Time for ball joints? July 01, 2008, 05:21:26 PM So being that the upper ball joint on the drivers side of my 95 T-bird decided it wanted to start going (the boot is ripped and it squeeks, don't worry I'm changing it tomorrow and not driving it till it's done) I'vedecided to check the ones on the 88. They are original to the car and have ~129,000 miles on them. I *think* they might be wearing as the passenger side indicator sticks out anout 1mm to a bit less than 1mm. Here are some pics (low light sorry about the quality ) waht do you guys think?Drivers side: Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #2 – July 01, 2008, 05:24:58 PM Both sides don't stick out past the *lip* on the outer part of the case. I've seen a case on a Fox Continental where the ball joints looked like that and the passenger side one let go..... Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #3 – July 01, 2008, 05:46:10 PM what is this wear indicator? I 'm sure mine need changed but I am just curious about how to tell for sure. Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #4 – July 01, 2008, 11:45:59 PM Quote from: 88turbo;225471what is this wear indicator? I 'm sure mine need changed but I am just curious about how to tell for sure.The wear indicator is that little circle in the middle of the ball joint where a grease fitting would be.So really NO ONE has had to change one of these things? Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #5 – July 02, 2008, 09:45:24 AM do they make noise when you turn or hit a bump, or jack the car up? Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #6 – July 02, 2008, 01:13:10 PM Quote from: 32VFoxBird;225561do they make noise when you turn or hit a bump, or jack the car up?No noise that I can hear. When I jack up the car and pull at the bottom of the tire there is no clank or banging noise. Even if I put a jack under the control arm to put weight on the balljoint it doesn't make any noise or wiggle. i'm a bit amazed that the ball joints are still that good after 129,000 miles and 20 years.I found the bad upper ball joints on the 95 because when I was driving at 70 mph down teh freeway I noticed a shimmy in the steering wheel. I got home and checked it and found the drivers side upper had a cracked boot and the passenger side upper clunked when I pulled on the bottom of the wheel. Made NO sound when driving though. Dumb question but has anyone had a similar situation with a fox? Seems to me that the way the fox ball joint is that it wouldn't cause a steering wheel vibration when worn, it would just clank right? Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #7 – July 02, 2008, 04:43:56 PM Change them anyway. Better to be safe than sorry. Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #8 – July 02, 2008, 05:12:53 PM 1.2 mm is supposed to be the service limit, but 0.2mm is gonna be hard to determine (you say they're at or near 1 mm). Personally, if they're not squeaking and there's no play in them I'd see no need to replace them. You do know how to check the ball joints, right? Jack under lower control arm as close to ball joint end as possible (NOT under the frame of the car). Check for lateral movement by grabbing tire at top and bottom and checking for play (don't confuse wheel bearing play with ball joint play) and then have somebody place a pry bar under the wheel and have them gently lift the wheel with the pry bar while you observe the ball joint, looking for any up-down motion between the knuckle and control arm (the two should move as a unit, if the knuckle moves more than the control arm it's worn - you should see any movement exaggerated by the boot "bellowing") Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #9 – July 02, 2008, 06:24:42 PM Quote from: Thunder Chicken;2256111.2 mm is supposed to be the service limit, but 0.2mm is gonna be hard to determine (you say they're at or near 1 mm). Personally, if they're not squeaking and there's no play in them I'd see no need to replace them. You do know how to check the ball joints, right? Jack under lower control arm as close to ball joint end as possible (NOT under the frame of the car). Check for lateral movement by grabbing tire at top and bottom and checking for play (don't confuse wheel bearing play with ball joint play) and then have somebody place a pry bar under the wheel and have them gently lift the wheel with the pry bar while you observe the ball joint, looking for any up-down motion between the knuckle and control arm (the two should move as a unit, if the knuckle moves more than the control arm it's worn - you should see any movement exaggerated by the boot "bellowing")I did all that (I put the jack under the coil spring *cup* on the control arm) except the pry bar thing. I got no movement. I might try the pry bar thing tomorrow and get my brother to come over and help. The indicators are sticking out at the most 1mm (possibly a bit less) but they are sticking out. I'm really suprised they aren't flush with 129,000 miles and 20 years on 'em. Thunderchicken have you ever seen the ball joints on these cars (Fox) go bad? I know you've done the MN-12 ball joint fun (I'm about to do both upper arms :hick: ). Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #10 – July 02, 2008, 08:14:54 PM if i had my camera handy i would gladly take some pics of what worn balljoints look like for you. untill i can afford to replace them i only use my car if i have to right now.the fox ones need the whole control arm to be replaced inorder to replace the balljoints(unless you do what can be found on here thru searching, i cant look it up for some reason on this computer:mad: )me having an 86 i can use mustang control arms but i remember reading that the 87-88s had different ones but the same still applies to replacing them. Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #11 – July 02, 2008, 08:55:14 PM Quote from: thunderjet302;225618Thunderchicken have you ever seen the ball joints on these cars (Fox) go bad? I know you've done the MN-12 ball joint fun (I'm about to do both upper arms :hick: ).The ball joints went bad in my '88 Cougar, '87 Sport and current 88 T-Bird. All three were very low mile cars (the Cougar had the most, at 75k, when the ball joints got noisey). The joints didn't go bad from use, they went bad from lack of use (they didn't wear, they squeaked). I actually got an extra two years out of the Sport's ball joints by using a grease needle and poking a tiny hole in the ball joint boot, then injecting grease every time I did an oil change. Even when I changed 'em they were still tight, but the wear indicators were almost level, likely mostly from the wear I put on them while they were squeaking. The 88 T-Bird's joints were still fine (wear indicators definitely out more than 1.2mm) but since they had dried up at one point I replaced 'em when I did my front end.Some people (cough*Eric*cough) have a real stink on for sealed ball joints, but I think they last longer than greaseable ones. Even the ball joints I replaced were over 15 years old (the newest one) and 20 years old (the oldest). I've never seen greaseable joints last that long. What really did it for me was my old Nissan truck. 500K+ miles (not km) and all the original sealed ball joints and tie rod ends. They outlasted the transmission and frame, fer chrissake!They get a bad rap because once they do dry out, you aren't supposed to be able to grease 'em, and once they're dry they wear rapidly. You've got no way of telling if they're dry until they make noise (or, if I remember correctly, in Eric's case, break). Still, 20 years is more than a reasonable life expectancy for ball joints. It's also quite probable that sealed joints last longer around here because the salt, sand & crud they cover our roads with 8 months of the year can get into non-sealed joints and accelerate their wear (which wouldn't be helped by potholed and frost heaved roads), while sealed joints do a better job of keeping it out. In a less-salty area the joints will likely wear out naturally faster than they'll corrode, and in a warmer climate the smoother roads would be easier on them. Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #12 – July 02, 2008, 09:00:56 PM Quote from: Ductape91;225629if i had my camera handy i would gladly take some pics of what worn balljoints look like for you. untill i can afford to replace them i only use my car if i have to right now.the fox ones need the whole control arm to be replaced inorder to replace the balljoints(unless you do what can be found on here thru searching, i cant look it up for some reason on this computer:mad: )me having an 86 i can use mustang control arms but i remember reading that the 87-88s had different ones but the same still applies to replacing them.The control arm does not need replacing. Ford tried to make the whole thing replacement necessary by not supplying replacement ball joints, but the aftermarket quickly stepped up (and then I think Ford eventually started offering them as well). You can replace them fairly easily (but you have to know what you're doing - as long as the knuckle is disconnected from the ball joint there is danger of the spring coming out). Removing the old joints is usually quite easy, you can generally beat them out with light-to-moderate force. Getting the new ones in is a little more difficult, but you can get the tool required to do so easily enough... Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #13 – July 02, 2008, 09:14:54 PM Well I guess I'm just lucky with my ball joints. Being that the car is from California might have helped. I do know my control arm bushings are starting to go bad. I get that pop/clunk sound when braking sometimes (it's not loud/bad but it's there) and they sure don't look that healthy . Sweet:mullet: . Since the control arm will have to come out to replace the bushings I figure I'll just get a set of 2003-04 Cobra control arms from FRPP and throw them in since they have new ball joints and bushings. That sould be a fun winter/spring project since that's the last original suspension component on the car;) . I figure I should be able to go one more summer on the factory stuff since I can't really feel any play in it.Oh and Thunderchicken since I know how much you love MN-12 ball joints do ya wanna come over and do the upper control arms on my 95? ;) :toilet: Quote Selected
Time for ball joints? Reply #14 – July 02, 2008, 10:07:10 PM Quote from: 32VFoxBird;225561do they make noise when you turn or hit a bump, or jack the car up?Mine does and the mechanic swears he hears nothing but i hear it all the time does this mean it could possibly be the ball joints? because then i could just have him check them out to start....sorry for the hijack Quote Selected
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