LBJ Concerns/Replacement Guide Recommendation

They must have been on recall years 2001-2004. I’ve got a 2000 my LBJ’s are tight as drum. Should I be concerned especially when I’m not in the recall ?

 

FWIW, I just did mine. The hammer method was 20 minutes of banging and frustration and I ended up going to HF for $15 for a puller after which it took 5 minutes. In this case proper technique beats brute force...

My LBJs were on at least since 80k miles (when I got the truck) till now 180k miles. They showed no signs of play. PO may have changed them, but they may also have been factory.

 

I just did this as well. Autozone had a kit with a bunch of different pittman arm pullers, but that kit wasn't available. They had a "heavy duty" pittman that I rented/borrowed; worked pretty well. A couple of youtube vids also helped. Like so many wrenching jobs, the first time took forever; bet I could do it in 1/3 the time if I tackle it again.
I know this thread is old, but for anyone who stumbles across it, be sure to check out the excellent thread about LBJ bolt torque (it's entitled something like "everything you ever wanted to know about lower ball joint bolts"). TLDR: there are several different types of bolts; torque values vary, and you really don't want to pork it away.

 

Tie rod and ball joint puller tool part numbers are in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfLvtEnX9qk

You don't have to buy a big kit, I just have the two of them and they work well - no hammering on the spindles.

 

If they had zerk grease fittings they were NOT OEM.