Driver's side ball joint HELP! (BlackIce are you out there?)

[fossten]

I replaced my pass. side ball joint today, no real problems, but on the driver's side I can't even see the nut under the master cylinder in order to get to it! I even tried to pass my breaker bar/u-joint 18mm assembly through the hole in the wheel well, but it won't fit past all those hoses. I guess I'll have to have a shop change this ball joint out, but I really wanted to do it myself.

Anybody got any ideas? BlackIce are you out there?

 

[1wykdmk8]

I replaced my pass. side ball joint today, no real problems, but on the driver's side I can't even see the nut under the master cylinder in order to get to it! I even tried to pass my breaker bar/u-joint 18mm assembly through the hole in the wheel well, but it won't fit past all those hoses. I guess I'll have to have a shop change this ball joint out, but I really wanted to do it myself.

Anybody got any ideas? BlackIce are you out there?

Supposedly you can reach it from underneath the car to get the wrench on the nut......from what i have read.

What I did was to remove the reservior from the master cylinder to get to the upper nut. Pull the nuts/washers from the master cylinder reservior and slide the reservior outta the way to get to the nut for the upper a-arm and when you are finished just simply reattach the reservior.

Hope that helps. :Beer

 

[fossten]

Supposedly you can reach it from underneath the car to get the wrench on the nut......from what i have read.

What I did was to remove the reservior from the master cylinder to get to the upper nut. Pull the nuts/washers from the master cylinder reservior and slide the reservior outta the way to get to the nut for the upper a-arm and when you are finished just simply reattach the reservior.

Hope that helps. :Beer

Ok, so I leave the reservoir connected, just detach it from where it's bolted in?

That should help.

 

[1wykdmk8]

Ok, so I leave the reservoir connected, just detach it from where it's bolted in?

That should help.

Yup....that is what I do when I do the uppers. Just be VERY careful not to bend the lines too far or they will break. :Beer

 

[KC96LSC]

Yup....that is what I do when I do the uppers. Just be VERY careful not to bend the lines too far or they will break. :Beer

I'm Changing mine in the morning, I appreciate the insight.

Greg

 

[JERSEYJOE]

Upper Ball Joint

Thanks for the info. I did my right side no problem. I even returned the left side a arm because I did not want to deal with it. Now the joint is loose enough to make noise so it's got to go. You would think that Ford would supply an access hole in the firewall to get to the nut.

 

[fossten]

Yup....that is what I do when I do the uppers. Just be VERY careful not to bend the lines too far or they will break. :Beer

Just to make sure I'm clear. The reservoir is the plastic part on top, or the grey metal part underneath attached to the firewall? Can I take that metal part out or will it leak? Taking the plastic part off won't help me; I can't even see the nut without removing the grey metal part.

 

[fossten]

Thanks for the info. I did my right side no problem. I even returned the left side a arm because I did not want to deal with it. Now the joint is loose enough to make noise so it's got to go. You would think that Ford would supply an access hole in the firewall to get to the nut.

There is an access hole in the wheel well, but you can't get a socket through the space b/c of all the wires in the way. Plus, you're totally blind while shoving it through the hole.

 

[1wykdmk8]

Just to make sure I'm clear. The reservoir is the plastic part on top, or the grey metal part underneath attached to the firewall? Can I take that metal part out or will it leak? Taking the plastic part off won't help me; I can't even see the nut without removing the grey metal part.

The plastic part is the reservior, but you do not remove the plastic part from the actual brake lines below it. What you are doing is removing the brake lines/reservior from the big black brake booster by removing the two nuts/washers that secure the reservior/brake lines to the booster.

Actually if you look closely at the pic that I posted you will see that the reservior/brake lines are seperated from the brake booster. That is what I am referring to. You will notice that the reservior/brake lines are connected as one. No fluid will leak out if done in this manner.

Hope that clears it up a bit more. :Beer

 

[JERSEYJOE]

That Damn Left Side Upper A Arm

I just completed this last night. In an earlier post I reported that I returned to left side a arm because it looked like too much of a PITA to do. Last weekend the left side upper ball joint started to make noise so last night I had to bite the bullet and change it. Here is what I did:

Thanks to information found here I disconnected the master cylinder from the booster and moved it up and out of the way. There is a bracket attached to a couple of wire harnesses that you need to disconnect. there is a harness connector the unscrews with a 10 mm.

Once the M/C is out of the way I broke loose the 18mm nut with a long box wrench. once it was loose I used a really short 18mm that I bought in Sears. It was easier using the open end side getting about 1/4 turn each time.

After the rear nut was off the front one is a piece of cake. You then need to remove the 3 13mm nuts holding the strut in. After lowering the strut about 2 inches you can wiggle the front bolt past the regulator. Job too about 1 1/2 hours. I cheated cause I have a lift.

It was worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now the car does not sound like an old pickup truck then I go over railroad tracks. Onc again I got to thank the guys on the forum for the great information

Now I am going to get up the balls to do the JMOD>

 

[1wykdmk8]

I just completed this last night. In an earlier post I reported that I returned to left side a arm because it looked like too much of a PITA to do. Last weekend the left side upper ball joint started to make noise so last night I had to bite the bullet and change it. Here is what I did:

Thanks to information found here I disconnected the master cylinder from the booster and moved it up and out of the way. There is a bracket attached to a couple of wire harnesses that you need to disconnect. there is a harness connector the unscrews with a 10 mm.

Once the M/C is out of the way I broke loose the 18mm nut with a long box wrench. once it was loose I used a really short 18mm that I bought in Sears. It was easier using the open end side getting about 1/4 turn each time.

After the rear nut was off the front one is a piece of cake. You then need to remove the 3 13mm nuts holding the strut in. After lowering the strut about 2 inches you can wiggle the front bolt past the regulator. Job too about 1 1/2 hours. I cheated cause I have a lift.

It was worth it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now the car does not sound like an old pickup truck then I go over railroad tracks. Onc again I got to thank the guys on the forum for the great information

Now I am going to get up the balls to do the JMOD>

Glad we could be of help......

As for the JMOD....I have not performed this myself, but after you completed what you just have, the JMOD is a piece of cake. All you are really doing is drilling a few holes in the seperator plate between the valve body and the actual transmission itself......and replacing a few springs and such for better performance. I installed a Baumann Engineering shift kit and all the upgraded springs and the JMOD is about the same thing, except you have to actually drill the holes where the Baumann you may not. Should be alot easier to do the JMOD as compared to what you just completed. :Beer

 

[Markviiiedrea]

[SIZE=4I installed a Baumann Engineering shift kit and all the upgraded springs and the JMOD is about the same thing, except you have to actually drill the holes where the Baumann you may not. [/SIZE] :Beer

I just received the shift kit, the pressure and clutch valves and I'm getting a cooler (18,000 GVW) and doing the mercon V switch here this weekend. Some thing about the j-mod I don’t like, I don’t know what it is, I just don’t.

I have heard nothing but good things about the Baumann.

 

[fossten]

Thanks, fellas, that's exactly what I needed. I'll do it this weekend and post how it turns out. Should be routine.

 

[mark8cha]

when i hit a bump or turn my car sounds like pure d s**t! the sound is coming frome the left side. does this sound like a ball joint or a front sway bar end link?
thanx

 

[fossten]

when i hit a bump or turn my car sounds like pure d s**t! the sound is coming frome the left side. does this sound like a ball joint or a front sway bar end link?
thanx

could be either or both, prob. at least one of them. Take off your wheel and eyeball the joints. Should be pretty obv. if they are shredded.

 

[fossten]

Yeeeeooohooooo!!!! I DID IT!!!

I am the greatest mechanic that ever lived!!!!

:joke