How do you change the lower ball joints on a 2001 Ford Ranger 2WD extended cab pickup?

Answer 1

I may not remember this correctly but.... the ball joints on the Ford need to be pressed out. You can smack them out with a hammer but they must be pressed in. With a lot of Fords you must remove break pads and the entire spindle. 1. Pull cotter pins and loosen nuts on upper and lower ball joints as well as tie rod. Leave nut on end of thread. Smack with hammer until loose. Make sure the hit is metal to metal. 2. Remove spindle and put in vice. Press or use hammer to knock out ball joint. 3. Lube opening (Non-seize) before pressing in new ball joint. Ball joint must go in straight. 4. Replace There is a special tool made for removing and installing ball joints. It's called something like a "C-frame assembly tool". I know of one autoparts store that has a loaner program that will loan the tool. But most autoparts stores don't. It helps if you have a forked tie rod end remover to break the tie rod loose.