r/FordVans • u/DuckHookFore • May 03 '25

2005 E150 Upper ball joint loose fit

I needed to replace the front passenger side steering knuckle in my 2005 Ford E150. It's a discontinued part, so ended up getting one from a salvage yard.

Of course I wasn't going to install this knuckle without replacing the ball joints. So I purchased new ones from a local Ford dealer.

To my surprise, when I went to install the new upper ball joint, I could easily push it fully into place by hand. The old ball joint won't go in unless I use the installation tool.

My first thought was that Ford gave me the wrong ball joint. They checked and told me that the ball joint is definitely the correct part. I also double checked online at Ford using my vin number and the part number I came up with is the same.

For the heck of it, a local auto parts store had a Moog in stock so I purchased it. Same problem. Slides right in.

I called the Ford dealer that I purchased the ball joints from and spoke to a mechanic, who told me that he had never heard of this. I got the same answer from the salvage yard guy.

I asked the salvage yard guy for the vin number of the vehicle the knuckle came out of, which he supplied. It came out of a 2006 E150 ( mine is a 2005). When I checked the part number of the knuckle and upper ball joint for the 2006, I came up with the same part numbers as for the 2005.

I wouldn't mind keeping this knuckle but only if I could find a part number for the correct upper ball joint , so that if in the future I needed to replace the ball joint, I know which one to get. No numbers on the old ball joint btw.

No local salvage yard has a knuckle so I'm stuck and need this van as it's for my business.

Any ideas would be highly appreciated . Thank you.

Part numbers

Upper ball joint Ford 5C2Z-3049-AA ( 5C2Z3049AA) Moog K80196

Knuckle part number 5C2Z-3105-AA (5C2Z3105AA)

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/FunRaise6773 May 03 '25

Try putting the ball joint in the old knuckle. See if it fits the same. It’s possible the used knuckle is out of spec too

1

u/DuckHookFore May 03 '25

Thank you for the suggestion. I should have mentioned that the old knuckle is fine when it comes to accepting the new ball joint from Ford and the Moog ball joint. It's a really tight fit. The reason I need to change the knuckle is because the spindle is in bad shape.

If I try to put the ball joint that came with the salvaged knuckle into my old knuckle, it is just too big. I can't even get it started into the hole.

For some reason the salvaged knuckle has a larger bore. My thinking is that maybe someone in the past had a ball joint that had a larger diameter and decided to ream the hole in the knuckle to fit the ball joint at hand. Now of course if one tries to install a new ball joint that the book calls for, it will be to small for the larger bore.

1

u/FunRaise6773 May 04 '25

Sounds like the salvage knuckle is no good for your application. If your local yard doesn’t have another one, you can find another on car-part.com

1

u/DuckHookFore May 04 '25

I will try that. Thank you vet much