Replacing Front Ball Joints and Control Arm

[Akexpedition]

I'm fairly new to working on vehicles, so I would like to know how difficult is it to change the upper control arms, lower ball joints, and maybe the outter tie rod ends on a 2007 expedition limited. Is it just un bolt and replace everything or would a wheel alignment be required after installing? Should anything else be replaced when rebuilding the front suspension? I was thinking about buying one of the following kits off of ebay:

Mevotech Control Arms Lower Ball Joints Tie Rods Ford F150 04 13 Expd 07 13 | eBay

of this one:

Moog Control Arms Lower Ball Joints Ford F150 2004 2013 Expedition 2007 13 | eBay

Let me know

thanks

 

[bedrck46]

Its not that hard of a job However you may need some special tools that can be loaned from Advanced auto or Auto zone. Check on youtube for videos on how to do this or go to 1Aauto and check for videos on their site.

 

[GaryH2]

I think you will also need an alignment (or at least a check) if you replace the ball joints. I had that done last year and I seem to recall and alignment was needed.

 

[FordandPolaris]

Be wary of aluminum lower control arms. We could not get the lower ball joint to separate from the aluminum arm in my folk's 04. We ended up replacing the entire lower control arm on both sides despite having a ball joint press and very big compressor... Otherwise its basically unbolting and beating the old parts out, then bolting the new ones in. An impact wrench will help immensely though.

If you replace everything, it will most likely need an alignment done since it is very hard to get everything back to the way it was just by eyeballing. Trust me, we tried... and failed...

On my truck, the upper ball joint controlled the camber adjustment, so you could replace the lower ball joint and not need an alignment. It was the opposite in my dad's 04, where the lower control arm adjusted camber, so the upper ball joint could be replaced without an alignment. I am not sure about the 3rd gens, but I would suspect it follows the pattern of the 2nd gens. I think the idea was to avoid an alignment by allowing the lower control arm to stay in place since the ball joint presses out of that one. As I mentioned before though that did not work in our favor.

Tie rod ends are an automatic alignment no matter what. As far as what brand to go with, everyone rags on Moog cause apparently they manufacture their parts South of the border now and consequently are not as durable. I have beat the sh*t out of my Moogs since they went in about 2 years ago and are no worse for wear, so that brand has my vote personally. They are well known for making a good product and I would buy from them again.

 

[Akexpedition]

Thanks for the replays guys, i think I'll just order the moog parts and bring the vehicle to a mechanic shop. If i'm going to be replacing the upper control arm and lower ball joint, should I get the tie rod ends replaced as well?

 

[FordandPolaris]

Thanks for the replays guys, i think I'll just order the moog parts and bring the vehicle to a mechanic shop. If i'm going to be replacing the upper control arm and lower ball joint, should I get the tie rod ends replaced as well?

Personally I would. If the ball joints are bad, the tie rod ends are not too far behind. May as well only have to have it in the shop once vs twice. Plus that would mean two separate alignments if you don't do them together.

 

[Bradley Haase]

For a temporary bandaid on my 2003 expedition eddie bauer 4×4, can I pull a used lower control arm from a wrecking yard?