damaged ball joint on tie rod

[granny03]

I damaged the threads on my ball joint. And I was wondering if it would be just as easy to replace the tie rod end and if so do i need the special tool to do it. If not is there any tips to make it go smoother. thanks in advance

 

[brian97cobra]

ok so you have me lost...

you said ball joint and then you said tie rod. so which one is damaged?

you can rethread most of them with no issues to answer your question to both. but which one is damaged. one requires special tools and the other does not.

if either are replaced an alignment would be highly recommended

 

[Mystic04SVT]

inner or outer tie rod? the outer is easier to replace than the inner. inner tie rod is alot easier if you have a special tool to do it. but an alignment is needed no matter which one u replace

 

[2001blkR]

Did you mushroom the stud? If so you could try to grind it off a lil bit and rethread it. A new tie rod from ford is about $70, or you could just go with a bumpsteer kit.

 

[granny03]

not mushroom it just messed up the threads on the ball joint so i cant start the castle nut. so i figuered it might just be easier to replace the outer tie rod than the ball joint.and sorry for the confusion

 

[KooK]

Yeah, they're pretty easy to replace and you shouldn't need any special tools to get it off. I would highly suggest an alignment after you reinstall the new one simply because 99% of the time, it doesn't matter how f'ing close you seem to get the new one matched back where the old one was, you're still out of alignment.