Removal and Installation
of Lower Ball Joints
1993 -1998 Lincoln Mark
VIII
The Following is a step
by step instruction to R&I the lower ball joints on the MarkVIII.
Hopefully the pictures will explain everything that I may fail to
put in here, but if not, contact me OR joey, and we’ll get you
the correct info, and then update the install guide. I am NOT a professional
ASE certified mechanic, so anything I show on here, is to be taken
as advice only. I CANNOT be responsible for anything that may be messed
up by following this advice.
Common problems associated with loose or worn ball joints can range
from a small shake in the steering wheel to the car wanting to pull
it’s self depending on what wheel falls in a dip in the road.
This can also be aggravated by a modified suspension along with wider
tires. I ran into this problem with my 98, and had a VERY hard time
diagnosing the problem. If you think you may have the same problem
keep reading.
This job is started off by turning the air-ride computer off via the
switch in the truck, raising the car to a good, SAFE and comfortable
work height, and supporting the car with good quality stands. The
lugnuts will need to me losend and removed from the front tires. If
you do not have an impact wrench, it will probably be easier to break
the nuts loose while the car is still on the ground (ONLY BREAK THEM
LOOSE, no more). Once the car is to this point, your ready to start
removing the spindle assy.
I have color coded, and numerically categorized all of the bolts to
show you what you need to loosen to get the assy apart, and HOPEFULLY
I have gotten all of the hex sizes correct, but there is a margin
of error here so double check before you go to torquing down on these
nuts.
1. Green, These are 12MM
bolts, and hold the caliper assy to the main bracket. Remove these
and then pry the caliper and pads off of the rotor. (keep check of
the pads and reinstall them in the same side of the rotor they came
off of)
2. Yellow, 15MM bolts are
holding the caliper bracket to the spindle, these are also locktite’d
so it will take some umph to get them off.
3. Purple, 10MM bolt holds
the wheel speed sensor to the spindle. Tap this out and place aside
4. Blue, 15MM nut holds
the swaybar link to the spindle, remove this and give it a good crack
with a hammer to release it from the spindle. (leave the nut half
on to protect the threads from a mis placed hammer blow).
5. Lime, 23MM nut holds
the spindle on the lower ball joint, and will probably need some work
with a torch to get it hot enough to break loose,(I know mine did).
(remove completely)
6. Red, 19MM nut holds
the upper control arm bolt in place. Remove this half way, and hammer
the bolt out of the other side. Keep in mind that there is a little
tension on the spindle from the air springs, the will kick the top
of the spindle out once you remove the upper joint , but it’s
nothing to be worried about. Once you have the bolt out, you may need
to beat the joint out of the spindle, and can take some effort, but
it will come out. Also, during this step you may notice that the sway
bar link did not come all of the way out. It will come out ALOT easier
if you wait till the top of the spindle is free and just pull it through
the hole when you have enough room to do so.
Once this step is complete
you should have something that looks like this:
You will notice I have
the tie rod loose. I did this to allow me to photograph this easier.
You can set the spindle off to the side and out of the way with the
rod still connected. Now that we are this far, you should have the
spindle kicked out at you and the lower ball joint ready to separate
from the spindle. All I had to do is whack down on the joint while
I kept steady moderalte upward pressure with my other arm. It took
a couple of good cracks but it’ll go. Once that is done your
ready to start pressing the joint out.
I have the use of a VERY well stocked shop to work in, but most of
these tools can be rented at an auto parts store. If you have any
questions PM me, or confer with someone who is in the know. I used
a screw type balljoint press to push mine out and is really the only
good safe way to do this job.
I had some trouble keeping
the press centered on the top of the joint so I cut the shank off
with a cut off wheel to allow me to use a socket to keep everything
square while I pressed it out. It should be noted that I was using
a ¾” drive air hammer running 140 PSI on the ball joint
press so you can imagine the force your gonna be putting on this to
drive it down and out. Keep your body parts as clear as possible and
PAY ATTENTION to whats going on!
Once you finally get the parts to break away from each other it will
come out fairly easily, and the hard part is finally over. Clean up
the inside of the bore with some emery cloth, and press the joint
back in the way it came out, making sure to drive it in SQUARE until
the flange fits flush aginst the bottom of the lower control arm.
From here, reverse the
procedure to re-install everything. To get the torque specs that I
used look at the end of the bolt color chart.
Hope this helps.
