where do I locate the lower ball joint

lower control arm, close to lower part of front rotor, shaft of the ball joint goes through steering knuckle.

Well thanks bob sorry Iam not as smart as you

@bob - there's no idler arm or idler arm bushing on a ford escape. They have a rack and pinion steering gear setup, not a recirculating ball type steering gear. The rack and pinion has mounts and bushings that stabilizes it to the frame, not an idler arm and pitman arm. Also, it's usually cheaper and easier to buy a whole lower control arm for an Escape, than to change the control arm bushings.

There is also no upper control arm. It is a MacPherson strut front end, so it only has a lower control arm. On many cars now, the ball joint is not independently available. You replace the entire control arm, which included new bushings. The only other bushed joints are the inner and outer tie rod ends, and they should be inspected while the front end is apart. Also, if one ball joint is gone, plan on replacing both. The second won't likely be that much better than the first.

thanks, guys it is important for me to get corrected, because this way I know I'm workin' with guys who know from buggies.<<