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Loose steering, feathered front tires, and a knock over driveway seams all trace back to the same six joints. On a car this age those joints reach the end of their life together, so fixing one leaves the other five to fail next. The six-piece front-end kit for the 1984-1990 Ford Tempo replaces all six in one job for $130.41.

Name the six joints before you order

Six parts carry your steering and hold each front wheel in place. Four are tie rod ends, and two are lower control arms with ball joints.

• Inner tie rod end — the threaded joint that screws into the steering rack and carries its push out to the wheel.
• Outer tie rod end — the ball-and-socket joint bolted to the steering knuckle, the casting your wheel hub swings on.
• Lower control arm — the flat arm that holds the bottom of the wheel to the car and swings on two rubber bushings.
• Ball joint — the pivot pressed into the arm's outer end; it lets the wheel travel up and down while it steers.

Toe is simply how parallel your two front wheels point, and the tie rods set it. Play in a worn joint lets toe wander, and wandering toe grinds a saw-tooth pattern into your front tires.

Want this strut-and-lateral-link layout set against the others of its era? Our guide to comparing different car suspension systems puts them side by side.

Match your symptom to the guilty joint

Three complaints cover almost every worn Tempo front end. Match yours before you spend money.

• Steering wheel drifts or needs constant small corrections → the inner tie rod ends usually go first, because their boots sit lowest in road spray.
• Front tires feathered on the inner edge → toe wander from worn tie rods. Drag a flat hand across the tread: smooth one way, sharp the other.
• Knock over sharp seams, clunk when you brake onto rough pavement → the control arm ball joints and bushings that carry the vertical load.
• Creak or clunk from the very top of the strut tower → the upper strut mount, not the linkage. The ST-1901 front strut mount for the 1984-1990 Tempo, Topaz, and Escort is the $37.96 part Ford shared across those platforms.

What the six pieces buy you

Two single arms at $81.77 already cost more than the $130.41 kit, before you add a single tie rod end. The single-arm listing covers either side through the K8421 and K8423 numbers, so it is there if only one arm is genuinely damaged.

Why the full kit beats one part at a time

Both sides of your front end carry the same miles, the same salt, and the same dried-out grease. A side that has not knocked yet is an earlier point on the same wear curve, not a healthy side.

One honest one-sided case exists, and it is damage rather than wear. A curb strike or a bent arm on an otherwise tight front end calls for the single front lower control arm and ball joint for the 1984-1990 Escort and Tempo, a greasable forged bolt-on assembly at $81.77 with its hardware included.

Wear does not work that way. It is symmetric by nature, and piecemeal wear repairs tend to come back around the calendar.

Do the job so the repair holds

Measure before you order, and keep what you can of the old toe setting. Then work this sequence on a lift:

1. Rock each front tire at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions with a hand resting on the outer tie rod joint.
2. Feel for lateral clunk or free travel. The hand tells you which of the two joints is moving.
3. Rock the same tire at 12 and 6 o'clock. Travel there convicts the ball joint or the wheel bearing instead.
4. Back the jam nut off counting turns, drive out the cotter pin, and separate the taper with a puller rather than a hammer.
5. Spin the new outer joint on counting the same turns and stake a fresh cotter pin.
6. Bolt the new control arms in with the hardware from the box, then give each greasable fitting a pump of chassis grease.

After both sides are done, book the four-wheel alignment. Counting turns only reproduces a setting that worn joints defined in the first place.

If a fourth joint is worth refreshing while you are in there, the steering and suspension collection covers arms, joints, mounts, and links. For how parts change the way one of these cars rides, read our guide to suspension work for a smoother ride.

Frequently asked questions