Ford Repair: Ball Joint Replacement, lower ball joints, grease fittings

Question
I am replacing the lower ball joints on a 1996 explorer, 4wd with a 6 cyl engine. After pressing out the old joints with a ball joint press tool, I got ready to press the new Schucks joints in, but they slid in by hand pressure only! and would slide up and down with hand pressure. I asked Schucks to recheck the part number and they said it was the correct part number, they even cross checked the computer number with the parts book. I then bought some Napa ball joints and these too slid back in by hand. Finally I went to Ford for the joints with the same resulting ease of replacing the joints. Shouldn't I have to press the new ball joints back in with the joint press? I found that I could keep the new joints fairly immobile by slipping the old snap ring in between the the joints new snap ring and the top of the hole, sort of a double snap ring setup, but I seem to recall replacing my F-250 ball joints by pressing them back in several years ago. Is it OK for the new ball joints to not be a really tight fit?
Thank you for any help you can give me on this matter.
Jim
P. S. Any idea why the Ford parts didn't have grease fittings when both Napa and Schucks did have them?

Answer
Hi Jim,
The ball joints should fit tightly in the arm and need to be pressed in. Take the old ball joint to the parts store and see if they can match it up. If not you may need to replace the lower arm also. It may be cracked.
Ford doesn't put greese fittings on anything. No idea why!

Jeff
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