It sounds like you've already identified the problem areas, but you simply don't have the training or experience to know that you found them. Thank you for posting the photos.
There must be no up-and-down or sideways movement between the ball and socket of a tie rod end. At times that can be misleading if a helper is turning the steering wheel back and forth because movement between the dust boot and the stud or the housing can make it appear there's wear and looseness in that joint. A second problem is to inspect ball joints, the vehicle usually needs to be supported in multiple ways so any looseness can show up. Most commonly, and in your case, the lower ball joint is the "load carrying" ball joint. Vehicle weight is supported by the coil spring, and that is pushing down on the lower ball joint. To transfer the weight to the spindle and tire, that weight is squeezing the lower ball joint together. That still occurs if the jack stand is under the lower control arm. No looseness will be evident that way. Instead, for this part of the inspection, the jack stands have to be under the frame or a cross member so the lower control arms are free to hang down. That removes the loading on the lower ball joints. Now use a pry bar to lift the tire / wheel up and down and watch for up-and-down movement between that ball or stud, and the socket or housing. Sideways movement is also not acceptable, but it can be harder to detect. More on that in a minute.
When you're inspecting lower ball joints this way, all the weight of the spindle, wheel, and tire is being held up by the upper ball joint. That one has very little force acting on it so it's smaller. It's only job is to hold the wheel upright and in alignment. You have to eliminate the downward pull on it to inspect it for looseness. This is where you have to move the jack stand to under the lower control arm, then let the truck down so the control arms move back up to their normal at-rest positions. Now you can tug in and out on the top of the tire to feel for looseness. Having a helper do that while you watch underneath can be helpful. Also use the pry bar to try to move the control arm up and down while watching for any movement between the ball and socket.
Being a suspension and alignment specialist, I can't help but grab tires on every car I walk past on a hoist. What I've had good luck with is I try to turn a tire and wheel gently left and right rapidly. That's where I'll feel the clunking of a worn tie rod end, then I know to look further to see which ones are worn. If they all feel okay, next I do the same thing but with much harder force. The steering linkage will act as a fulcrum, and with that in-and-out force, I'll feel the clunking of a worn lower ball joint on that side. This doesn't check the lower ball joint on the other side, and it doesn't identify worn upper ball joints. It's simply one quick test that works for me. If I find looseness that way, that ball joint gets added to the list of needed parts. If no clunking shows up, it just means I have to continue with additional tests before I can be sure that ball joint is okay.
Don't try to add grease if a joint doesn't have a grease fitting. Ford has had some unbelievably poor designs with extremely high failure rates, often in as little as 15,000 miles. They were the first to figure out they could save about 20 cents per vehicle if they left the grease fittings off. No other manufacturer has used that terrible design, but there still are a lot of tie rod ends and ball joints that don't need or use grease. If one of those develops a squeak, it is badly-worn and must be replaced. Greasing it, if you can figure out how to get it in there, will melt the nylon insert that cushions the ball and provides the tightness. That grease might make the squeak go away for a little while, and that can be a valid clue that you've identified the worn part, but it causes the part to deteriorate even faster, possibly to the point it will separate, leading to loss of control.
When you go around a corner, particularly at higher speeds, the body wants to lean to one side. One wheel / spindle / control arms moves upward into the wheel well, and they drop down on the other side. The anti-sway bar is connected to both lower control arms and wants to keep them at the same height all the time. That bar, it's two mounting brackets in the middle, and the two links at the ends, only do something of value during cornering. They have nothing to do with steering wander or anything with the alignment. In fact, until around the mid '70s, a lot of vehicles didn't have anti-sway bars. The most common symptom is a rattling sound like that of a tambourine, when you drive over bumps. You have a different design that can cause a banging noise if a ball separates from its socket, but during normal driving, you usually won't hear the characteristic clunk of a worn ball and socket, because that would only show up during cornering, and doing so puts the bar in a twist with tension on the links preventing the looseness from causing that clunk. Very often owners aren't even aware the links are sloppy until we find them during an inspection.
The dust cover is rusted off the rear shock absorber. That alone is no reason to replace them, but that can cause a rattle. You looked for oil leaking from them, which is the correct thing to do, but the internal valving can wear too resulting in excessive bouncing. Often that doesn't occur until after a couple-hour drive and the oil gets hot and thins out. That clears up after cooling down for a few hours.
You also knew to look at control arm bushings. Cracking isn't a concern. What you should look for is movement you can cause with a pry bar, but here again the vehicle has to be supported so they're unloaded and free to move around if a bushing is worn. This is a real common cause of steering wander and intermittent pulling, especially changing direction of pull between accelerating and braking. That's because the bushings are letting the alignment change. Jack stands should be under the frame for this.
My first hint is if you replace any rubber bushings or parts with them, a common mistake is caused when the part gets installed with the vehicle on jack stands and the suspension is hanging down. That part is fine, but the pivot bolts must not be tightened until the truck is down resting on the tires at normal ride height. I often drive around the parking lot to settle the suspension, then drive onto my drive-on hoist to finish tightening those pivot bolts. If they're tightened while the vehicle is jacked up, that is where the bushings will be clamped, then they'll be in a permanent twist when it's at normal height and is being driven. That greatly shortens the life of those bushings.
My second hint has to do with replacing tie rod ends. The truck will need to be aligned afterward; no exceptions, if it's part of the linkage that sets how the two wheels are steering in relation to each other. One eighth of a turn on an adjuster sleeve is all it takes to make a significant change that can cause or eliminate one form of excessive tire wear. What you can do to get by until you can get in for that alignment is assuming you're starting with a straight steering wheel, replace one or both tie rod ends on one side only for the first step. Both should be threaded into the adjuster sleeve an equal amount if you have that style. Once installed, drive the truck and note the position of the steering wheel. It helps if you can remember which tie rod has the normal thread and which has the reverse thread. Stop and adjust that sleeve to turn that wheel left or right as necessary to match the position of the steering wheel. Eventually the steering wheel will be straight again when you're driving straight. "Toe" for that wheel likely won't be perfect, but it will be close enough that you can drive to the alignment shop. Now you can do the same thing on the other side if you have to replace one or both tie rod ends there.
That last hint goes out the window if you're replacing control arms or ball joints at the same time. Control arms are never the same, and your style of ball joint is rarely the same as the one you're taking out. Those will end up positioning the wheel in a different orientation, so again, the alignment will be required.
One exception is a lot of trucks use what's called the "Haltingerger" steering linkage. That has one adjuster sleeve for "total toe" only. It is adjusted so both wheels are steering in the same direction with no regard for the steering wheel position. A second adjuster sleeve only moves that linkage side-to-side to set the position of the steering wheel. That sleeve and the part of the linkage it's on has no affect on pulling or tire wear, so you can adjust that one any time to make the steering wheel straight. Those give me trouble on the alignment rack, so I take a few tools with me on the final test drive and I stop a few times to tweak that last adjustment until the steering wheel is perfectly straight. These systems use a steering gearbox, not a rack and pinion steering gear. Gearboxes have play in them when the engine is not running and there's no pressurized power steering fluid filling them. That's what makes it nearly impossible to adjust a straight steering wheel on the hoist.
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Wednesday, July 14th, 2021 AT 8:31 PM
