Lower ball joints

I have loose play in my steering on my ‘04 Prerunner. I took a picture of the lower ball joint & to me it looks bad, but I’m not a mechanic.

 

I don't see anything obviously wrong with it, but if you make any effort at all to search you'll see that many lower ball joints fail, catastrophically, with no warning signs. Replace every 100,000 miles no matter what. If you bought the truck and don't know when they were last done, do them now. I don't know my prerunners. Is that a plastic/rubber protective cover under the bolts? I have one of those on my Tundra but the bolts thread through it. Yours looks like it's just hanging there. Does nothing structurally, just kind of a dust shield.

Loose steering could be a few different things. Usually the ball joint will break off and take your tire with it long before you'd actually feel there's something wrong with it.

 

Get a pry bar between the lower control arm and one of the 14mm heads that hold the ball joint to the spindle. If you can get any vertical play its probably time for fresh lower ball joints.

Check your steering rack bushings and, if youre able, disconnect the outer tie rods from the lbj and check both the outer tie rod and inner for looseness. You dont need to pull the boot for the inners imo, how floppy they are should paint a picture. Should be very tight but movable. The outers should be movable, but hold their position and take more than 2 fingers to wiggle.

 

Replace the ball joints, regardless.

Loose steering would be attributed mostly by bad lower control arm bushings (best to do both upper and lower), as well as the bushings on the steering rack.

You've got a Prerunner so it's easier to get in there and replace those.

Before you do that though, I'd inspect the rear of the frame. If you let the front get that bad, I'd suspect the rear would be far worse.

 

I agree about the ball joints failing. When they go they go & take out everything with it. It’s got the shimmy when you go over a bump & it’s getting worse. I carried it to the dealership for a unrelated issue(shifter bushings were worn out)
And they didn’t say anything about it, but I’m getting it checked out by a good independent. I might not know how to play a piano, but I know when it’s out of tune. Thanks for the reply’s!

 

Do them now. OEM only. 99% of aftermarket brands will fail very quickly.

 

Here's how to test them to see if they are worn, and a step-by-step guide on how to replace them, with links to the parts needed if you're in need of new ones:

Step-by-Step Replacing Lower Ball Joints (LBJ) on a 1st Gen Tacoma – ADVENTURETACO

 

I agree 100% on OEM. Especially front end parts.

 

Will do! Thanks for the info!

 

Steering column tack weld / roll pin mod also tightens up loose steering. Toyota Time with Timmy and Sean has videos for all the above mentioned issues / fixes for 3rd Gen 4runner / 1st Gen Tacomas on YouTube that are pretty idiot proof.

 

Gee I wonder why the ball joint failed?

 

@op ive been going thru my front end as funds have allowed. Last thing im getting after is engine and trans mounts. While its gotten considerably better after doing rack bushings, ball joints, tie rods, and lca bushings, i still have some shudder over bumps at speed, "harmonic" vibration at speed, and shudder under hard braking. Prying the trans mount told me a lot. At first look it didnt seem bad, but as i lifted the trans slightly it was clear how old and worn the mount was. Cracking at where the rubber met metal being the biggest thing. Hope this helps!