I have a 01 Taurus and I was told that I needed both lower ball joints in the front. $87 a piece and $280 in labor. 450 dollars is more than i can afford. What will happen if I don't have this work done and how can I tell if they really do need to be replaced. It rides pretty well right now. Any help will be helpful thanks.

 

jack your car up on your lower control arm, and use a pry bar, place the bar on teh ground under the tire, and pry UP. you have to watch the ball joint to see if it looks like it seperates then it needs to be replaced.

 

Chance are you need them, they fail frequently in the Taurus models. If they say you ned them and you trust them then do it. If your Insurance deductible is more than $500.00 ask yourself if you can afford that when you damage the car from component failure. BTW that is not a horrible price for that repair, but shop around. And as service manager of repair facility if you called me and said the following "I have $350.00 and need both lower ball joints and alignment done on my Taurus", I'll bet you the repair facility will probably cave and do it, especially if they are in need of cars for the week/day.

 

not meaning to hijack but do you work at a ford dealer wheelsup?.


squirrel I looked up the parts for your ball joints and if they are bolted in not pressed (according to a parts website). if your confident in your ability to do small jobs you could probibly tackle this one.

 

I do not work at ford garage, but I do work at ford/chevy/dodge/honda/toyota/subaru/Hyanudi/etc.... garage. I can tell you that the ball joints on 01 Taurusare press in. They also really stink to remove as the electrolysize themselves into knuckle. Not to discourage you from the job, but unless you have some expereince you should leave this to a pro.

 

same as my old ranger.. (i removed the spindle, used a vice and a Big socket).. LoL

 

Your old ranger should of been a little different. Like cast spindle instead of aluminum. And trust me it makes a big difference. Those ball joints never come out that easy on the Taurus aluminum spindles.

 

Thanks for the help everyone. I got a little discouraged when I asked a relative if it's a hard project and heard a horror story. So I'm just going to shop around. Thanks Again.