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I just had the upper and lower ball joints replaced on my 1995 Ford Explorer, well needles to say they did not replace the tie rods or any other part besides the joints.... Today I borrowed a friend grease gun to grease the joints (because of noise) and noticed that the tie rods that goes up and down that ties into the sway bar has play in it like it is loose I can fiscally move it up and down.. I tried to tighten it down but am unable to it will not tighten anymore... Is this normal? Is the rod supposed to have this play? TIA Steve
Thx for the reply, sorry I did not get back to you last night, I wanted to take a picture of what I am talking about because I did not think I said the correct part... So here it goes, this part as you can see is what I am talking about, it will not tighten down any further and I know this is not the way it is supposed to be, I have crawled under my vehicle many times and this is not the way it is supposed to look...
As you can see the bottom of the left side the bushing is tight again the A Frame, the right is not... Both have a gap at the top where it attaches to the sway bar.... TIA
They should be tight like the bottom one in the left side picture.
Right I agree but it will not tighten down any further.... Shouldn't the mechanic have changed out these when he replaced the ball joints? It is part of a kit... I paid the guy $600 for the work? I can get the entire kit for $150 off of eBay.... Thx again
Right I agree but it will not tighten down any further.... Shouldn't the mechanic have changed out these when he replaced the ball joints? It is part of a kit... I paid the guy $600 for the work? I can get the entire kit for $150 off of eBay.... Thx again
Normally a mechanic would not include this with ball joint replacement. But he should have told you they needed replacement.
If you already had the ball joints replaced, why buy a kit with new control arms with ball joints? From looking at the pics and what you described, the sway bar links is all that you need to replace.
If you already had the ball joints replaced, why buy a kit with new control arms with ball joints? From looking at the pics and what you described, the sway bar links is all that you need to replace.
No, I am saying that the kit costs $150 - $600 = $450 for labor which equals 7.5 hours of labor.. The links should have been replaced, I paid him to put and entire new front end on which are included in the kit, not pieces...
No, I am saying that the kit costs $150 - $600 = $450 for labor which equals 7.5 hours of labor.. The links should have been replaced, I paid him to put and entire new front end on which are included in the kit, not pieces...
Thx for your help
I understand now. Looking at the pics, it appears there are NO new outer tie rod ends, inner tie rid ends, sway bar links and possibly upper control arms installed. I wonder if new ball joints were installed..Can you post some pics of the joints?
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