How do you replace the ball joints on a 1993 Ford Thunderbird?

Answer 1

The answer is too involved to answer here. Buy a repair manual ($12) at most auto parts stores. There you will find detailed instructions. The repair manual at the parts house is too generalized. You won't find enough details in the manual to be helpful. Find a manual SPECIFICALLY for Thunderbirds. In the interim, the upper ball joints are easy to replace. Simply purchase CONTROL ARMS for your Thunderbird. The ball joints are pressed into the new control arms. You will have to jack the front end up to release pressure from the front tires/wheels. At the bottom of the control arm, you will find a pinch joint that is held by a pin and bolt. Using a deepwell 18mm socket, remove the nut and gently tap out the pin with a hammer. Ford recommends that you use a new pin and bolt(this is provided with the new control arms). Use a piece of rope or heavy twine to secure the VERTICAL attachment so that it won't fall forward/backward damaging the tie rods. Now proceed to the upper control arm attachments. On each side of the strut (at the upper attachment points)you will find two bolts that attach the control arms to the upper inside of the fender. The boltheads are attached to locking tabs to keep the boltheads from turning when you are tightening the nuts on the inside of the engine compartment. Using an 18mm socket or wrench, remove the nuts (you will find them inside the engine compartment). The forward nuts will be easy to remove while the nuts near the firewall will be a pain in the ass. The passenger side rear nuts are cramped by the air conditioner compressor while the driver side rear nuts are cramped by the brake master cylinder. A socket will be useless as you don't have adequate room. I find that a closed end ratcheting wrench (ask the folks at the parts house for one, an 18mm will usually cost $20)does the trick nicely. The lower ball joints are a different story. Unless you have a hydraulic press, take it to a mechanic. It's worth the extra cost to have them repair it.