I drilled and tapped the upper ball joints, and the steering tie rods. I did not do the lower ball joints because the metal looked alot thicker on the bottoms of he a arms. It was amazing how little grease was actually inside the fittings. No wonder these fittings fail early. None of mine were loose they were just making a slight squeak.

 

if its sqeaking its shot it means water all ready got in.... trust me i would put money on one of your outer tie rod ends was the issue not the ball joints ive never heard one sqeak but outer tie rods on ever ford made since mid 90"s especially crown vicks and windstars i did nothing but front end repair and noise problems for ford for three years now im in the army

 

oh also in order to check these ball joints u need to lift the truck up enough to slide a pry bar under the tire and lift up on the bar while someone else actually looks at knuckle to ckeck for movement u cant check by wiggling the tire up and down like in older fords