I have a 98super cab 4#4 with 80,000 miles on it. Recently when i turn left or hit a bump I some times get a clunk or poping sound form somewherer in my front supension. I also have noticed a slight shimmy in my braking.

I had just cut my roters and replaced my brakes like a thousand miles ago and the shimmy has reduced quite a bit(but still there) and i still have the poping noise.

every thing seems tight but im leaning twords a bad ball joint upper or lower, what is the best way to test and can i replace the balljoint only or do i have to replace the whole upper or lower control arm?

Plus i want to replace the shocks and if I can i want to take care of this all at once

 

Since when did Ford make Supercrews in 98?


To check your ball joints jack the front of the truck up and grab the top and bottom of the tire and wiggle it. This will tell you if you've got something out of wack. To tell which one is bad you're going to have to pull the knuckle off to see. The top ones are not replaceable so you'd have to replace the whole upper A arm. If you do have a bad ball joint its about a 90% chance its your lower ones since they're the load bearing joints.

 

i did jack and shake the tire but there is no noticable movement and i do not have tools to measure inflection,
when i do pull the bottom ball joint out what should i look for, and to replace it do i need to have it pressed in?

 

Check your pitman and idler arm. Those could cause a popping noise and a shimmy.

To check them, jack up one of the front wheels, and wiggle it side to side. If there is play, then it could be one of the two. You would then have to have someone else wiggle the wheel while you see where the play is at.

Good luck!

 

i know i have side to side play but isn't some side to side play normal? if not i definitly have a problem there.

 

He said Super Cab, not SuperCrew.




Some F-150s develop a clunk sound from the holes on the driver's side lower a-arm. If that's your problem, you can get a set of "clunk washers" to fix it. Read this thread:

http://www.nhtoc.com/forum/showthrea...=clunk+washers

 

One wheel shouldn't be able to wiggle side to side without the other one. I've noticed that a lot of lifted ones have this, and it can cause problems. I would get it checked out, you probably need your pitman or idler arm replaced.