97 mountaineer

I have a loud sound coming from the front, when i hit a bump, it sounds like my shocks are not there and the wheels are about to fall off. I've already replaced the shocks all around, and am not sure what else it could be. any ideas please let me know
thanks
again, 97 mountaineer-5.0-AWD

Have you confirmed that nothing is loose in the front suspension such as ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, and lugnuts? If all is tight and the noise is still present I'd start with replacing the anti-sway bar end links (even if they appear to be fine) and if that doesn't fix it, then anti-sway bar bushings. Neither are very difficult to do. If the end links are in bad enough shape you may need a reciprocating sway to get the old ones out.

-Rod

anyone know how to replace the ball joints on this mountaineer? wondering if there are any extra steps since it is AWD. The local repair shop wants to charge me over $1000, and that is crazy. I have a rough idea on how to do it, but wondering if there is anything important that i may need to know.
Thanks.