Here you can find information regarding the assembly of the Ford Escape front end. In this guide we will cover the
essential repairs for the front end of this vehicle. Included within these repairs
is the inner and outer tie rod removal and change, the front wheel hubs installation, ball joint removal and
installation, the upper and lower control arms, and the front shock installation. Along
with the repair procedures we also include the corresponding bolt torque specs for each fastener involved. These
guides are intended to assist in each procedure to help diyers with the job.
Ford Escape Tie Rod Change/Removal
To install a new tie rod on a Ford Escape you must first remove the old one from the vehicle. This can be
done by raising the vehicle up by either the use of a floor jack or a vehicle hoist.
Once the vehicle is in the air you can remove the corresponding tire for the side that you want to change the
tie rod on. Once the tire is off you can now access the old tie rod and remove it for replacement.
The outer part of the tie rod uses a nut that will need to be removed, this nut may spin with the rest of the tie rod depending on how
rusty it is. I suggest using a pair of vice grips to hold the portion of the bolt to prevent it from
spinning. You may also use a wire brush to clean off the threads prior to removal and or use penatrating oil to
aid in removal of the nut. Once removed you can now tap out the tie rod from the spindle and
start to remove it completely. If you want to replace just the outer portion of the tie rod you can remove the clamp bolts further down the tie rod and remove the outer portion of the rod and replace.
Once the outer tie rod is off you can now install the new part and reinstall it the same way it had been
removed. Once you get the nut back in place you can torque it to 35 ft-lbs. If doing the inner tie rod be sure to tighten it back up to 66 ft-lbs.
Ford Escape Outer Tie Rod Nut Torque Spec : 35 ft-lbs
Ford Escape Inner Tie Rod Torque Spec : 66 ft-lbs
Ford Escape Tie Rod Locking Nuts Torque Spec : 20 ft-lbs
Front Wheel Hub Installation
To install the new wheel hub you must first remove the old hub from the vehicle. To do this you must first remove
the center axle nut from the vehicle. This is best done while the tire is still on the ground to prevent the entire assembly from
moving during removal. Next you will need to jack the vehicle up and remove the lugnuts and tire from the car.
Once the tire is off you will need to remove the bolts from the brake bracket on the steering
knuckle. These bolts will be rather tight so you may want to use an impact or find some
leverage. Once removed you can move the brake assembly out of the way and move the brake rotor from the vehicle.
Next you will have to remove both the upper and lower connections to the steering knuckle. These include the lower ball joint and
the lower strut bolt. A tip is to also remove the tie rod end so that you can remove the steering knuckle entirely from the vehicle.
With the knuckle out of the car you can then press out the old bearing using a hydraulic press or a bearing pressing kit. With the old
one removed you can press in the new bearing and then begin to reassembly the steering knuckle back into its place on the car. Starting
with the lower ball joint you will need to tighten the pinch bolt down to 46 ft-lbs. The lower strut bolt is next and gets tightened to
65 ft-lbs. The last part for the knuckle is the tie rod end which tightens to 35 ft-lbs. The last stages are to put the braking system back
on and then tighten the tire back up to the vehicle and install and tighten the center axle nut. The brake bracket tightens to 129 ft-lbs,
the center axle nut gets tightened to 59 ft-lbs and then a 90 degree turn. The wheel lugnuts can be tightened down to 100 ft-lbs.
Ford Escape Lugnuts Torque Spec : 100 ft-lbs
Ford Escape Front Axle Nut Torque Spec : 59 ft-lbs + 90°
Front Ball Joints Installation
The Ford Escape has one set of front ball joints being the lower ball joints. The lower ball joint is apart of the
lower control arm but can be pressed out and changed to a new one using a pressing tool. In order to get room to press the old
ball joint out you simply need to remove the pinch bolt which holds the joint to the steering knuckle and then remove the tie rod end and
move the steering knuckle out of the way of the old ball joint. Then you can press it out and press the new one in. Once the new on is in you
can reconnect the tie rod and reinstall the ball joint into the pinch on the knuckle and tighten the pinch bolt to 46 ft-lbs.
Ford Escape Front Lower Ball Joint Torque Spec : 46 ft-lbs
Front Strut Installation
To replace the front struts on a Ford Escape you will first need to remove the upper strut bolts which can be accessed from under the hood. There are 3
bolts which should not be that tight. With those removed we can now move to the side of the vehicle and remove the tire out of the way. There are
2 bolts which hold the bottom of the strut to the steering knuckle and then a bolt that holds the stabilizer link the the strut as well. These will need to be
removed before the strut can be taken out of the car. Once you have the old strut out you can place the new strut in and start installing it in the reverse
order of removal. Starting with the upper bolts we will hand tighten them and then move to the lower bolts and hand tighten them. With everything hand tightened we
can torque down the upper bolts to 55 ft-lbs and then the lower bolts to 65 ft-lbs. All that is left at this point is to tighten back up the stabilizer link and then
put the tire back on.
Ford Escape Strut Upper Bolts Torque Spec : 25 ft-lbs
Ford Escape Strut Lower Bolts Torque Spec : 65 ft-lbs
Control Arm Installation
The Ford Escape front suspension uses a lower control arm and upper strut to hold the vehicles steering knuckle to the frame, The lower control arm consists of
bushings and the lower ball joint which is where it connects to the knuckle. To install a new control arm you can remove the tire from the car and then move to the
bottom of the knuckle and loosen up the pinch bolt which holds the ball joint to the knuckle. With the bolt removed the lower arm can be dislodged from the knuckle.
Next you can loosen up the inner control arm bolts which connects it to the cars frame. With all 3 fasteners removed you can remove the old arm and install the
new arm into the car. The left side control arm frame fastener gets tightened down to 110 ft-lbs. The right side fasteners that contain a bracket
get tightened down to 85 ft-lbs. Finally the ball joint can be pushed into the knuckle and the pinch bolt can be tightened to 46 ft-lbs.
Ford Escape Lower Control Arm to Frame Torque Spec : 110 ft-lbs
Ford Escape Lower Control Arm Frame Bolts Torque Spec : 85 ft-lbs
Ford Escape Lower Ball Joint Torque Spec : 46 ft-lbs
Stabilizer Bar Installation
The Ford Escape has a stabilizer bar in the front end that helps with the control and handling of the vehicle. This
bar conects to two ends of the vehicle via nuts and then has 2 brackets one being on each side of the vehicle to hold the bar into place.
The bracket bolts torque down to 52 ft-lbs while the endlinks tighten to 40 ft-lbs.
Ford Escape Stabilizer Bar Brackets Torque Spec : 52 ft-lbs
Ford Escape Stabilizer Link to Strut Torque Spec : 40 ft-lbs
