If you jack the truck and get the wheel off, you can push down on the rotor and there will be a little separation in the lower control arm and the spindle (?). You will notice some separation at the lower ball joint when you press down. Look for that. I will try to find a post of mine on ball joints and how to change them. I changed my lower ball joint, idler arm, upper control arm, cv half shaft and a tie rod for about 240$.


oh yeah, it was this post. Read above.

 

Is it necessary to get the ball joint replaced immediately or can you drive with a bumpy ride for a few?

I ask because this shop discovered I had a bad ball joint when swapping the gears on my 4x4..... I don't know if I can get an appointment/work done next week since I need the truck the following week....

 

I dont know how bad yours is, but when the shop diagnosed mine, I went off roading that weekend and it survived. Then I drove the next week, again fine. I know how you feel, but youll never get a mechanic to put a time frame on it. In my opinion on most of these things is...how many times have you seen a truck sitting on the side of the road with a wheel missing? I live in detroit, home of the F150, and I cant say I have. However, they may just be caught quicker with shops seeing these trucks so often.

 

" Did anyone else have to have their pitman arm replace also?"

"The dealer replaced a Pitman arm at around 25,000mi while trying to find an annoying squeak"

I think you mean the "Idler Arm". The Pitman arm is attached to the steering box on one end and the tie-rod on the other. It's a solid arm and has no wear parts. The idler arm holds up the other end of the tie-rod and is attached to the frame by a built in rubber bushing that loves to wear out. Replace it with a MOOG unit and it should last a long time. As far as ball joints go, as far back as 1968, Ford used ball joints and tie-rods with no lube fittings. Ball joints would fail with less than 20,000 miles with tire wear and front end "Clunking" being the most obvious signs. Thing haven't gotten any better it seems.

 

The dealer replaced my pitman arm at about 25K after an annoying squeak too. They also replaced the steering box because they cracked it while trying to remove the pitman arm! I think there may have been a service bulletin regarding pitman arm issue on '97 F150's