Lower Ball Joint Recall Question

Truck Info: 2004 Tacoma TRD ExtraCab, all stock.

I was parking my Tacoma today and as I swung into the spot my front driver side lower ball joint dropped. My friend that drove me home told me there was a recall for that exact problem but I told him I checked my VIN for recalls when I bought it and it only came up with the frame issue. I did some searching online and found that some of the VIN's were affected by this but not mine. I have only had this truck for 4k miles, bought it at 69k. I had it fully looked over by a trusted mechanic when I bought it and he insisted there was nothing at all wrong with the truck besides the air filter being disgusting. Lastly, I did not notice any problems with the truck until the ball joint dropped. I have not done any offroading with it, unfortunately it has just been getting me back and forth to work.

My question to you is has this happened to anyone else that was not covered by the recall? I called Toyota and they basically told me I was out of luck. I guess I can count my self lucky thou, I just got off a 65mph highway seconds before this happened. Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

My 04 Prerunner was included in the recall, and searching my VIN the ball joints were replaced under the recall. I still have some concern, since this is happening to more than just a couple First Gen owners.

 

or your will look like mine!

 

Can the ball joints be checked for looseness, with the tire off the ground with a pry bar.

Or is there another preferred way?

 

WOW it sucks but its nice to know that this just didn't happen to me, This happened to me just by hitting the curb, i was like WTF, I had to get towed home but that's really stupid if Toyota actually had a Recall on this they should taken action and make there ball joints stronger because it could happen at any time to anyone and get into a really serious accident at a high speeds. im currently fixing mine right now so its a little cheap but for some people that dont like braking nails, its a pricey fix unless you get hooked up. so for anyone that has had this happen to them or is just reading this and hasn't had that problem, i really recommend checking them and replacing your lower ball joints frequently, yes there kinda pricey if you think so but its cheaper.
Mine broke and what broke on the way was of course the lower Ball joint, tie rod end and im lucky the rack and pinion didn't break , and the CV joint, and if you dont have full coverage the tow home. and if do it yourself is not your thing, the labor and parts.

 

Interested in this also. Sometime when I turn (usually slow speed and high steering angle: u-turns, turning from lock to lock when parking) and/or driving over speed bumps with steering wheel straight I would hear clunking noises from the front suspension.
I've already checked steering tie rod, welded steering shaft, replaced sway bar and steering rack bushing but the clunks are still there. would really appreciate any information on how to check the condition of lower ball joint.

 

I had the "clunking" sound and have decided to replace lower ball joints on both sides (Moog). It started on the passenger side when turning left now it's at random times.

 

I've had the sway bar links make noise over bumps etc. The nuts must be torqued to the correct ft/lbs. If you think it may be the sway bar just disconnect it and drive over the bumps that will tell you for sure. Also check to see if the if the upper ball joint arm is rubbing the coil spring. I've also had one of the welds break that houses the threaded side for the skid plate where the two plates come together. Going down a bumpy road it allowed the skid plate to rattle.

 

Sunday Sept 2nd I just got on the 580 E heading up the Altamont when the left front side of my 2002 Tacoma prerunner drop to the ground.I thought my wheel came off for sec looking in my rear view mirror I didn't see anything I prob was driving between 65-70 not sure what happened I tapped the brakes but I didn't have any brakes.I just held onto the steering wheel while hearing and feeling grinding from under my truck.as I grinded and skidded to the side of the frwy I stopped safely.getting out of my truck to see what happened, there was my rim on a flat tire being held on by the the rod end.ofcourse upper and lower ball joints were broke ,brake line in 2 pieces and I'm not sure what else yet.
So as I surfed the net is when I seen the 1996-2005 Tacoma ball joint recall ,I put in my vin # and sure enough my Tacoma is one of the ball joint recalls..

 

Damn! Lucky, all I can think of. Could've been really bad, especially at speed. Hopefully you have comprehensive coverage, perhaps your insurance will deal with it. Not sure how Toyota would respond given the ball joints should've been replaced already - call them and check anyway. Hope it works out - be thankful you're here to talk about it.

 

Sometime when I turn (usually slow speed and high steering angle: u-turns, turning from lock to lock when parking) and/or driving over speed bumps with steering wheel straight I would hear clunking noises from the front suspension.

I hear the clunk. New OEM rack and bushings and tie rods. New O'Reilly lower ball joints
and CV joints. My steering shaft has been inspected and called good.

I ignored a clunk on an old f150 when I was stupider and younger and the ball joint came
loose (while on a dirt road fortunately).

Don't want to ignore this clunk...

-Mike "old upper ball joints?"

 

So I ask every other member who hasn't replaced their balljoints...........why wait for this to happen?

 

https://youtu.be/tqw85L_sMgE

 

Mine does that now & it's because of bad lower control arm bushings that is on my list to do. The clunks sound worse when aired down.

When my stock upper ball joints were bad I would get a different sounding clunk when pulling in & out of a driveway. The cluck was louder on rainy days or right after a car wash.

So if what I experienced is repeatable with other trucks, try airing down the tires or get the upper ball joints wet & see if you get the same results as I did.

 

Sounds like exactly wat my truck was doing.i thought my control arm bushing were bad now I think that it was lower ball joint causing all the noise.my ball joint broke while on the frwy jst this past sunday.totoyta dealer isnt paying for all the damage that it caused even though the accident was do to faulty ball joint that has a recall on it.

 

The first mod for any new owner of a used 1st Gen should be new OEM balljoints.

 

Can anyone confirm that these are any good please? Thanks

 

I can confirm the following:

1. I wouldn't buy them
2. I would buy ONLY buy Toyota OEM Lower Ball Joints from @gunny1005 / Camelback Toyota

but, just me of course. Plenty of threads here already which debate the question of OEM vs aftermarket LBJs.

 

Crap. Really? I'm really just needing these to hold me over for about a little over a year until I'm done with school. I can't afford OEM at the moment, and have read good things about MOOG.

 

The tolerances for these things are so small, that if you feel any slop in the balljoint, it is already past due for replacement.

I ran MOOG BJs for about 6 years as a daily driver with occasional off-road. They were fine. I've since replaced them with nicer 555's when I redid my front suspension. I plan to replace whatever I have (OEM or not) every 3 or 4 years or maybe 20-30k miles. The MOOGs lasted 2x that long without a problem, however my Taco is only an off-roader now (not a daily driver) so it will be seeing harder miles than before - hence the decreased replacement interval. Given my planned replacement interval, I see no reason to spend 2x as much just to get OEM.

Contrary to popular belief, MOOGs don't automatically explode just because you didn't spend $150 a piece on balljoints.

Most failures you see are more likely from user (installation) error and lack of maintenance than from cheap POS BJs exploding on contact.

Buy the nicest ones you can afford. If that's the MOOGs, so be it. I'm not 100% sold that the OEM BJs are 2x as good as their 2x the price denotes.