Diesel Dave 04

Is there any tricks I need to know about changing the front lower ball joints on a 2000 sable wagon? it look stright forward. One thing I do need to know is What size is the axle nut? it looks like a 1 3/16 will do it but not sure.
Thanks
Dave

jwko

Moved to the 86-07 Taurus section.

It's a bitch to do & if I had it all to do over again, I would have sent it to the garage.

The joint is pressed into the knuckle, not the lower control arm. The joint press I borrowed from autozone did not work well, the reciver tubes were the wrong size (Needed a master receiver kit). Had to make one out of some pipe which ended up tearing the boot during installation.

I do not recommend MOOG balljoints for this app, the boot is made out of a foam material instead of rubber.

The lower control arm will not swing down enough clear the ball joint stud, had to remove bolts in the arm to lower it enough.

Use red thread locker on the axle nut if you can't find a new one.

Oh, don't forget to remove the snap ring.

I don't remember the nut size, 32 or 34mm maybe.