Tire Wear/Front End

[tehllama]

Have a 1999 with 141,000 on it, bought it with 110,000 4 years ago. Was in good condition, don't know how old the tires were at that point but they looked in really good shape. Still works great. Have a little pull to the right when going fast on the highway, and sometimes when turning at slower speeds it sounds like the tires are groaning (as in, they are tires having turning friction with the road, I guess?). Took it in for an oil change today, the mechanic had me come out and the front tires had a lot of wear on the insides. Have 6/32 left on the tires. When I asked him why this was happening, he said that the upper and lower ball joints, both inner and outer tire rods, the idle arm and pitman arm have some "play" in them and they aren't supposed to. To get replaced with Ford Parts I could buy another used Expedition of the same year, so I have a couple questions:

A) How dire is this to get replaced (Am I in danger of a sudden collapse, or can this keep going for a while?)

B) Is there any advantage to stock parts (also, the parts list has control arms and ball joint on it, but everywhere I look they typically come together, am I missing something there too?)

C) I've fixed the vacuum hoses and replaced the plugs myself with help from this forum, but that's it for my vehicle maintenance experience. How hard would it be to do this myself, and how much time? And if I do go in to replace all those items, what else should I replace while I'm down there?

 

[bedrck46]

I would suggest that you go on you tube and look at some videos on changing those parts. They are not all that had to do provided you have to correct tools to do the ball joints etc. as far as parts the last time I did the control arms and ball joints I used Moog parts Check on Rock auto for prices and also check on Moog's site for the part numbers. I would replace the upper control including ball joints as a complete unit lower ball joints can be replaced separately. After all work is done get the front end aligned.

 

[JUST4FUN]

+1 on the moog parts

 

[jammy75]

If you have the time do it your self and save the almost $900 bill i just had to get my 98 to pass emissions and insp. It was a hard lesson learned for this guy. Like quoted before go to youtube.com . Someone has been there done that. God luck!

 

[FordandPolaris]

If you have the time do it your self and save the almost $900 bill i just had to get my 98 to pass emissions and insp. It was a hard lesson learned for this guy. Like quoted before go to youtube.com . Someone has been there done that. God luck!

Do you live in Australia!?! Your truck appears to defy the laws of gravity...

 

[jammy75]

nope just missouri. still trying to figure out my phone.
Had my up a arms low ball joints and swaybar end links done along w/allignment. Plus insp.and emissions. in all was around $900. Now I have the rear end chatter. So I replaced my axle bearings and seals that were leaking only to find out it is the clutch packs doing it. I'm getting a workout with this expy...LOL