ucbearcats

04 EB with 73,000 miles. Whenever I drive over speedbumps or even enter the parking garage to my apartment the front squeaks like a old bed. I took it to the dealership and they looked at the front ball joints and supposedly found nothing. My extended warranty runs out at 77K which they are aware of. Does anyone have any idea if it could be something else or why they wouldnt be able to find/hear the squeak

KStromberg

Your ball joints are most likely to blame and after your warranty is up they are going to try to soak you for the repair. Take it to a reputable mechanic and get a second opinion. They can put your wheels up on swivel plates(for a lack of better terms) and check for play in the joints. You can then use this as ammo against the "stealership".

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-1992 Ford F-150 (winter truck)
-1998 Lincoln Mark VIII LSC (fun car)13.591@101.72mph

greco37

I have a 96 Explorer that squeaked for a long time. It is the balljoints and on my vehicle they have no grease fittings. In addition, they are integral with the lower control arm and therefore the whole assembly must be replaced. However, a wise mechanic showed me a temporary fix from the noise: get a grease gun and attach the optional needle tip fitting to it. Pierce the joint and inject the grease and no more noise!

ramacher

My '03 aviator is squeaking as well. The rubber seal around the ball joint is gone on both the left and right side :/

How bad is it if i just keep driving with it like that? I took it to one shop and they said the entire assembly needs to be replaced.

I do the majority of repairs myself, only thing thats stopped me on this is the price of the entire assembly.

Bert

Are they the uppers or lowers? Napa and Rockauto show upper and lower balljoints without the arm but they may be replacements for aftermarket arms. Look at yours and the parts picture. That way you'll see if they can be replaced separately. If you keep driving it, check them very often to see how loose they are.

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Bert

ramacher

nice, i was looking at autozone which has the control arm and ball joint for 87.99, wasn't aware you could get the ball joint itself.

the seal on both side for the upper joints is almost completely gone, guess i need to slow it down when driving around the ranch. havent checked the status of the lowers yet.

napa has 2 for the aviator, one by napa for 46.49 and one by Master Ride chasis for 24.99

i was looking at the alldata and it shows i need a special tool which alldata calls a "c-frame and screw" but searching for "ball joint tool" i found several results. One on napa for 145, 2 on autozone for 345 and 110 and then harbor freight has a set for 39.99 and 49.99.

I'm only gonna be using the thing for this one job so i think i'll go with the harbor freight.

also when i want to install the new ball joints is at as simple as tapping them in or do i have to use the tool to "pull" them in?

SyracuseP71

Autozone and Advance will loan you tools for jobs like this where you only need it once. I usually see it refered to as a 'ball joint press' and comes as a kit that looks like a big c-clamp with a metal sleeve attachment on the top.

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2005 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor

Bert

Have you checked Rockauto, one of our sponsors? They give our members a discount. Look in the sponsor section. That tool can be borrowed for free at Autozone and you don't have to buy any parts there.

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Bert

jwko

I'd go for the complete control arm for the new bushings (which can squeak) already installed.

ramacher

wow, been shopping at autozone for so long and never even knew they loaned out tools!! guess you learn a new thing everyday huh?

well rockauto.com has several ball joints ranging from $14 to $50... now got to decide which one to choose :/

Whats funny is the cheapest one, made by auto extra, has a blue anodized metal cone over it instead of a rubber boot. What do you guys think? there are 2 by mevotech, 2 by moog, and one by raybestos. I've only heard of moog and raybestos.

you think i'll be fine by going with the cheapest one?