I was on my way to work this a.m. in my 2005 Ranger Edge 4x4. Doing 70mph on the highway.

Suddenly lost stearing and breaks. no warning. luckily no heavy traffic and was able to pull it over on the berm by down shifting and use of emergany brake. The truck was heading that way and I could not stear anyways..... Got out and it is apparent that the ball joint broke as the front tire tire is tilted out really bad...proably lucky the whole damn thing didn't come off.

Had it towed to buddies shop and sure enough ball joint gone. Of course this also caused axle to snap and rotor heavily damaged. gonna be an expensive one here.

Ranger has 47K miles on it..figures I was planning on checking brakes and front end this weekend.

Moral of the story...check them ball joints whenever you can.

lucky nothing happened to you

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2006 Supercab XLT Ranger Manual Trans 4X4 8.8 4.10's Open 33x12.5x15 BFG AT's Cragar Soft 8 3" Summit B/L Add A Leaf T-bar Crank w/ Camber Kit Blacked Out Headlights 4.0 SOHC Hood Decal from STL

Sounds scary, gotta love being able to downshift.

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do you have any sort of lift on your truck? i heard those can put excess stress on the ball joints

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1990 Ranger Extended Cab
2.9L V6 5 Speed Transmission
Planning to put a 347 and a T-5 in it eventually

Nope. Stock. I am shocked one gave out at 47K. I will found out if there was a cause to this failure, but from what I saw initially it just failed.

I will report back after I pick it up from the shop.. I have not talked to anyone since I dropped it off.

Damn axle for '05 is expensive. $175.

stock size tires and everything?

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1990 Ranger Extended Cab
2.9L V6 5 Speed Transmission
Planning to put a 347 and a T-5 in it eventually

my ball joints failed around the 40,000 mark as well. (well, not failed, but needed replacing)

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2001 Ranger Edge 4x4 (sold)
2006 F150 Lariat 4x4 (sold)
2007 Explorer XLT (Destroyed by Deer on highway)
2014 Explorer XLT (inherited from parents)

Got pictures?

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Schwinn Super-Sport, Nikon D90 ROLLED: 2001 Ford Ranger XLT Super Cab 4X4MODS
Buy my pictures at Imagekind!

yep. stock 16x8 aluminum rimes and tires.

I did not have my camera on me so I do not have pics.

Thats wierd, I had an 1/8" play in one of my uppers and it was on there 167000 miles. Dude, replace as much as you can afford because my truck now rides like new. New front ends rule!

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Oh no! I have a K&N airfilter, I guess my truck doesn't run!

Is this just a problem with 4x4 versions of Rangers or 2x2 as well

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2000 ranger v-6 xlt 4 door