Lower Control Arm Replacement + BP-51 Rebuild in SoCal

At around 100,000 miles, my driver-side lower control arm ball joint started making noise, creaking and squeaking. Took it to a shop, they said they greased it and didn’t find any slop, so no need to replace. But the noise came back about a month later

Originally, I was just going to buy new ball joints and have a shop press them in, but after doing a bunch of research on here, it seems like the smarter move is to just replace the whole arm, less hassle and a cleaner job overall

OEM arms are pricey, around $550 for both sides plus $125 shipping from the online parts guys, and that’s before installation

Looked into MOOG, but almost everyone says to stay away these days, quality’s just not what it used to be

Then there’s Mevotech. Some say they’re great, others say they’re garbage. I do like that they have grease fittings, especially for a truck that sees off-road. Their TTX bushings (

$64 TXMS86527 Mevotech TTX Suspension Ball Joint

TXMS86527) seem to get a ton of praise, but of course, they don’t sell a complete control arm with those bushings already installed. Come on, Mevotech! So I’d have to buy the bushings ($65 per side) and pay to have them pressed into OEM arms. Not the end of the world, just adds another step and some labor

So here’s my question:

If this were your truck, and you planned to keep it long term, what would you do?
This is my daily driver, I take it off-road, and I’m not exactly gentle with it. It’s also my favorite truck I’ve ever owned, so I want to do it right.

Sprinkle me with wisdom, boys:

For context, I’m running JBA uppers, which have been great, and ARB BP-51 coilovers (probably due for a rebuild soon too). Speaking of which.... does anyone know a good place in SoCal to get BP-51s rebuilt?

 

Genuine Toyota hilux lower ball joints....pressed into oem LCAs. Upgrade the bushings while youre at it.

(If you are staying oem. Not LT, nor fabricated lcas)

 

A few months ago I had some creaking, I thought it was my lca bushings but turned out to be my skid plate making the noise.

I called Carlsbad Toyota and they said they only change the whole lca and it was going to be almost $3k….seems crazy.

I called accutune where I got my suspension from if there was an upgraded part and they said the oem lca are better than all of the aftermarket options…….unless you decide to go with mid or long travel.


If mine needed the bushings was going to buy all oem. A similar thread many said that moog lca and many others are junk.

 

What’s the bushing upgrade?


Are the hilux bj’s better than the tacoma ones…..thought they’d be the same.

 

Get some superpros, ES, or whitelines for lca bushings. Im told the stock bushings don't allow full articulation of the arms.

The hilux bjs are probably the same as the tacomas. The "stud" is a tad shorter though but long enough for the castle nut.