'97 Taurus GL 147k: Front Pass. Ball Joint Removal Proc

[Colt Hero]

After reading some stuff on the Web and the manual of a Harbor Freight Ball Joint Removal/Install tool (C-Clamp style #3385), I'm a little confused as to how the ball joint will be removed from my particular vehicle.

I've bought the replacement ball joint from Ford and it is circular and flat on one end with the tapered middle and threaded stud on the other end. When installed, the circular flat end sits flush with the top surface of the knuckle receptacle and the stud points downward toward the ground where it goes through the arm.

The Harbor Freight manual on their tool seems to indicate I will be both forcing out the old ball joint AND pressing in the new ball joint from the same side: the circular flat end - meaning I will be pushing downward toward the ground in both cases by exerting pressure on the flat, circular side of the joint. Is this correct? I saw other examples on the Web that seemed to indicate joints being extracted (or installed) by pressing on the stud side of the joint.

It seems reasonable to me that you wouldn't want to exert any pressure on the stud itself, as this could damage the internal joint, but I would think my joint would press IN from the top, but push OUT from the bottom.

[shorod]

Someone who's done this recently will hopefully chime in. My recall when I put new knuckles on my '98 is that the ball joints will press in from the underside and be retained by both the press fit as well as a snap ring to ensure the ball joint won't just fall out.

To remove the ball joint, you'd remove the dust boot, then the snap ring and press out from the domed side.

In both situations, the halfshaft will need to be removed from the knuckle/hub, and it would be easier to work with if the knuckle were removed from the vehicle.

-Rod

[Colt Hero]

Looking again at the Ford replacement joint, it's got a good solid 2/16" two-ply lip on the flat circular "dish" end. There's no way this thick lip slips by or through anything, so I'm guessing that install HAS to be from the top side of the knuckle (beneath the half shaft). Removal looks like I'll just have to apply pressure directly to the bottom of the ball joint stud to force it upward and out. The joint is history so I don't care if it gets damaged any further, but what if the joint was still good and I wanted to reinstall it? This doesn't appear to be possible. From the threaded stud end looking upward toward the circular "dish" end (where the lip is), there's no place to grab this thing to push it up and out until the lip at the very top! And since you could never insert a tube up into the knuckle between the knuckle and the joint, the only way to force it out is to push on the stud! I checked out Harbor Freight's 3pc Ball Joint Press kit and 14pc adapter kit, but neither has a tube deep enough for removal without bearing on the stud.

Also, I stopped by Autozone to compare the Ford joint with their Duralast joint (about the same price, surprisingly). Their joint was a little shorter in overall length (probably at least 2/16") which might be a problem when bolting to the control arm below. It looked the same on the circular "dish" end with a lip very similar to the Ford joint. It also came with a snap ring and a nut - neither of which came with the Ford joint. I'm guessing the integral "lip" on the Ford joint eliminates the need for the snap ring. Also, the Ford joint has no hole in the stud, thus it does not use a cotter pin - which I thought was strange.

[shorod]

If you were to remove the knuckle/hub/ball joint assembly from the lower control arm, then remove the rubber dust boot, you would be able to get one of the sleeves from the ball joint removal tool into the channel I think to apply force to the "chassis" of the ball joint rather than the stud. At least I think so. You'd want to clean the grease from the joint though to make sure there isn't a snap ring or similar that would get in the way of the sleeve.

I wish I had a better mental recall of what the knuckle/hub assemblies looked like when I replaced them on my '98.

-Rod

[cufarley]

You can't use the Harbor Frieght ball joint tool (or any 3in1 C-tool). It won't work. The ball joint spindle is too small to fit properly. It needs a special Taurus adapter cone part that is usually about $60.00. (OTC Taurus/Sable ball joint adapter OTC8032) You might be able to rig up some other solution with tools lying around. But...

You don't need it. Take it back. Listen to shrod. Remove the knuckle/hub/ball joint assembly. Remove the hub. Cut off the rubber boot and take off the snap ring (important if it there). Flip the whole thing over and place the top end of the strut hole on a block of wood. Step on it to secure. And use a 30mm impact socket (you needed it to take off axle nut) and start to tap the joint out. You will need to switch to a smaller socket to finish tapping out (small enough to fit through the ball joint hole, 30mm is too big).

You might be right about there being no snap ring on the original. I don't remember having one on my original, but I didn't remove the original. It might just be pressed in, but then I don't see how it was initially inserted, as the fit is pretty tight (hence the oven method in my previous post). If it won't come out at first, clean it well and throw it in the oven. It seriously does work.

[cufarley]

Colt Hero, I just re-read your post and I misunderstood. You are right. The original Ford ball joint is probably pressed in (at the factory) "up" from the control arm. The aftermarket replacement joints are pressed "down" through the hole and retained with a snap ring.

I would clean the dickens out of it. Wrap the whole thing up in foil, place it in a clean junk metal pan. Put it in the oven. Remove from oven. Pound out the joint from the top down with a socket and a long extension or breaker bar. It will need to be long enough to reach through the strut hole, since it is straight shot for both holes.

First, just make sure there is nothing retaining the "top" of the joint.

[Colt Hero]

Got the joint installed this past weekend. Used a shop press from Harbor Freight (friend's) to push the old joint out - after cutting off the joint's stud with a Dremel. It was a little tricky leveling the awkwardly-shaped knuckle inside the press to line it up. Then, I
ended up renting the ball joint press kit from Autozone to press the new joint in, but the attachments didn't quite work because they were either too short on the threaded end or too large on the flat circular end (ran into the body of the knuckle), so I improvised and purchased a short piece of galv. steel threaded pipe (2" diameter x 2.5" length) and threaded a cap on the end. This fit over the threaded end. Then I placed a 2nd cap (1.5") atop the flat circular end of the joint (to keep it from being damaged by the C-clamp) and put this whole mess of lined up pipe and caps inside the ball joint C-clamp. About 5 minutes later, the (previously frozen) joint was completely pressed in!

Thought I was 90% done at this point, but as it turned out I was just getting started. Had a heck of a time trying to get the ball joint stud to slip into the control arm. Kept forcing the arm down then at the same time moving the knuckle into position, only to come up short every time. Finally realized that if I put the hub nut back on and tightened it to draw the half-shaft inward, this would make things a lot easier. Too bad I whacked the stabilizer link off beforehand (the joints were history anyway).

So it's all back together - except for the new stabilizer link that I just picked up from Ford. Right now it's actually a safer car to drive, but it sounds worse than ever with that loose link rattling around in there. I hope I can replace this link without having to tear everything apart again! It's just two bolts ... seems like I should be able to do it ... but maybe they'll be tension from the strut? Maybe have someone sit on the fender while I do it? Or maybe there's a tool I could attach to draw the strut downward and/or the sway bar upward?

----------


Shorod and CuFarley:

There was no room to sleeve anything up into the ball joint channel. When they say the joint is "pressed in", they mean it. It's tightly in there. And there WAS a snap ring on the original, but the new Ford joint didn't come with one. I just transferred it over even though it didn't look necessary. And as I said, you CAN use the Harbor Freight tool, but I rented one from Autozone instead - but made my own attachments. You cannot use their saucer-shaped adapter when pressing the new joint in because it's too big. It ends up bumping into the body of the knuckle immediately. The 1.5" cap was the exact size of the joint's "head" and worked beautifully exerting pressure on the very outer edges where the body was strongest. Also, I DID try hammering the joint out at first, but I couldn't do it. It just wasn't budging. My friend's HB Press got it out, but couldn't put the new joint in due to the lack of clearance and improper angle. I DID pre-freeze the joint for about 3 hours beforehand, but it's questionable how much that helped. It seemed to defrost almost immediately as I struggled to line up the threaded pipe and caps inside the ball joint C-clamp. Didn't do the oven thing with the knuckle because I was afraid of deforming it (besides the problem of simply handling it).

The joint had to be pushed up and out from the threaded end (ground side) and pressed down and in from the circular cap end (half-shaft side).

Thanks for your support guys. I really appreciate it. It's like having someone there with you through the entire process...

[shorod]

I changed out the anti-swaybar endlinks on my '98 SHO with no problems getting the studs lined up. The problem I had was getting the old bolts off. They were rusted from the salt used during the Iowa winters. I started trying to hold the stud on the end with one wrench while using another to loosen the nut, but that was not easy. So I got out the steel blade with the cordless reciprocating saw and cut the studs off between the anti-swaybar and nut, then the new ones lined right up and went in easily.

If you have difficulty getting them to line up with the wheel off and the car properly supported on jack stands, you could use the jack to lift the anti-sway bar into position to line everything up, but I doubt you'll need to go that route.

-Rod

[cufarley]

Congratulations, Colt Hero. It really is a hard, crappy job to replace those joints. As you know, you can really get a major workout doing it.

Like I had said earlier, I didn't remove my original Ford joints. I took the knuckle/joint assembly to a shop (I didn't like very much), and had them do it. The shop guy informed me he had a really hard time removing them, so even with a shop press it ain't easy, but it is the correct way to go. I imagine with 147k on those joints, they are just about welded in there.

Getting the ball joint spindle in the control arm can be hit or miss. Sometimes it goes right in, other times.... I've had one just barely not make it repeatedly, and it is frustrating as hell. I guess a guy could place a jack under the engine cradle and unscrew the rear bushing bolt and let the cradle down a few centimeters. It just takes more time to do.

[Colt Hero]

Shorod:

I kind of jumped the gun with the stabilizer link. In my struggle to get the ball joint stud to drop into the control arm hole, at one point I tried to lift the knuckle up as high on the strut column as possible to give more clearance on the bottom. It looked like the stabilizer link was preventing me from doing this, so I tried disconnecting the top bolt. It unscrewed a few threads then just kept turning. I didn't realize until I bought the replacement link that you need to hold the very end of this stud with an 8mm wrench while you turn the nut with a 2nd wrench (18mm, I believe it is). So instead, I jammed vice-grips into the exposed joint (rubber cover was history) trying to hold it steady on that end. After much mangling, I finally got the top nut off. The bottom nut looks harder. It points inward with little clearance. I'll keep the jack idea in mind.

Cufarley:

Funny now, but I also tried using my racing jack with a block of wood underneath the lip of the hub, jacking the knuckle up slightly to try to gain more leverage and leeway in getting the ball joint stud into the arm hole. Not a good idea - the jack finally shot outward away from the car as it lost its leverage. Also funny was the episode at Harbor Freight. A female clerk suggested I have her mechanic husband press the joint in for me. I figured, "what the heck", so I spoke with the guy on the telephone. I must've told him 5 different ways that the joint had to be pressed into the knuckle not the arm (he didn't think so), and that I had the knuckle already removed and it was a 5-minute job for someone with the proper fittings to press in the joint. After one hold and a callback to the store, he quoted me a price of $170 plus $60 to tow the car to his garage. The guy just refused to listen to what I was telling him. I feel like calling him back at his garage to tell him I pressed the joint in myself for $5 (and I get to keep the pipe fittings).

Once again, thanks guys for your support. You've both been added to my list of trusted posters.

[Fordhcw]

The Harbor Freight 3-in-1 Service Kit #38335 is on sale for $29.99, thru Jan 13, 2009. However, I had to make special adapters for the Taurus. I used the following: 1-1/4"O.D. X 1/4" wall steel tube 2-3/4" long, 2-1/4"O.D. X 1-3/4"I.D. steel tube 2-7/8" long, 2-3/8"O.D. X #11gauge wall steel tube 1-1/4" long, (2) 1/4" X 2-1/4" flat steel 2-1/4" long, (2) 3/16" X 2" flat steel 2" long, and some washers.
I reduced the diameter of the #11gauge tube, so that the I.D. was just a little larger than the O.D. of the ball joint flange.
All of the parts were welded to create two removal and two installation adapters.
The rubber boot must be removed from the old ball joint, before using the two removal adapters.
Unfortunately, the steel tubes sizes that I used are not available at hardware stores, so you may have to find substitutes or find a steel yard which is willing to cut small pieces for a low price.

[Colt Hero]

That was the price of the kit the day I almost bought it - it's their standard sale price. Decided against buying it because it just wasn't going to be a big use item. Maybe if Autozone stops renting it, I'll reconsider.

As for the pipes, the pieces I bought came from a mega-hardware store here, but I'm sure they're available at any sizeable hardware store. Not sure what they're used for, but they looked like chain-link fence-style pipes (but even more heavy-duty). The threaded caps were slightly domed - which I thought might give me some trouble, but as it turned out it all went into the C-Clamp fairly quickly and the joint was pressed in in about 5 minutes. I also had a pipe sleeved over the handle of the 1/2"? ratchet I was using to tighten the C-Clamp, and this made pressing the joint in nearly effortless...

[Fordhcw]

On my 1998 Taurus Wagon the ball joint stud would not go into the lower control arm without using a pair of spring compressors. Due to the shape of the spring housing, there was not much room for placing the spring compressors.
I took the parts from two pairs of spring compressors from Harbor Freight and one 5/8"-11 nut, two 5/8"-11 coupling nuts, a 5/8"-11 X 12" treaded rod and some 1/2" steel to make a pair that worked. The 1/2" steel was used to make a hook which was welded to the side of a coupling nut, to form the upper hook. The 5/8"-11 nut was welded to the end of the threaded rod. Three of the small hooks, one of the threaded rods, washers and nuts from the Harbor Freight compressors were used.
To use, the lower end of the threaded rod was held fixed with a 15/16" socket wrench, while a 15/16" wratchet wrench screwed the lower coupling nut upward against the lower hook, with the upper coupling nut hook at the top. On the other side of the spring, the tool with only Harbor Freight parts was used.
The threads must be well greased. Also, this modified tool is only for compressing the spring while in the spring housing, so that the ball joint stud will go back into the lower control arm.

[shorod]

Did you try just using a pry bar between the subframe and the lower control arm to force the lower control arm down? Usually the bushings have a little spring to them and cause the lower control arm to sit higher than it would when everything's connected. I've fortunately always been able to get enough slack by prying the control arm down. It's certainly easier with two people.

-Rod

[Fordhcw]

I pushed the lower control arm down as far as it would go, but needed to go about 3/8" more. The front of the new lower control arm hit the subframe. I did not try a pry bar because it might have bent the new control arm.
Per the Haynes Taurus manual(1996-2001), page 10-4, instruction 3.6 "Slowly release the spring compressor while guiding the ball joint stud into the control arm." However, the spring compressor shown on page 10-5, Figure 5.3 could not have been used as configured with the threaded rods pointing upward. Also, only the small hooks would fit inside the spring housing and the spring had very few turns.
Anyway, why does Ford put such a rediculously weak lower control arm on the Taurus?