2000 Ford Ranger 2.5l XLT Sport ball joints. Replaceable?

[Gus3539]

I need to replace the ball joints on my 2000 Ford Ranger 2.5l XLT Sport edition with 240K miles but I don’t know if they can be swapped out or not. The Chilton’s guide says they’re not individually serviceable for this year and in order to replace the ball joints, both the entire upper and lower control arms will need to be replaced. I was hoping to keep the original metal arms and just replace the ball joints but I’m not sure this is possible. I don’t see any snap rings. Pics 1-5 are of the upper ball joint and pics 6-8 are the lower ball joint, all driver’s side. Last pic is the Chilton’s reference. Anyone know about this? Thanks.

 

[djfllmn]

unless they were replaced previously with control arms that have serviceable ball joints, you have to get the whole arm..Honestly IMO at this points its probably easier to just to the whole arm anyway

 

[Curious Hound]

GO ahead and replace the arms. You can buy arms that will allow balljoint replacement in the future.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

You know, I understand not wanting to replace the whole arm, especially because you need an alignment after, but the bushings on the arm get sloppy after awhile…

 

[pjtoledo]

if you have coil springs the upper ball joints are not replaceable, must get the arm. left & right are different/opposite shape.
torsion bar system the upper ball joints are replaceable. easier to replace the entire arm.
on either system the lowers are replaceable. the retaining snap ring is on top. they push out thru the bottom.

upper arms for the 2 systems look similar but are NOT interchangeable. lowers obviously are different.

 

[Gus3539]

Thanks PJToledo, that is helpful advice. I will replace the upper control arms and look into doing the lower balljoint if I can determine it’s removable. Much appreciated info