My Ford explorer's front ball joint boots have ruptured, spilling all my grease, so now my suspension makes a creaking sound when changing elevation.

The guy at the meineke said he needs to replace the whole assembly, for $650, which sounds like bullocks to me. Is it not just a water tight rubber container that holds grease around the ball joint? If so, why can't I just replace or fix that?

6/8/2007 11:32:50 AM

Quote :

"My Ford"

6/8/2007 11:40:09 AM

i seem to remember non replacable ball joints or something like that which requires you to replace the whole a arm, I could be wrong.

6/8/2007 11:47:31 AM

It was $400-$500 to replace the assemblies on my ranger. ^ is what I was told too.

6/8/2007 11:50:22 AM

you can't just replace the boots on tre's/ball joints.

iirc, as has been said, alot of late model fords require replacement of the whole assembly also, not just the ball joint itself.

6/8/2007 12:02:53 PM

thats what you get for getting the best selling suv

6/8/2007 12:37:22 PM

This is bull.

Ok, heck, what if I just fill the old boot with grease and wrap it up in flexible-water proof tape? come on! It isn't that complicated to keep grease on a joint. The damn thing works fine without any grease as it is... Either way, thanks for the input.

6/8/2007 12:50:21 PM

if the grease is gone it won't be long before the balljoint goes, too

6/8/2007 1:14:55 PM

yeah, balljoints aren't really something to screw/take chances with. kind of an important part of keeping your wheels, etc. connected to the vehicle....

6/8/2007 1:41:31 PM

"works fine"

"makes a creaking noise"

6/8/2007 1:44:19 PM

Well, right now it is metal on metal, so of course it is going to make noise. But that would stop the instant I got grease back on it.

6/9/2007 1:30:46 AM

the lower ball joints go bad on pre 2002 exploders at about 60k miles, get new ones that have a grease fitting.

6/9/2007 10:38:59 AM