Ball Joints

I have a 04 Tacoma 4x4 3.4 and need upper & lower Ball Joints. Best price? Rock Auto?

 

McGeorge or whatever online Toyota Parts site gets you the cheapest price.

Go OEM for lowers with new bolts as well.

 

I 2nd McGeorge. They seem to be the lowest price around on OEM.

But if the budget absolutely wont allow OEM, Low Range sells 555 lower ball joints that are better than driving around with old OEM ball joints that are about to fail.

 

While I got my first replacement set from Rock Auto (Moog), spend a few bucks more at least for 555 (available from low range off road) or go OEM from the various online dealers, like mensioned above.

Just google tacoma balljoit failure and you’ll understand why you shouldn’t cheap out on them.

 

Actually... THE biggest reason you see so many LBJ failures (especially now) is because just about ALL 1st Gen Tacomas on the road are about 100,000 beyond the service life of the original LBJs and most people don't maintain their shit properly.

It's not due to people having failures of "cheap" LBJs.

I'd say 80-90% of the pictures you see and stories you hear, about them, are original LBJs failing... WAY past their life span.

 

I know what could happen, are the ones from Rock Auto Good? I`m in Canada & I have purchased parts from Rock Auto and quite pleased with Shipping. Thx!!

 

Same can be said for suspension; blows my mind how many people have 100k or more on stock suspension. That shit was due for replacing years, and many miles ago.

 

Moogs are, at best, adequate. I had them on my truck for several years and they didn’t make my truck explode, but honestly for a few bucks more, just get the 555s.

I have noning against rock auto, I’ve bought plenty from them.

 

Excellent points. I say in the balljoint diatribe on my build page that in the end, it doesn’t matter if you spend top dollar for OEM balljoints, you cant just install them and ignore them for the next 100k miles. The design is the main weakness in these balljoints.

That said, given the weakness inherent in the design, it’s probably not the smartest idea to buy the cheapest version of what is already a fairly poor design. Cheap usually means poor quality control, poor quality control meens slop, and slop means a higher chance of failure.

 

My 555s came in Moog moxes (from Advance Auto Parts)

 

And OEMs come in 555 boxes, lol.

But that doesn't mean they’re the same. Often is the case that parts that come off the exact same factory line are sold to different brands because they don’t meet qa/qc standards of the main brand, so they are sold under other cheaper brands.

 

So you're saying a ball joint stamped 555 could be a shitty moog one, an okay 555 one, or an OEM one, depending on what the inspector at the end of the line said. Hmmm. I've heard of this for other things, but I didn't think we needed yet another way to muddy the waters here

 

I didn’t say moogs were shitty, they're adequate. I had moogs for several years and they worked well enough, but I also generally reccomend people spend an extra $20 on the 555 branded ones from low range (for example).

Buy yeah, thats pretty much exactly what I'm saying.

It’s a common manufacuring strategy.

Are you saying that because they are stamped with the same brand name, that means they are identical?

 

Here we go again

 

Yikes!
I’m almost embarrassed to say I still have my original upper and lower ball joints on my 04 with 210 K. Seems to be fine though.

 

Well, they don't seem to be marked in any other way, so that leads me to think they're just all on the same line and they just drop them in whatever box the customer ordered.

Maybe we can arrange a tour

 

The thing about them is they're fine until they're not

And when they're not, your truck is sitting on the ground.

 

@0xDEADBEEF is there anyway to check condition?

 

Honestly with that many miles, I'd just replace them.

But if they're really bad you can jack up the truck, grab the top and bottom of the tire and wiggle. They should be totally tight.

 

If they've been on your truck for a while, or you just got your truck and don't know the condition or age, just replace them. It's cheap insurance.