LBJ Installation Fail HELP

I’m getting new tires installed and a professional alignment done on my 2nd gen taco in 2 days. I figured that would be sufficient time to replace the lower balljoints and outer tie rods on my truck... and it should have been (I purchased a 20-ton shop press yesterday for this installation).

Long story short, today I accidentally installed my passenger LBJ Upside-Down...

How do I get the bugger out?? If I have to smash it out, is the LCA salvageable? Is there any way the balljoint is salvageable? Thanks in advance for speedy replies, I have to somehow go and pick up my tires if I can’t make this appointment with the tire shop...

I realize I am an idiot, and further scrutiny will be taken as constructive criticism... there’s nothing to press against so I assume the only way is a thousand dead blows with a sledge.

 

Ball joint is toast, they are a one time press and then throw away. Cannot be pressed out and reused. If you have a deep enough impact socket use that over the ball joint stud and press it back out. If not cut the stud off flush with a 3 inch cutoff tool and press against what is left. Buy new ball joint and start again.

 

Thank you this answers one question flawlessly, however, regarding:

In a perfect world that would work, in my current world of hell the joint is actually pressed in from the stud side. In order for the LBJ to come out it would need to be pressed from the back, where you can see the red cover for the zerk fitting.

This would be an easy task if there were overhang on the stud side, but it’s pressed flush. You can see the toothmarks on the stud side where I had tried to use a vise to back the LCA for pressing - but it was just a sliver of metal on each side and the vice easily slipped off... i may try heating the LCA with a torch and drilling through the joint then smashing it out, but I don’t want to bend it...

Do you see what I mean when I say theres nothing to press against? I have a piece of pipe that fits snug around the joint, but theres no flat surface on the wrong side of the LCA to keep the press from sliding. It can’t apply pressure because on one side (left side in picture <tire side>) theres no overhang at all.

Even when it comes to bashing it out, there’s no way to brace the arm so that I’ll be smashing the joint straight out (If I were to attempt to hit the joint out, it would be zerk-side up, stud side down)...

Anyone in Nor Cal got an extra passenger LCA??

 

Its pretty much just easier to change the lower control arm instead of changing just the lower ball joint. RockAuto has AC Delco LCA's with ball joints already installed for our trucks for around $110 a piece. There's also the option of just going to Toyota for a new LCA but be prepared $$$. When the boot for my driver side lower ball joint tore i just replaced the whole assembly.

 

You might try a "bearing separator". It has two halves with a tapered edge that thread together to split bearings from whatever they are resting against. So in this case maybe it will have enough force to split the ball joint from the lca and get it moving/lifting. Maybe see if the local auto parts store has one they can loan. Heat the lca with a torch to expand it as much as possible, then try to get the two halves of the separator between the lca and the lip on the ball joint and start to pull it up and out. Once it's started it should start to move easier and then maybe a BFH will get it the rest of the way? Other than that I'd try to very carefully cut it out with hacksaw, angle grinder with cut of disc, and dremel.

If you have a welder and are good with it I can give you some more ideas to try.

Try the local junk yards for a cheap lca you can use to start over?

Best of luck, and don't sweat it everybody makes epic good ups sometimes.

Bugs

 

Thank you, I now feel confident that I can save the LCA. New joint ordered through local auto parts store overnight, unfortunately they don’t rent bearing separators...

I checked Row 52 and there are no 2nd gen tacomas at any scrapyards within 100 miles... Maybe the 3rd gen 4runner lcas are the same, I’ll check that out...

I have a small welder but have almost no experience with it... looks like I will be using the BFH method for sure, maybe imitating the function of a bearing puller using two wide-tip chisels. If I can get a big enough gap between the joint and the arm to fit a saw blade, from there I will cut them apart and press out the rest.

 

I like to save money where possible... in this case, it was cheaper to buy the joints and a 20-ton shop press (if you include the future money-saving this tool will achieve) than to buy the whole assemblies. Plus that way my truck still has Toyota-made LCAs, and I like zerk fittings and moog parts

 

oh trust me i know what you mean. i've changed the ball joints myself on previous vehicles i've owned because its cheaper, but for some reason the ones on our trucks are just a huge PITA.

 

Understatement of the century...

 

Thank you so much to everyone who chimed in, you got the gears in my head turning when they would not budge thinking about step 1.


I did it!!

Dremel with 1” cutoff wheel, hacksaw, cutting fluid, BFM, solid steel chisel, 8” bench vice, 20-ton shop press, and now I’m left with a 50$ trophy to remind me to double check anything and everything!!!

I’ll be installing my other new joint in this lca (I got both sides, plus end links and JBA HC UCAs) before it gets dark, then running to the store early in the morning to pick up another LBJ to put in the other side before my alignment & tire installation at 1:30!! Hopefully it all goes according to plan!

 

Nice work!! Looks like the LCA survived the whole process really well too.

I go to a silly level when I work on stuff. I often label even the obvious stuff with notes like "top", "bottom", "left", "right", and write measurements and other notes right on the parts in grease pencil then wipe them off when done. It looks silly and my actual mechanic friends laugh at me but I'm a little scatter brained and you never know when you might get called away for a bit. I still make bone head mistakes sometimes though.

 

Good job, pressing ball joints in and out is not the easiest thing to do. It is even harder when you don't have all the tools and adapters to do it.