LBJ Failure

Because members on the 4runner forums have had failures on non OEM. People then tore down non oem and oem ball joints after 10k miles to find major surface scaring on the ball joint. After time this will cause it loosen up and fail. Its not worth it when OEM's are so cheap.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/check-your-ball-joints.374853/page-2#post-10284167
Did you read this one? If that doesn't convince you, I dunno what will.
The point isn't the the aftermarkets are junk, just that they aren't as good and won't last as long. For a part that can fail so catastrophically, I like the ones that are built better. If I was in a pinch, for example, if mine failed on a road trip or something or I needed my truck ASAP, I would have no problem just going over to Autozone or wherever and just getting one off the shelf. But then I'd be keeping a close eye on it and probably swapping it out for oem soon-ish.

 

What I never understood is people usually buy Toyota for reliability. Then go and swap the reliable toyota parts that lasted 200k miles with aftermarket crap that is installed on all vehicles. To stay reliable. You must use Toyota branded parts. It becomes a crap shoot once you install tons of aftermarket junk.

 

Holy crap !!!!!!!!!

 

I was lucky to have mine fall out going 25, about a half mile from my house, really quick job to do though, took me about 30 minutes to get it back to driving

 

Where you turning or just going straight. I have noticed on the 4runner forums most failures are when full lock turning.

Mine failed at full lock low speed but took out the cv shaft, UBJ, LBJ, steering rack, inner tie rod and brake line. It was pretty damn pricey.

 

I can believe that "they said" but then I doubt that they did check them at all. To verify the state of the LBJ you need to jack up the truck, so the wheel is not carrying the weight of the truck. In alignment shop they don't jack up cars to do alignment job. They just drive to the ramp and do alignment with all wheels on the ramp.

Looking at all failed balls pictures I can see the ball is ground down really bad. So it is not like that shiny ball just pops-out of the socket. It actually is shaving metal from both socket and ball. It doesn't happen in one day, and should be easy noticeable before it happens.

The abnormal use happens when boot fails allowing dust/dirt in. Dust makes its way into the socket and acts as a grinding powder. It still takes some time before it would eat the required amount of metal. Other reason is prolonged sitting in the water or worse, mud. Water or mud will work its way into the boot and then will start acting like a boot is torn.

So I suspect the catastrophic failure can be avoided when regulary checking the state of boots and abnormal noise (knocking or squeaking when turning wheels). Especially if you do hard off-roading where you can tear rubber or dunk wheels into muddy water.

 

Shoulda went with Conicelli man. I paid ~$200 for both with bolts.

Good for you for getting OEM though!

 

Unless your LBJs had an excessive amount of play, causing a change in suspension geometry, this isn't really necessary. If your ball joints had even 1/2" of play, which is damn near failure, that is hardly a difference in alignment. Your tie rods and everything related to your alignment will remain unaffected. Granted, if your ball joints really are that bad and you replace them, yes get an alignment. Otherwise it really is not necessary.

 

Anyone know of a cheaper place to get LBJs in Canada?
Here in Calgary the dealers want $300+ per.

 

Talking about $200 worth of parts over 100k miles. Average is 12,000 miles for a vehicle per year. That's $2 a month for the average maintenance interval duration for these parts. Wanna be a cheap ass? Go ahead.

 

Thanks. I did look around a bit, and camelback was the cheapest I found. Mine are different part numbers, tho.

$216 43330-39815 Toyota Genuine Parts - Joint Assy, Lwr Ball (43330-39815)

43330-39815 $105.79

$201 43340-39585 Toyota Genuine Parts - Joint Assy, Lwr Ball (43340-39585)

43340-39585 $105.79

 

Hmm you're right. Part numbers are a little different for the pre-2001 models. I think those come with bolts already though. They are the ones that don't have washers on the bolts.

2001-2004, you have to get the bolts separately, they have washers because of the rubber dust boot (that's one hypothesis anyways)

 

But when a vehicle has loose ball joints it can be hard to align and they will notice this. At the time of the alignment they brought me in and had the vehicle on the rack. They used

You would think so right. I checked them. They checked them. Then this happened.

 

Do you have close-up pictures of the ball joint itself?

 

No but there are tons of threads on the 4runner forum. I do remember the ball and socket was shiney clean. No scaring.

 

I watched many pictures of failed ball joints. Other than this one was complete dud I have no explanation why new-looking ball got pulled from new-looking socket without showing any sign of free movement just before that. Then it really did not matter if you had 200k miles or 2 miles on them. LBJ don't fail like that. While your case is quite interesting and result the same, it is not common and does not apply. The ball can't be pulled out from the socket unless it wears out at the neck and grind out the socket collar. This is how failed ball looks like:



But before the ball can be pulled out of the socket there will bet visible play when the ball is pushed inside the socket - in our 1st gen Tacoma it is hen the truck was lifted by the frame or LCA and tire weight is pushing the socket down on a ball.

And if you (I mean a general "you" not you) are fruitcake like this guy you can make LBJ warning sign go away (just saw that video and it cracked me up). What an imbecile.

https://youtu.be/quspB3jTfNk

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA well, at least everyone calls him out on the comments.

 

Type LBJ failure into Google. Click images. 90% or more of the pictures will be Toyotas our Lexus. They are prone to fail due to design.

 

IMO, they are not any more prone to failure than any other ball joint, the suspension design just puts all the weight on the LBJ's so when they do fail, it's a sudden, catastrophic failure,and it gets noticed, whereas other vehicles/suspension designs give more warning.