Non-OEM Replacement Lower Control Arms

your right you have to buy the whole A arm with the LBJ includedhttps://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/p...leid=388435&diagram=8512295&diagramCallOut=13

 

They don't sell stand alone ball joints for 2nd gen trucks, only complete upper and lower arm assemblies.

I just bought the MOOG lowers since my bushings are bad and the LBJs are original. For $230/pair if they even just last a year it's fine. I plan to rebuild my stock LCAs and stick them on the shelf for use down the road. Since I'm using Camburg UCAs with MOOG ball joints I'll just use MOOG LBJs.

FWIW one MOOG LCA was made in China and the other Taiwan. They look the same to me in terms of quality of welds and finish. They don't seem particularly cheap, seem about the same as the OEM parts to me.

One thing that surprised me is the MOOG lower ball joints don't have grease fittings but the upper ball joints I have do. So there may be more than one level of quality or there could be a difference in assembled LCAs and replacement LBJs.

 

Yep, I thought I remembered reading about that somewhere.

 

looks like using Aftermarket complete LCAs will get you 1-2 years use before the LBJs go, read a couple posts here where some peeps regretted not using the OEM stuff and wasting time and money for a temp fix with the MOOG and DORMANS, only to rehash the whole nightmare over again

 

That may be true, I do wish there was an option to just get OEM ball joints. But I'm already sort of pushed to aftermarket with my Camburg arms and buying a pair of upper arms just to press out ball joints seems silly. Twice the work plus the risk of damaging the ball joints and wearing the fitment surfaces (I don't want to rely solely on the snap rings, they need to be a snug interference fit). Perhaps if the lowers don't last then I'll buck up $600 for a pair of OEM LCAs next time, but I have a feeling that it'll be hard pinpointing that they wore out because of being cheap or because of the wear and tear of 'wheeling them.

 

yup I agree, if you don't plan of keeping truck for a couple years then go aftermarket but the long haul use the OEM stuff, unfortunately there isn't a viable stout alternative to the Made in Japan arms and trying to rebuild the existing arms seems futile to save a few bucks if, any

 

Random question: I've searched but seem to get different answers. My tacoma has about 80k on it and I can see the lower ball joints are leaking, but I have no play in the wheel from what I can tell. Seems like most people replace their LCA after 150k, but with mine leaking, I'm not sure if I should replace them sooner? I do off-road every couple months as well and would hate to run into an issues in the middle of nowhere.

 

1A auto is where I got mine at. Work fine...

 

both mine look like they have a slight leak but im not F"ing with them if theres not a issue yet, if your A arms and cams are working I would not even consider messing with the LBJs or LCAs

 

ive read a lot of 4Runner guys use those they are Chinese made, but long term usenobody knows

 

They have been fine so far ( about 5000 miles).

 

Are the LCAs are made in Japan? I assumed they are not to be honest but I do not know either way.

Thing is my truck is 10 years old now and assuming the OEM replacement assemblies last another 10 years at a list price of nearly 4 times the cost of MOOG they'd have to last that long to make it worth the money. I bet MOOG will last at least 2 to 3 years, which makes the difference a wash in cost. Three or four sets of MOOG arms compared to one set of OEM.

My time and an alignment of course don't balance the price. But I have to do an alignment often anyway, since I knock things out just 'wheeling and swapping lower arms isn't a major job. Since I did splurge and get all new hardware removing it and applying new anti-seize every two years might mean that's money saved over leaving the OEM replacements on for 10 years and having to cut them off like I have to do with the original parts. That's almost $150 in hardware, too.

 

I searched the web like a mother trying to find out the OEM LCA manufacturer all I could find is the country of origin IS Japan, but no manufacturers name. I also checked out Beck Arneley LCAs cause they sometimes buy direct from the OEM manufacturer, but not in the case of their LCAs they are made in Taiwan

 

that's one oil change interval

 

Toyota typically uses Sankei 555 for chassis parts but I don't know if that's true of U.S.-made vehicles. I was under the assumption they were MOOG or Dana or some other domestic supplier. My only justification is that the Tacoma spindles have a slightly different taper on the ball joints than the 4Runner and FJ Cruiser so they are not interchangeable. You can use 4Runner arms and ball joints if you use a 4Runner spindle, but you can't mix and match.

 

I think the GEN1 LBJs are replacable and the OEM brand is sankei 555

 

Also, BTW, it's not unheard over that MOOG just reboxes 555 parts, too. I would not be surprised to know that Sankei, MOOG, Toyota, etc. all point back to the same pool of suppliers making the arms and have the same sources for the ball joints.

 

I used to buy 555 parts for my 1991 and they were definitely made in Japan. But that's been at least 5 years ago now that I last did those. I'm just now replacing chassis parts on my 2008 at 93k miles (which I actually bought in 2015 with 40k). I'm finding that it's not quite as clear cut with the Tacoma as it was with the Hilux/Truck back then.

I tried MOOG ball joints on my 1991 and they were nothing like the OEM/555 parts. The OEM parts were much better and on a 1st gen I would just about 100% go with factory parts. But those are available as stand alone parts and the design is quite different than 2nd gen.

On my Taco they appear to be the same in every way, although long term it's possible the rubber in the boots is cheaper or other things. Time will tell for sure. Camburg did send me polyurethane boots for my upper arm ball joints now that I think of it.

 

its possible, its tough to find out from them who really makes those parts but I called Beck Arnely they will tell you the Country of Origin but wont tell you the real manufactures names because of copyright violations

 

Yes and?