Ball Joints

Hey Guys,
Well, it's time to replace my lower ball joints. Any recommendations to which brand I should go with? I do mild off roading, I don't want my ball joints breaking on me while I'm in the middle of nowhere.
Amazon sells

$57 ACDelco 45D2267 Front Driver Side Lower Suspension Ball Joint Assembly

ACDelco 45D2267 Professional Ball joints and the reviews are pretty good. Has anyone use this particular brand?

 

OEM or nothing. Do a search and you'll see why.

 

x2.

 

Any recommended websites?

 

Hit up @gunny1005...he works for Camelback Toyota parts dept and gets good deals on parts for TW members...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/gunny-is-back.476544/

 

https://partsfactory.camelbacktoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-lower-ball-joint-4334039585/?c=Zz1mcm9udC1zdXNwZW5zaW9uJnM9c3VzcGVuc2lvbi1jb21wb25lbnRzJmk9ODUxMDYxNTUmcj0xNiZhPXRveW90YSZvPXRhY29tYSZ5PTIwMDImdD1wcmUtcnVubmVyJmU9My00bC12Ni1nYXM=

https://partsfactory.camelbacktoyota.com/oem-parts/toyota-lower-ball-joint-4333039815/?c=Zz1mcm9udC1zdXNwZW5zaW9uJnM9c3VzcGVuc2lvbi1jb21wb25lbnRzJmk9ODUxMDYxNTUmcj0xNiZhPXRveW90YSZvPXRhY29tYSZ5PTIwMDImdD1wcmUtcnVubmVyJmU9My00bC12Ni1nYXM=

 

I bought my LBJ's & bolts n washers for almost the same price, parts store charge for LBJ's. Free shipping & no tax either! Killer deal! Happy customer here. I also bought 2 air filters & 5 oil filters since parts are so cheap.

 

Here we go again...

There are lots of threads about this. You'll have people that are almost militant about going OEM or nothing, then you'll have other people who've gone with different brands and done quite well for themselves. Hell, people even put generic crap from the auto parts store on their trucks and end up lasting 10 years.

I personally have had great experience with the MOOG brand from Rockauto.com. Some people have had different experiences, but I can tell you that my $40 MOOGS have lasted more than 6 years of daily driving and off roading without complaint (I'm not the only one). OEMs aren't exactly perfect, either.

So you just need to ask yourself if you feel that buying the OEM gives you enough piece of mind to warrant the additional cost. For me, it didn't, and I don't regret it. Your mileage may vary.

 

No matter what brand you go with (I vote OEM but there are plenty of threads on that), just be sure to check them often. The 1st gen lower balljoint design is shitty no matter what parts you use, so it's worth keeping an eye on them and putting in new ones every 100k or so (earlier if they are showing signs of weakness).

 

I trust nothing but OEM Toyota (not OE Equivalent, but OE *Manufacturing*). But that's me. Other's vary.

That being said, This:

And This:

 

OEM Toyota is why there was a ball joint recall in the first place.

Just sayin...



That said, I do sometimes wish there was an alternative to the OEM like there is for the upper BJ (uniball upper control arms), but even long travel setups (Total Chaos) use the stock lower BJs. I've seen a few attempts at using uniballs (iirc) to replace the lowers, but it generally requires a ton of re-engineering of the suspension and gets rather expensive real quick for minimal gain in performance. LT guys aren't breaking them left and right, so they can't be all that bad.

 

I have Camburg Uni ball uppers but unless you go long travel you're not going to find a good Uni ball lower. The OEM Toyota LBJ's were recalled cause of a bad batch. I had mine replaced in 2011 under that recall. I recently replaced a CV axle and also replaced the passenger's side LBJ with an O'reilly's LBJ since the boot was ripped. Not sure what the brand was but it has a zerk fitting that faces toward the diff & cost close to $100. The bolts didn't even go up all the way through the 4 holes on it. I looked at my OEM LBJ on the driver's side & the bolts went all the way up through. So instead of replacing both I shopped around and got both OEM LBJ's from Camelback Toyota for $199.70 shipped. Just sayin' everyone has their own opinion.

 

Oreileys FTW lol. Cheap as dirt, life time warranty, oreileys are everywhere and I can change my lowers in under an hour.

 

I'm so happy that you guys running aftermarket LBJ's don't live in my state. On the bright side, when the ball joint separates, you should have enough extra cash for the tow truck.

Assuming you haven't killed anybody when it happens.

 

Warranty doesnt matter when you're dead

 

The Search can bring you countless revelations...

Some good. Some bad.

Choose wisely.

 

I've been known to even drive my wife kids around in my truck - 100,000 miles and counting. OMG!

Lighten up with the fear mongering BS, m'kay? There are FAR worse things you could be doing to your truck than putting non Toyota branded ball joints on. Failures are more likely due to improper installation and lack of maintenance than anything else, anyway.

 

USE THE SEARCH BAR. So many LBJ threads that are identical.

 

hungover Toyota engineers trying to get off early on a Friday and rushing the balljoint design is why there was a recall in the first place, OEM/aftermarket replacements don't change that.

edit: technically, the recall was for a few model years that had ball joints with a manufacturing defect (ball joint was scratched on the assembly line and collected dirt more easily IIRC).

 

Literally LOLing at this thread. No matter what anyone says, no matter how many times it is said that this has all been said before, it *STILL* always goes several rounds again. Every time.