it's LCA rebuild time... Decided on Whiteline bushings, undecided on Ball Joints?

Howdy all! LCA bushings are shot! I for sure want to go with polyurethane. Ive been tossing around my options and I think I'm going to just rebuild my OEM LCA's. Pretty much decided to go with Whiteline bushings unless anyone knows of a better option. There are alot of opinions on Ball Joints, can anyone give me a for sure on which is the best to go with for most articulation and longevity?

Thanks in advance!

 

I just did my entire suspension. I went with Whiteline for my LCAs, I am happy with them. Most of the rest was a kit from Ironman4x4 so it came with new UCAs, but they still use the OEM upper ball joint. I have 198k and the ball joints I replaced were the originals, one of them had only recently gone bad. I used MOOG problem solver for the lower ball joints.

I imagine you'll hear the OEM tune a lot but it's hard to beat a ~198k mile lifespan. The previous owner of my truck never took it off pavement though (it is 2WD after all and he was an older gentleman) so my assessment may be anecdotal.

 

I did the whitelines on my 2005 4runner about a month ago and I've been happy. I used the import direct ball joints from O'reilly's since they were recommended by someone that wheels a lot harder than me.

I also made a full tutorial on T4R.org about my entire LCA rebuild and it can be found here: . Mine were pretty crusty, so hopefully it represents the worst case scenario. Let me know if you have any questions!

 

Replaced lower ball joints with MOOG 6 months ago and one of the boots is already split, going OEM in the future.

 

I have heard about this issue from others as well, we'll see how mine do. If they go bad too quick I'll be going back to OEM.

 

I don't think you will be able to get OEM ball joints, so are you talking just buying new OEM LCAs? Dirt King and Camburg both use Moog for their LCAs, which is a pretty good endorsement. Mevotech TTX LBJs are pretty nice looking. I know some of their basic stuff has not had good reviews the last few years but these are their very high end and I plan on using them on my rebuild. I already bought them and they seem solid. they were a little pricey at $45 each on Rock Auto but if they hold up its worth it.

 

I have brand new, unused, but opened Whiteline set that I'm looking to sell. Need to figure out a fair price and post in the for-sale, and I can do that quickly if you are interested. I'll even throw in the electrical pipe-conduit fittings that i was going to use for the press.

 

Is this the low-profile boot that hugs the stud pin?



Kinda unexpected because the $$$$ Dirt King LCAs use the same Moog ball joints:

 

If no one else is jumping on this, I’m actually looking for some. PM me please

 

You should be able to get oem from most dealerships and off ebay.
I've almost always used MOOG though and never had issues.
My friend has used Mevotech's higher end units with good success, on a different vehicle application though.

That's what the lowers I installed look like. They're supposed to be a solid design update from the information I found.

 

Just finished installing LBJ few weeks ago. I used PROFORGED from rockauto about $26 ea.
Oem BJ is very loose truck have 190k miles. Was pain to remove from control arms.

 

Toyota no longer sells just the ball joint for lower from what i understand. Your only chance is finding old stock somewhere.

 

I bought ProForged for my FJ they look really good too. I didnt see them for my 2014 when i was looking.

 

FJ lower ball joints aren't the same?

 

Not sure, had the shop order them and press them in

 

Yep those look like the same type of low-profile boots. That sucks.

 

From what I have heard the washers used from the Whitelines bend, I will tag @Crom on this as I believe the Maintenance Master discovered this.

 

Not according to Rock Auto. And I looked on ProForged website and they didnt list 2nd Gen Taco, but I wanted to try the Mevotechs so i didnt reach out to ProForged to find out what the correct number may be.

 

Actually ToyMoCo has never made the OEM LCA ball joints available in the U.S. for the 2nd Gen. However, the OEM joints can be had if you import them from Japan or the UAE. I have rebuilt many LCAs using all OEM parts and even now have a new set of OEM ball joints ready to install this fall. I have posted about this several times relatively recently in other threads and gave the part number. But forget trying to get them through a U.S. dealer.

 

I have no idea what I was looking at then it had a Toyota part number but I can't find it now.

Not that this helps the OP any.

According to Ironman4x4 they use "OEM style" ball joints in their UCAs so that a replacement is easily accessible from your local auto parts supplier if needed. I can appreciate that logic.
I was able to get ahold of my friend who installed the Mevotechs. It was on his Silverado back in 2015, they're still running strong.