just bought a new ranger for myself, 98 std cab step side 2.5 with 5 speed. coil spring long arm short arm independent front suspension, rack and pinion steering. ive heard both sides about front upper ball joints being available as entire control arm assy. but the parts store also has just the ball joint available, meaning it's press in i assume?

my question is what do i need? i ordered the ball joints themselves from parts store but ive heard from other places that you cannot do this, you will need the whole control arm to replace the ball joint?!?!$$$$$$ any help here guys? im doing a whole front end on this thing, upper and lower *****, and outer tie rods; id like to have the right parts the first time and not realize their wrong half way through the job.

thanks in advance.

 

The upper ball joints on the rangers are one piece with the control arm. You can't replace just the BJ you need to replace the whole control arm. They are like $38 a piece from rockauto.com.

 

Most of the time the separate ball joints are just to replace the ones after the original arm has been replaced with an aftermarket one.

 

yup^ grab moog, and you can replace just a ball joint. they arent press out

 

I do not understand why the repair manuals state that the entire arm has to be replaced.
Use a ball joint press, press out old ones, press in new ones, replace snap ring, install boot. DONE!
Although getting new bushings with the arm assembly would be nice if you need them. I put poly bushings in my front arms when I did the job.
I have never seen one of these fabled non serviceable upper a-arms.
I have an 02 coil sprung ranger and have done this on my truck. 98 and up with coils are all the same.

 

so i've got about 50/50 response from everyone here sayin i can or cannot replace JUST my ball joints. i have a ball joint press and intended on using it for this job; just hate to tie the truck up and find out i need an entire control arm. i went ahead anyways and bought just the upper ball joints from local parts store and will hopefully give it a shot this weekend if not next week.

 

Incorrect. Ball joints do not come out of the tock control arm. This has been discussed multiple times and I have tried. It doesn't work.

You will be returning the ball joints to buy the control arms this weekend. I can see the future.