unsure if the control arm is stock or different now.

I see kits from Detroit axle with all I need. But I'm having a hard time finding upper ball joints that arent sold with the upper arm on it already... and when I do find ball joints without the arms, they say specifically "will not fit oe control arm"....

On rock auto some of the ball joints specify and say "2" ball joint" some dont..don't... sooo... i definitely need help ordering these parts.

 

well I don't know if anyone looks at these posts but here I am replacing upper balljoints on a '03 ranger 2.3 liter xlt front coil suspension 2w drive. And it still has FACTORY upper control arms and as I was sledgehammering the "factory" balljoint out at least i thought I was I noticed it is a three piecer & what I mean by that is that I guess you can NOT just PRESS THESE BALLJOINTS OUT OR IN unless you have the initial engineering equipment that made these stuff. in short only the ""BALLSTUD" , BEARING, & PLUG are removable from control arm. The "SOCKET" (which is where the "balljoint" (ballstud) goes in is FORMED IN THE "FACTORY" CONTROL ARM ITSELF.
So for those replacing balljoints at home and ordered from either Amazon , Ebay or RockAito. it is best to get your specifications on your end and from whatever retailer you're buying these balljoints from. (what I mean by specifications is measurements of balljoints ect.)now I gotta figure out whst to do to make something work here. thank you and good luck to all stranger Rangers out there.

 

don't know of you ordered already though I Have same exact issue here . my truck is '03 ranger xlt 2w drive front coil suspension. and I just got through hammering out the suppose stock upper left balljoint and on the left side (driver) I had replaced it about a year ago the only difference is when I ordered that one from ebay by the way. they sent one and one , meaning one for torsion bar and one for coil suspension I returned the torsion bar one, and kept the coil suspension control arm and the balljoint thst came along with it NOT on it it came separately for me to press it in. and now I have both off side by side there is not much difference BUT THERE IS . if you know what I mean. let me put it the way I was doubtful about it when first looking at everything installed on the truck,... if it looks like it's somehow one piece all of the control arm and balljoint then it's "stock" aftermarket you can clearly see the outline of where the balljoint hits the control arm . Then I guess I am wrong about the difference because aftermarket ones they do look bigger. I will try and post this reply with pictures , will do my best . if not yet ordered hope this here helps.