This ain't right, right?

Am I the only one that noticed the castle nut is installed on top of the uca

 

That's how the oem upper balljoint is setup in 1st gens. The ball joint is pressed into the spindle arm & bolted into the uca

 

While we're in here talking about ball joints and lack of funds, has anyone tried Mas Industries? Rock auto has them listed as 'Premium' right next to Moog. They are cheaper and look nice. Since apparently everyone says Moog sucks now, should I give these a try? They are $30 each for the lowers, $20 for uppers, so I'd be right at $100 for the whole set.
http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=7998920&cc=1317633&jsn=490

 

How is the load on the ball joint different using a spacer lift versus using a Bilstein and the clip settings to achieve the same height?

 

the bilsteins dont allow the suspension to droop this far the same as stock. they just add spring preload to achieve lift.

With a spacer lift the shock is no longer a droop limiter. the balljoints and/or cvs will bind up first and not just bind but will have a few hundred pounds of spring force on them. Imagine over a period of time when you hit a pothole and your ball joints are getting slammed with all that

 

Got it!

 

Been on here a long time never saw that before lol

 

They straightened up a bit after I got my spare tire on... I noticed all this goochery after I had a blowout and got the wheel off.

I know, they are still not right. don't scold me... I have new ball joints in transit from NAPPA already.

 

That looks much better, the lower ball joint looks normal now. I don't see any grease oozing out of the boot or anything. The upper looks like the boot is torn a bit.

 

may mean its dry as a bone...

usually if they are weather cracked its probably on its way going bad. just my opinion...

 

...touche, lol. When mine started leaking I had them replaced, sucks that the OEM ones are not serviceable/greasable but you definitely don't want to run them dry.

 

yeah they want you to buy new parts...

 

the rubber will rot before they go dry. My originals were perfectly fine aside from rubber when I changed.

 

Sorry, late to the party....LOL. I'm sure someone has already told you about how to change one. It's been a long time for me, but I remember a balljoint fork on a Jeep. LOL

Oh, and that spacer..... What is it? 2" in height?

If someone hasn't said it already.....Do you realize the height of the spacer X 2 - is what you'll get in lift. So - essentially ....if you put a 2" spacer in there, you're getting approximately 4" of lift.

Yeah....very very very bad idea and thats definately the reason why your balljoints are busted up!!

 

If you're replacing the lower ball joint, be sure to use threadlocker when re-installing the 4 lower ball joint bolts and don't over torque them. Torque specs are 59 Ft-lb for those 4 bolts.

 

I also know this is late, but in case it hasn't been said, ditch the spacer lift. Its really hard on your suspension and you risk breaking more parts.

 

I very much wish I had known that spacers are a bad idea when I bought the truck. I would have removed them asap. Given what I have learned in this thread, I agree, very bad idea. The truck came like that... I have mentioned this before.

 

Thanks for the useful info @cooper4x4

 

FWIW I have 3 OEM Toyota Ball Joints in good condition that I'll take $30 a pop for. 1L and 2R I believe or vice versa.

Ditch the spacers ASAP.

It looks acceptable at ride height but when you take a curve and the truck leans to one side, the opposite side suspension will unload and the ball joints will be at an angle similar to what it was when the truck was jacked up.

As stated before go with 5100s or a good quality adjustable coilover assembly if you're going to keep the lift. My recommendation (after reading that you don't wheel it hard) would be to go back to stock and run a good quality 31-32" tire in all terrain or mud terrain.

Good luck!