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
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.
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.
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 -->
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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)
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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 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
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
