Ball Joint Question

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P Kru

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Hey guys (and gals),

My mechanic wants $450 to replace both lower ball joints. He said he may need to take off the uppers to get to the lowers. If so we'll do all 4 joints for $750.



Question: on the ST, do you need to take off the upper ball joints to get to the lower ball joints?



Thanks!
 
Don't have to remove upper to get to lower but it is best to replace both at the same time. The spindle does have to come out completely and they have to be pressed in. We paid about $350. just for parts to do it ourselves so the prices are reasonable.

Susan
 
Why is it best to replace all at the same time? Will the uppers go bad eventually?



Good thing is that my mechanic will replace with the MOOG greasable joints.
 
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yes the upper ones will go bad sooner or later they are junk and made of a plastic socket with no way to grease them , it is better to get them replaced with the ones you grease
 
The uppers are much more expensive because the whole upper control arm has to be replaced. The new arm should have replaceable ball joints, though. At least the Moog arms do.



It is possible to do just the lowers without removing the uppers. I found a writeup from a guy who did it on his Explorer Sport, which has the same setup. Here is a link:



Hey, wait, you're the same guy who asked the question before! Well, here it is again!
 
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The labor to do them all at the same time is much cheaper compared to doing two now and then 2 later, even if later is the next day.



Many of the same parts have to come of to do this job. No sense in paying for the same thing twice.



So, if your satisfied with the amount they are charging, then go for it.



At my shop, I would have charged about $480 max for the labor. That is 8 hours at $60.00 an hour. Which is 2.5 hours more than the actual book time.
 
For what it is worth - did you get a second opinion? My friend has a ST and when he took it into the dealership for routine maintenance they told him the ball joints needed to be replaced. He was stunned. He decided not to have the work done, and for shits-and-grins dropped it off at another dealership a few weeks later. He matter of fact asked them to check out the front end, ball joints, etc. The response - "The ball joints are fine". When he told them the story but did not mention the dealership, they asked if they could have a second look. He thought - here we go... But the response - the same. The ball joints are fine. I'm not saying every dealership is out to get us, but it might be worth a second look if you're going to drop $750.
 
Tires Plus told me they were bad a few weeks ago. I'm going to a new mechanic (small shop) that a friend of mine told me about. He will give me a second opinion and fix if needed.



Thanks!
 
I did my lowers myself about a year ago. You do have to unbolt the uppers to do it. The uppers are part of the control arm assy but if they don't need to be changed, you can wait on them. The lowers are not easy to do yourself so I would say $450 is probably a fair price. If you do the uppers, you will also need a wheel alignment.

 
My mechanic said the lowers definitely needed replacement, but the uppers were still "rock solid". He's just gonna do the lowers for $450. Needed a new battery too...said he'd install that for free. He gave me a free loaner car too. Not bad for my first experience with the guy.



He could have said all 4 ball joints needed to be done. I guess there are still some honest guys out there!
 
I'd hope he would install the battery for free. 5 min install. Paul I take it you don't do any service work on your own. Which is fine, but short of tearing down and engine everything is pretty straight forward.
 

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