Here is my way of replacing the lower control arm Ball Joints on my Mark VIII

I have had 3 Mark VIII’s now and the very first went to 210,000 miles before the transmission died in the winter. Instead of fixing it in the cold I sold it off but, it still had the original front lower ball joints in it.

I replaced my first 1996 Mark with a 1998 Second Generation Mark VIII. When I purchased it I got it from a dealer that picked it up from the original owner. When the dealership had it they replaced the front end components with Moog replacement UCA’s and LCA’s.

I drove the car a bit over 38k and the front end was making all kinds of noises. So I replaced the complete Lower Control Arms which was a royal pain to do and required an alignment. Plus I replaced the upper control arms with AutoZone units that had no zerk fittings so they could not be greased.

The LCA’s lasted but within 10k the uppers where completely shot and needed replacing. The car now had 138K on it and I found a friend who’s parents had passed selling another second Gen 1998 Mark VIII but, this one had a sunroof and only 53,000 original miles on the car 🙂

So I sold my first Gen 2 after I picked up this second one. About 10k after I bought this car it was in need of UCA’s. I had to look elsewhere for them as I learned the AutoZone ones don’t last. I got a set of Delco replacements that had Zerk grease fittings and are more substantial looking than the AZ units.

Finally at 88K the passenger side LCA Ball Joint broke and at traffic light 🙁

This time instead of buying entire LCA’s and replacing them requiring a lot of effort, I bought a set of Graphite Impregnated Lower Ball Joints from RockAuto on sale for $45 for both shipped to my house. I then went and bought a Ball Joint Press from Harbor Freight and installed the replacement.

Was still a bit of work but, less than replacing the entire control arms. A lot cheaper too!

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