check your ball joints

For less than $35 more each, you can have OEM LBJ's. Everything I read steered me in that direction, so that is what I did. Partznet.com has 10% off through Jun 2nd using code MEMORIALDAY10. I got both my LBS's from them shipped for $197. Comes with new bolts and cotter pins. Go OEM. It's piece of mind knowing you got the best you can get for a little more money.... especially considering the seriousness of failures with this part.

 

I believe these are Moog 555.
The same ones I have in my truck.

ACDELCO sells the same kind of ball joints

$71 ACDelco Professional 45D2266 Front Passenger Side Lower Suspension Ball Joint Assembly

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...nt+acdelco&dpPl=1&dpID=414YBvOjMjL&ref=plSrch

 

semi-crap.

 

I have used the 555's with no issues. At ~150k and now at ~235k. They were still tight at my 235k change. I just felt like changing them out being I was going to be making a few 500+ mile trips.

 

whatever dude, obviously you just want to argue for no reason and cant read plain English so have a nice day and go pay the dealer for all of your parts

 

for your information there is no such thing as oem parts, they are made using outside manufacturers for all there parts and "mostly" those are asin brand parts if you buy Toyota oem its an asin part stamped with asin and has the asin part number, the only difference with the oem part is it hads the Toyota sticker or comes in a Toyota box but it is just an asin part semi rebranded with putting a Toyota sticker on it and doubling the price.

call the dealer and ask any "mechanic" working there, not the service manager or parts guy, the mechanics who install the parts will tell you the exact same thing.

Toyota doesn't make its own factory parts like ford or chevy, they buy them from suppliers, the same suppliers you can buy the parts from directly for half the cosrt

 

BS. Those non oem parts you speak of are made of lower quality materials. Toyota requires these manufacturers to follow high quality standards costing them more tone and work to avoid failure on new trucks.

The replacement parts are no where near the totota quality. That's why when you compare them to toyota they look completely different. Even if made by same manufacturer.

 

All of the 555 guys sharing your lack of problems is purely anecdotal. Would you rather have something overbuilt or something that will "just do"? For this part, I'll take overbuilt, no questions asked.

 

whatever you want to believe, its your money.

asin parts are exact same quality, form, fit, and finish as oem asin parts are, asin parts ARE oem parts, they even have the same casting marks from the same molds, nothing is different about them except the price.

if you feel better buying oem then by all means do it but your getting the same part if you buy asin or if you buy asin with a Toyota sticker "added" to the box, the sticker is the only difference in them.

 

Most of the failures out there are from OEM lower ball joints , not aftermarket.

 

Um yeah, thanks for stating the obvious. Now why do you think that might be?

 

Do you know that for the fact or you write it just because you can? I just looked at my brand new LBJ "Toyota branded" and there is no part number stamped on it. And it does not look anything like 50 dollars part you can buy from Amazon link or the 65 dollars one quoted in lowrangeoffroad.com link. Toyota part has actually machined surfaces where bolt holes are (other have these surfaces straight from the cast). Also the rubber boot is slightly different shape. So they are different parts made to different spec. And don't tell me that the spec has been changed as since 1995 all Toyota branded LBS had machined surfaces.

As I said before, aftermarket parts, even made by the same manufacturers as OEM parts, are made to fit and work as original part, but does not have to carry the same materials, quality, durability and internal design. Not always, but often aftermarket parts are cheaper made by simplified design (cheaper to make), skipping expensive operations and not performing all quality control steps that are required by car manufacturers. The result is lower production cost but often lower quality or durability. As for the LBJ, which is quite critical for the safety of my ride, I don't want to risk it all just to save 35 dollars on the part, that I may never replace anymore. If you believe differently,

 

1- poor quality. That's the reason of many accidents and the recalls with oem.

2- people wait too long to change them.All lowers( moog 555 or OEM ) should be changed around 90k miles. Going beyond that is a risk nobody should take, because there's no way to know when the bolts will fail or the ball joint.

 

Here's my take: They're all made in Japan or China that I've discovered through my research. Just because they are made by the same manufacture doesn't mean they are made to the same specifications. Plus here is a cutaway version of OEM and 555's aftermarket. Read from this page on. If you still want to use aftermarket ball joints, consider yourself warned.

 

That link shows the definitive evidence of the difference between the Sankei/555 manufactured OEM joint and the Sankei/555 manufactured aftermarket joint. Same manufacturer but definitely different levels of quality. This isn't disputable. But the decision of which to run is definitely up to the owner. Acquire all the info you can, thanks to Jon's link, then make your decision. If there are ill fated consequences after picking the lesser quality joint, at least you knew beforehand that there was a possibility of failure leading to more breakage. The worst is when these lower ball joints fail and it appears to happens 'out of the blue'.

 

I agree however instead of poor quality I would have to say poor design. These aren't designed to prevent catastrophic failure. When they fail they could kill you. It's really a shame. If these trucks had a better designed LBJ and better frames, they would be perfect trucks.

 

What about the UBJ? If I'm going to do the lowers, should I be concerned about the uppers? If I'm going to be tearing into the suspension, what else should I be looking for? Bushings?

Right now everything looks OK, including the LBJ. But at 160K+ on an '03, I think I'm ready for LBJs. I don't think the prior owners did anything above and beyond scheduled maintenance. And Carfax doesn't even back that up. I've also got a leaky rack, so I'm into all of this. Unfortunately, I did ITE/OTE two years ago with Moog parts (three five-555). I've read all about OEM vs aftermarket and have decided I want OEM for all this stuff. Toyota racks come with ITEs, so I'm looking at OTE, LBJ at a minimum. Of course, this all depends on if my frame is either going to be replaced, or is solid enough for this investment in maintenance. TBD in June.

So is this a concern? I want my truck to last forever. I know I'm out of my mind, but thats the way I see it. I love this truck (even though it's a 4cly auto)-it's my fourth tacoma. If that doesn't prove insanity (after all the rust issues) I don't know what does.

 

UBJ wont cause catastrophic failure like an LBJ will, so no need to worry about it as much. Just check for play every so often.

 

exactly ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

the issue is if the lower ball joint lets go the wheel is no longer connected to the car and pancakes flat causing all sorts of damage to the truck, much less the bad things that can happen while driving like losing control and running into other objects or even flipping over. an upper ball joint failure just jams the wheel in and make it undriveable like a flat tire would and can still be scary but nothing like a LBJ failure

 

sucks that i only seen this now just dropped $200+ for a pair of OEM last week.. ........