Replace Ball Joints, Links, Tie Rods? OEM, Moog, Proforged, Mevotech?

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=418905&cc=1357589
https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=418904&cc=1357589

These ones?

 

Yes

 

Since we are on the subject...

 

Those are the ones I just bought. I'm feeling pretty good about my purchase now lol.

 

I owned/operated a chain of auto parts stores for over 16 years, so know a little about parts/parts quality. I just replaced lower ball joints on my '96 a couple weeks ago and used Moog. Having said that the original Toyota went 412,000 miles.

 

And??? They were good or bad?

 

Man my last set of OEM lower ball joints lasted about 55k miles lol. Lot of those miles were some rough 4x4'ing though. They developed a lot of slop/play in them so I changed them out before they left me stranded on the side of the road, or off a cliff

 

The PS line is still going. Good.

 

They were worn out, but like I said 412,000 miles so no complaints.
I went with the Moog because I sold Mood parts for many years and never had any problem with them. I toured their plant several times and good people and a first rate organization.

 

Wow, 55K sucks regardless how it's driven. I'm interested in seeing how my new Moog ball joints last, something tells me I won't be getting another 412,000 miles out of them.

 

Your Moog lower ball joints are just Moog because of the box it came in. Moog doesn't manufacture lower Ball joints for our trucks. They rebox a lower ball joint made by Sankei/555 and sell it. But I have now seen cheap actual Chinese LBJs in AC Delco boxes ordered from Amazon. Buyer beware.

 

Yeah it really just comes down to the overall crappy design on the lower ball joint on our trucks, the ball joint is constantly under stress to be pulled out of the socket. On the 2005+ Tacomas, Toyota redesigned it and basically flipped upside down so the ball joint keeps itself seated and doesn't want to pull apart. Probably why we never really see or hear stories about later model Tacomas with LBJ failures, but on 1st gens you see it a lot.

 

That's not surprising as that type of thing is pretty much commonplace these days. Back when had my auto parts stores it was quite a bit different, for the most part if it was in a manufacturer's box they manufactured it.

 

Yep, believe me man, I miss those days too. Companies made their own parts and sold them and you knew who made good stuff, mediocre, etc. No having to try and figure out who manufactured what where and to what spec, etc like it is nowadays. Ridiculous nowadays.
But the good news is the Sankei 555 joint you likely used is the next best to the OEM ball joint.

 

What pitman arm puller do you guys use ?

 

More specifically which size works great for our LBJ and our OTR

 

I've really only seen 2, a small one and the 'normal' size one that's about as big as the palm of your hand, maybe a little bigger.

Harbor Freight sells one for about $15 that I use, it's a bit tight to get on but it fits. It's the only size they have that I've seen. The biggest one I've seen in an auto parts store is the same size

 

yeah I ruined a brand new OEM LBJ by tearing the boot with a pickle fork when I went to remove it, that sucked. Not to mention you really gotta hammer on that pickle fork to get it to work, pitman puller does a much cleaner job

It's like a jack in the box for me though, gives me anxiety each time I turn the bolt on it waiting for the ball joint to pop out with a loud BANG

 

When you're done with lbj's and tie rods if you cut off about a 1/4" on each side you can use it to press back in upper ball joints, if you are replacing uppers I mean. Just use a stout cats claw as a shim in between the puller and the ball joint.