Okay so I need upper and lower ball joints for both sides of a 2001 F150 lariat. Now when I talk to a shop, they said in order to do those, I also now need control arms. How many of those do I need for the whole job? Thanks!

Matt

 

If you're going to do them all, four... one on top and bottom for each side. I know for the 2004-2008 generation most people replace the bottom ball joints only and leave the control arms, but replace the top control arms with ball joints already installed. They also typically do tie rod ends (cheap) since they're in there anyway and front suspension if you've got it. Then get an alignment.

 

What he said ^^^^^^. I did mine myself. I replaced both upper control arms and both lower ball joints. I also replaced the outer tie rods and then went straight to the alignment shop afterwards. I went with MOOG and haven't had any problems in 2 years .I don't do a lot of offroading or hauling. If you have a level kit installed remember to go with a good quality part because the leveling kit puts more strain on your suspension and you don't want to have stuff replaced with poor quality parts. You get what you pay for.

 

Yeah Moog is great. Avoid Dorman at all costs.

 

Don't forget the sway bar end links!

 

Thanks for the replies!

 

I just replaced my upper and lower ball joint. I went with Moog components, upper and lower both that I got from Amazon. I just did the left-hand side today,it was tiring, but then again I'm not as young as I used to be. Actually the whole thing soup to nuts was only about four hours for me, the worst part honestly was trying to get the old ball joint out. All in all a good repair, and kinda fun. I'll do the next side next week.

 

Replacing lower control arm on my 98 f150 4x4 . do i need to mess with the torsion bars ?

 

Start a new thread here.
https://www.f150forum.com/f6/

 

So I have the same year, 2001 but Supercrew and my front end is shot. I can feel every bump on the road. No shocks, bushings, ball joints or coils have ever been replaced.

After reading this short thread, everyone is saying to change the ball joints (I have done this before on my cherokee) but to also change the control arms too. Why not just change the ball joints and keep the control arms?

The other thing is that I bought a Daystar leveling kit that has a 2" coil spacer. I need new shocks, should I buy the same size OEM shocks or do they need to be longer?

Should I buy sway bar bushings and control arm bushings?