Well, I took my truck in to get the exhaust manifold fixed and they mentioned that the right front tire had about 1" of play in it and said I needed to replace the idle control arms(?). What is the purpose of it and how important is it that I get it replaced? Is it something I could replace myself or should I have them do it? Any idea on how much that should cost? Thanks

 

The idler arm is not that hard to change yourself it should have a couple of bolts holding it to the frame & a nut with cotter pin to the draglink bar.You shoul be able to do this in less then 1 hr

 

But, the idler arm should be affecting both tires since it is part of the steering. Are you sure they didn't mention a ball joint or tie rod end also? All of these are high wear items on the 97-03 trucks.

 

they didn't mention anything ball joint or tie rods. It could very well be affecting both tires. I am guessing they only mentioned the right one because they had to take it off to get to the passenger side manifold.

Anybody have a picture of what one looks like? I have a haynes manual so I might look in there and see if I can handle doing it myself. Sounds like its not too difficult. Would i have to order one from Ford, about how much are they?

 

Go to Advance Auto Parts website and look it up. They show pics of it and you will recognize it then.

 

Ball joints can suck taking off. We rebuilt a front end on one of our ranch trucks and we had to beat the living hell out of those ball joints, they looked like fidos ***.