- Joined
- Nov 1, 2025
- Messages
- 13
- Points
- 101
- City
- Cortez
- State - Country
- CO - USA
- Vehicle Year
- 1999
- Vehicle
- Ford Ranger
- Drive
- 4WD
- Engine
- 3.0 V6
- Transmission
- Automatic
My lower ball joint is shot on a '99 4WD ranger and there's a good chance it was original. My aim is to check all the control points and replace where necessary. My sway bar links left and right are both broken, not sure what happened there. I just learned what sway bar links do in the first place and they were kaput when I bought the car. Now I never worked on suspensions before, however I'm trying to learn. I got the car suspended on the frame with blocks. The brake caliper is off, the lower ball joint nut is loose and just on there with a few threads, the lower control arm is suspended/held in place with both a jack stand and a floor jack. The bolt on the upper control arm is out.
Well at this point in most video's the entire knuckle comes loose from the upper control arm and can be swung to the side.
Not here. Stuck as heck. No movement. Tried some WD40, tried a large pry bar to gently persuade the control arm to go up, tried tapping it with a hammer upwards, nothing. Maybe I need to be less gentle, but I figured i'd ask first if I'm making any basic mistakes here.
See pictures attached, this should just 'come off', correct?
Well at this point in most video's the entire knuckle comes loose from the upper control arm and can be swung to the side.
Not here. Stuck as heck. No movement. Tried some WD40, tried a large pry bar to gently persuade the control arm to go up, tried tapping it with a hammer upwards, nothing. Maybe I need to be less gentle, but I figured i'd ask first if I'm making any basic mistakes here.
See pictures attached, this should just 'come off', correct?
