Ford Taurus Ball Joints

[BTail]

I know, I'd rather be working on my Riv, too, but duty calls.

The driver side ball joint is failing on my wife's Taurus wagon. It looks rather straight forward based on my initial observation, but the Chilton's manual doesn't cover this job. Does anyone have any experience with this? Can you replace just the ball joint? Or is it integral to some other piece? (they like to use that one to get out of warranty obligations...anyone had a dealership replace the front wheel bearings only to find out that because they are part of a cartridge assembly, they don't get done out of warranty?). Are any special tools required (other than a ball joint removal tool).

Thanks for your help,

Nick

[bullisbm]

Most Fords you can't replace the ball joints you probably have to get a new arm.

[BTail]

I think it comes out of the control arm, but it might not come off of the hub carrier (is that the right term?) That's where the Chilton's manual is unclear.

Nick

By the way, it appears the control arms are very difficult to replace, based on what I've read elsewhere.

[bullisbm]

It should come out like any other b-joint from the hub 'carrier' I think.

It looks like the Taurus lower can be replaced alone..you got lucky..
This is a 96-06 one.

http://thumbs2.1aauto.com/SBJ/1ASBJ00029.jpg (javascript:popupWindow('http://www.1aauto.com/scripts/view_full_image.php?image_url=http://images.1aauto.com/SBJ/1ASBJ00029.jpg&description_id=668640'))

[bullisbm]

Found this,,

1996-2007 Taurus/Sable has the ball joint in the spindle, you would have to press it out with a hydraulic press or a ball joint press.<!-- google_ad_section_end --><!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

[bobc455]

I just did my wife's taurus ball joints about 2 weeks ago. I did the wheel bearings at the same time.

I had to bring the whole steering knuckle to a local mechanic who had the proper ball joint press. They charged me 1 hour of labor to do two ball joints. You could also bring the steering knuckle to a ford dealer who would probably do the swap. You can also buy the proper ball joint press tool - you'll need the expensive model that comes with the right cylinder-shaped things, it is about $420...

If you want to buy or rent a ball joint press, you can do it yourself, it isn't that hard. (Be sure to remove the c-clip first! Otherwise it's rather difficult to press out.)

The whole job is rather fresh in my memory, feel free to ask for more instructions or details!

-Bob C.

[BTail]

Cool. Thanks for the help, folks. I've got one of those c-clamp type presses with a few different sized ring adapters. Wouldn't one of those work, or doesn't it fit properly? A lot cheaper than the $400 press.

Thanks again. I remember seeing the c-clip, but I couldn't really tell what it allowed to be released.

Nick

[bobc455]

The typical c-clamp press doesn't come with the right size cylinder (sleeve?) for the Taurus. The typical kit has three cylinders, and none of them is exactly the right size. It can't be too big or too small, it has to be a cylinder designed specifically for the Taurus. That's because the edge of the ball joint is up against the inside edge of the steering knuckle.

Most well-equipped neighborhood mechanics have the right sleeve, possibly you might be able to borrow a sleeve and fit it in your clamp (maybe).

BTW in order to separate the ball joints, we wound up having to get a pitman arm puller ($15 at autozone, but you might find a better one at Sears). The usual ball joint separator wasn't thick enough to work. The pitman arm tool was slightly thicker and finally worked after a lot of bashing. (These ball joints were totally wasted so hopefully yours are slightly better and don't require as much hammering!)

-Bob C.

[BTail]

I'll probably pick up a pitman arm puller from the parts store when I get the ball joint. We don't have a Sears in town anymore, so that'll be my best bet. The seal on both joints look bad, so I figure I'll buy two of them and keep monitoring the passenger side joint.

Seeing as though the joint is bad, anyway, could a pickle fork work to get it separated from the control arm?

Nick

[BTail]

By the way, the car has 84,000 miles on it. The first wheel bearing went out at about 12,000 miles, the second one at just shy of 50,000, if memory serves me right. I figured our car was a fluke.

Nick

[bobc455]

Our Taurus has about 110k miles, so the wheel bearing doesn't bother me. Your wheel bearing problems might have been a fluke at 12k/50k.

For me, a pickle fork was the same thickness as the ball joint separator so it didn't have any extra advantage. Maybe your pickle fork is different. We needed the extra thickness of the pitman arm tool.

-Bob C.

[deekster_caddy]

Hey guys

Just to pitch in - I was helping Bobc455 with that taurus. Last time I had to remove a pitman arm we rented a true 'pitman arm puller' it was a big screw-driven cup similar in idea to a gear puller but specially made for pitman arms. This 'pitman arm puller' we got from AutoZone was just a thicker pickle fork.

They have 3 pickle forks at autozone-
small: Tie Rod end puller
thick: Ball Joint seperator
Really thick: Pitman Arm Puller

Also, the Ball Joint press we have has 3 cylinders in it. The better kits have 6 or 7 cylinders. Of the 3 in the 'normal' ball joint press toolset, one is way to big, the medium size is just a little too big and falls over one edge, and the small is... too small.

Hope this helps clear that up. Good luck, it goes back together nice and easy ;)

Don't do this - :blast: :blast: although you'll want to mid-job

Again, good luck!

-Derek (Bob's brother)

[bobc455]

-Derek (Bob's brother)... and the brains of the operation...

[436'd Skylark]

I've done thousands of ball joints in those cars. I use the handy 3 in one service kit. easist way I do it is to cut or burn the stud off the ball joint, then I use the medium cup on top, and nothing on the bottom. The install is pretty easy.

Since the spindle is alluminum you can heat up around the balljoint and the alluminum will expand enough so the balljoint will fall right out, and drop right in. Once it cools, it tightens right up. I stopped doing it like that since it was faster to do it the other way.

[TORQUED455]

I use the heat-n-beat method too on as many ball joints as I can. Sometimes I can't get them back in all the way easiliy, and then I'll use a ball joint press.

[BTail]

Well, like Derek and Bob, my 3 in 1 press doesn't have the right cylinder to press the joint out, so I had to heat and beat the old joint out of the spindle. Unfortunately, I wasn't quick enough to get the new one in before the spindle had cooled enough so that it was tight, so I pulled it in using the ball joint stud, the medium cylinder from the 3 in 1 press (it fits better on the stud side), and a couple of big washers. That part wasn't so bad.

What I had a heck of a time with was getting the spindle off the car once I had the ball joint loose from the control arm and the strut loose from the spindle. I couldn't get the control arm to lower far enough to get the stud out of it. Are you supposed to use a spring compressor to pull the strut upwards? I didn't think that was necessary, and I couln't figure out how to get my compressor onto that spring anyway. Or should the spindle slide upwards on the strut a little to get the stud out of the control arm? I ended up cutting the bottom of the stud off (under the control arm) to get the spindle and what was left of the stud off the control arm. This worked for disassembly, but I don't know how well it'll go back together. It's time for bed, now, so reassembly will have to wait till tomorrow.

Thanks,

Nick

[bobc455]

We did it with two people- one prying (I think we used an 18" pry bar) on the steering knuckle and the other one pulling the steering knuckle out. I'd have a hard time doing that with one person, but with two it wasn't bad.

Did you mark the location of the knuckle in the strut? It will help w/ the alignment (although you'll need it re-aligned anyhow).

-Bob C.

[bobc455]

BTW Kudos for being able to bang it out! We weren't able to smash it hard enough, which is why we gave up and brought it to a shop.

-BC

[BTail]

Beating the ball joint out wasn't too bad after I heated the spindle up a bit. I suppose that differs a bit from car to car. I did mark the strut and spindle to hopefully allow me to get it back together right. We'll see how that goes tonight. I'm not planning a realignment right away, as the tires were worn pretty badly (probably by the bad ball joint?), so I'll just get it realigned when I get new tires:mad: in the near future. More money I could have put towards the Riv. Curses. Actually, I might also replace the drivers side ball joint before then, too. It isn't sloppy yet, but the seal looks to be bad, so it won't be long.

Thanks for the help.

Nick

[deekster_caddy]

We did have to pry down hard on the control arm to get it low enough to clear the ball joint stud. Make sure the jack stand isn't in the way of the control arm. It took us two people, one with a really long bar in the big hold near the middle of the control arm, pushing down and out of the way of the spindle, the other pulling outwards on the strut/spindle to get it out once the control arm did get low enough.

We scribed the spindle's height and position with a centerpunch right into the metal of the strut and spindle so it would go back together in the same place (came pretty darn close I think).

I didn't hit it hard enough because I was afraid of damaging the spindle... Didn't think about heat there, oh well. Good idea!

So are you having any problem now or did you get everything together?

-Derek

[BTail]

Well, the first night I basically got everything apart and installed the new ball joint in the spindle and called it a night. I didn't get to work on it as early as I had planned tonight, so I only was able to get the spindle back into the car (mounted to the strut and the control arm). It took a good deal of prying to get the control arm low enough to clear the bottom of the stud. It doesn't seem like you should have to do that, but oh well. It took a little time to even get the seal to sit right on the joint once the arm was in place. All in all, I've got about 6 hours into this project. If I would have pryed real hard on the control arm during the disassembly, or if I had just decided quicker to cut the bottom of the stud off, I would have probably saved an hour or so of head scratching. The bearing cartridge didn't come out real easy, either. More or less, though, it seems to be going well. I should be able to finish it up tomorrow night. It's all down hill from here, I hope.

Just out of curiosity, how long has this take other people? Maybe I don't want to know.:laugh:

Nick

[bobc455]

Just out of curiosity, how long has this take other people? Maybe I don't want to know.
For us, it took two people about 8-10 hours (16-20 man hours) but that included trips to the parts store, trying to smash out the ball joints, and replacing the wheel bearings. Actually we started out with the intention of replacing both front wheel bearings, and discovered the wasted ball joints along the way.

Once we had the new ball joints installed and we were putting it back together, it was only a couple of hours. This seemed to be one of those unusual jobs where disassembly was much harder than reassembly.

-BC

[BTail]

Well, I got it done tonight. No more clunking. The whole thing took about 9 hours. I figure that's pretty close to the time Derek and Bob took, as you can really only get one guy in a wheelwell, anyway. It would have been helpful to have somebody else pry while I was getting the stud back into the control arm, that was a bit of work.

I'll have to keep an eye on the other ball joint, now, as the seal looked pretty bad on that one, too, but it wasn't loose...yet. I'll bet I can do that one in 6 hours now that I kind of know what I'm doing.

The bearing doesn't really have to come out to change the ball joint, does it? I wondered about that after I had already removed it. You'd have to be careful heating up the area of the spindle around the ball joint if you used that method, I suppose, so you don't burn the seals and grease out of the bearing.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Nick

[bobc455]

No, the bearing doesn't have to come out. In fact it was a bit of a pain to get out, but ours was grinding.

Congrats on getting the job done (finally)!

-BC

[436'd Skylark]

wow, not to brag but I can R&R the "taurus rebuild" in an hour per side, not including the alignment.
The rebuild would be:
outers tie rods
lower ball joints
and wheel bearings.


Of course, I've done it hundreds of times, I Know all the correct sizes, and work on a lift. being on the lift, its not neccesary to pull the spindle off either, unless the springs are broken, which is 50/50.

just so you guys know, the spindle and strut can only go back together one way, all the alignment adjustments are at the strut towers. thats a whole 'nother thread though.

[TORQUED455]

I would charge 1 hour's labor ($65) to replace 1 Taurus ball joint. I never could understand how someone would rather waste 1 whole day of their life in a frustrating attempt to repair their car when a cut-n-dry estimate could be attained. To each his own, I guess.

Their is a more likely chance that the toe will need to be adjusted than the caster or camber.

[BTail]

I enjoy working on cars, so I don't mind spending time on them, even if it is the wagon and not the Riv. I do everything the hard way rather than paying somebody else to do something I could do. I'm kind of bullheaded that way.

One hour!! That's pretty darned good. I'm sure I couldn't do the other one anywhere near that fast, although I think I could still shave a significant amount of time off the first one.

It definately seems like something is out on the front end now. Probably the toe like you said.

Nick