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2002 Mountaineer Lower Ball Joint Repair

Tiny
TAMMY1019316
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 MERCURY MOUNTAINEER
  • 6 CYL
  • AWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 125,500 MILES
2002 Mercury Mountaineer AWD V6 4.0L

Trying to change the front lower ball joints and ran into some difficulty in getting the ball joints to go back on. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 6:54 PM

8 Replies

Tiny
SATURNTECH9
  • MECHANIC
  • 30,869 POSTS
So are you trying to just change the ball joint?Or the whole lower control arm?If it's just the ball joint are you having trouble installing the new ball joint back into the control arm?Or the ball joint socket into the knuckle?
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Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 7:03 PM
Tiny
TAMMY1019316
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Getting the new ball joint back into the control arm. There doesn't seem to be enough room to get it back in.
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Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 7:04 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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So how did you get the old one out of the control arm?You do know the new ball joint get's pressed into the control arm right?The diagram I posted show's the tool pressing the ball joint out you use the same tool to put the new one in. They rent that tool at the auto part's store's.
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Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 7:22 PM
Tiny
TAMMY1019316
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My husband asked for me to ask. How to remove the sway arm bolt?
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Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 7:29 PM
Tiny
TAMMY1019316
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He had no problem pressing the old one out. We have one of them tools and it went easy. However getting the old one is the problem. There is not enough room to get the new one in. It almost seems like we need to remove the sway bar link in order to get the room needed. Is there a special trick to getting the sway bar link off? The bolt will not release.
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Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 7:43 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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Did you take the tie rod off the knuckle?Also are you talking about the sway bar link nut getting that off?If so you have to hold the back side while removing the nut. If you live in a snow climate the nut could be rusted on.
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Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 7:48 PM
Tiny
TAMMY1019316
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Well we now were able to get the ball joint in but now the problem is getting the strut to extend long enough to fit. We have the tool to compress the spring but we need another inch or two for the strut to work. Do you know how we could get this to work?
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Monday, February 14th, 2011 AT 9:43 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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You would use the floor jack under the lower control arm to jack up the ball joint to get it in the knuckle. Try that.
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Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 AT 1:08 AM

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