As the subject says I had the balljoints replaced in my 03 F-450. Okay I thought I had one bad balljoint on the driverside not the case I had 3 bad balljoints. I take the truck to a shop where I pitch in and help been doing that for years. I have mechanical skills done enough wrench pullin but have no place to work in.

I was shocked at the deplorable condition the balljoints were in. The one had significant movement but the others didn't when I was doing my checking. When we got the old ones out holy crap they were bad I'am surprised the truck steered. You know how you get the older trucks with square king pins these balljoints were really rough.

Got the the new ones installed they were Spicer Premium grade and what a difference. The new ones are greaseable

What a pain in the backside changing the balljoints I hope I don't have to do it again for atleast 2 years.

 

The splicer seems reputable and if they last at least 50% longer than the OEM ones they are worth the money and particularly your sweat. I went thru 2 sets of OEM once at 50,000km and the second at 100,000. I now have 120,000km adn the moog bal joints show absolutely no sign so far. Time will tell.

In general if you plan on keeping your truck the after market parts is far more superior. I think I posted before somewhere but I found my power steeering pump, sway bar bushings and my steering stabilizer shot or on the way out as well. Again I suggest sticking with aftermarket parts and do your research as you did with the ball joints.

Feel free to PM me if you want my opinion on the stuff I have and how they performed.

 

BC powerstroke,

How do you know if the swaybar bushings are going? Sometimes when im in the field and hit a large bump or climb an uneven grade, i'll hear a "THUNK" sound almost like a rock hitting the belly of the rig. Happens rarely too. Maybe twice a month at most.

 

I noticed it by a thunk sound in my front right fender area driving over large bumps and etc. It did not happen often but it happen occasionaly off and on. Similar to your symptoms. I thought it was my shocks as my rear ones were puking oil so I changed all of my shocks. But the thump didn't go away.

I brought it to ford and they said front sway bar bushings. Their deisel forman took me under the truck when it was up on the hoist and showed me one of my OEM rubber bushing. It was deformed oval. This was causing "play" in the bushing bar that caused the thunk in the suspension/sway bar lnkages. Ford I think quoted me $150 for OEM replacements as I was out of bumper to bumper warranty.

I replaced them for approx. half that cost for aftermarked energy ones intalled myslef as they are easy to do. The energy ones are not rubber but some high performance material. There website has more info if you need. The Ford forman said I will be happier with aftermarket ones particulalry as I have a level kit with oversized tires which is harder on the suspension than stock trucks.

Hopefully this helps.
Good Luck

 

With my truck being 2wd F-450 the track bar bushings are still good.

The only reason why I suspected a ball joint gone was the driverside steer tire was wearing on the inside. Thought I better check it and the bottom ball joint was gone. The passenger side both were very rough but not sloppy loose.

I'am really surprised I didn't get death wobble usually if you got something loose you get the wobble. My previous trucks (F-Superduty) with monobeam and king pins if you had anything loose you wobbled. My 95 I had I hit a bump in the road and the whole truck shook. That came down to the rotten sport king tires.

I haven't owned a 4x4 in years so I never had to deal with ball joints all my previous trucks have had king pins. My 03 F-450 uses ball joints Ford changed the front axle back in 99 in the F-450 trucks. The old F-Superduty trucks use a scaled down version cast steel truck axle.

I'am glad the ball joints are changed the truck steers better now I need to replace the tires. I don't trust those General Tire that came on the F-450 and F-550 trucks. Plus the fact they are 4 years old the tread has some decent splits in it.

 

have the website you can direct me to?

 

The website is
http://www.energysuspension.com/
My local part dealer (Lordco AutoParts) carry this product.

I beleive any of the large autoparts store that cary this brand should be able to assist in the actual part as the website is fairly generic on small items.