Lower ball joints question

One of the major issues are people over tighting the 4 bolt and not torque them to spec

 

I think this is incorrect. At least from what I've seen.

I was present on two different occasions where one of the four bolts backed out altogether and when a 2nd bolt got loose, the remaining ones failed/sheared from allof the forces put on the wheel.

IMO, what is more common than over tightening, is not using locktight. The torque spec is only 59 lbs. I use blue, some say red. Either way, use locktight and torque to the proper spec.

 

Agreed, the OEM bolts are grade 10.9, which is equivalent to SAE grade 8. To over-torque them to the point of failure would require several hundred foot-lbs of torque - not likely to happen.

 

Less Than 1000 miles. Evidently the taper was not correct and so the ball was not free to turn.

 

Damn, that sucks man. For me, it's not really a question of which LBJs to buy anymore, the only question should be 'where do I get the OEM LBJs the cheapest?'

Side note, I lived in Port Orchard for 10 years. Graduated from SKHS.

 

I can say for sure do not buy mevotch. There casting is bad. I replaced both of my lower ball joints last weeked and one did not fit.

I went cheep and totaly regret it now.

 

Yeah, they fall under the Chinese parts category that should have the recommendation of 'do not buy ever'.

 

Wasn't there a Safety Recall on the LBJ's from Toyota ? Mine were replaced by Toyota by PO.

 

There was for certain trucks mfq'd 02-04. Mine was not affected. I decided to spend the extra $100 on Oem ones for piece of mind.

Anyone sugguest doing upper and lower control arm bushings?

 

Technically they all have a history of failure. OEM and aftermarket....

It's a pretty poor design....

 

I have moog on my truck with 70k miles and there doing just fine. No play and the boots are still intact. Just went under for an oil change this weekend and inspected them. I think it's a lot of hype.

Also they're greasable so as long as you do your maintenance on them than you should eat have an issue. I also go out in the Mojave desert quite often and drive washboarded and rutted fire roads and have a 2.5" lift

 

I finished upper and lower control arm bushings this weekend. I went with poly bushings instead of the rubber factory style.

 

What's rubber about the factory ones besides the boot?

 

Factory style control arm bushings are rubber while the energy suspension I went with are polyurethane.

This is a factory style bushing.

 

I can't believe people still even consider aftermarket LBJs. It's a consensus on the Toyota 4runner forums that aftermarket LBJs are a bad idea. But, if you like folding you tire under your rig at speed and potentially crashing, I guess roll the dice to save a few bucks.

On a more happy note, my buddy Sean and I have a video to use as a tutorial to replace them. Here it is:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bfLvtEnX9qk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Yeah, sure it is. A lot like playing Russian roulette.

 

Moog 555 are quality bjs. My taco is the second truck I use them.
If we change them every 90k miles we won't have any issue.
I lot of the issues happen because people don't torque those bolts to spec.

 

Don't torque to spec and use loctite. I just finished my truck and every stud that didn't have a cotter pin got loctite. Better safe than sorry with those four lower bolts.

 

Yes. used blue loctite

 

Thee Moog ball joints are greasable which is nice. That said my 2008 DCLB work truck has 278k on the original ball joints and still tight but lots of highway miles.