Ball joint failure

Ball joints decided they didn't want to go camping this weekend

 

Ouch! Glad they made that decision while you were still in civilization and not out in the sticks!

 

I think that this is the first picture of a upper ball joint failure I ever saw.

Not that I really searched.

 

I've seen a couple but definitely less common than the lowers

OP I would replace the lowers with OEM as well while you're at it if they haven't been done. Lower ball joint failure is usually much more dramatic and results in more breakage

 

I vote for the IFS elimination kit

 

Right... Had only made it about 5 minutes down the road before the failure so pretty fortunate in that sense.

 

Appreciate the tip! Will be replacing the passenger side as well - seems like the LBJ failing is somewhat common for 1st gens.

 

Failures of ball joints on a 1st gen is always due to maintenance neglect.

 

To be fair, they don't clunk or even have play. Often it's just age. So most shops don't call it.

I treat them like age items now. All 1st gen tundras and tacomas I call them if they are original. Ticking time bombs.

We've seen them fail weeks after inspection. No leaks, no play *loaded and unloaded, no complaints from customer.

 

Both are right....if you've got grease zerts, you can probably 75K out of them safely.
But the others......I would worry above 40 or 50K......for the LBJ's....

The uppers I'm not as concerned about......they're so cheap on the 5 lugers, I just do at same time...

Universals in same situation, with little grease injected once a year, they last a long time...

 

OP,
I came very close to joining the "UBJ failed on me" club myself, just barely caught it in time (below). I tried the greaseable Japan 555 lower ball joints on my '97 Taco 4x4. They were good but not nearly as good as the OEMs. The boots on the Japan 555 LBJ were not as tough as the boots on the OEMs and they lasted just about exactly half as long as OEMs (approx. 8 years VS 16 years). And once the boot fails, the BJ will probably not live very long. So it is OEM upper and lower BJs for me from now on. Best of luck!

The original OEM UBJs from my '97 Taco were right at the verge of failure when I inspected them in 2013. They lasted 16 years but only had 100K miles on them. Long ago, I was told that the UBJs rarely failed. But I inspected them every year along with the notorious LBJs. My UBJs appeared serviceable when I inspected them in 2012. Just 1 year of off-roading later, a hot latina could have used them as a pair of maracas. BEWARE!

 

Are they original?

 

Original LBJs were replaced under recall at 27,000 miles. She's currently at 215,000 miles so definitely due.

 

Better look into mine too lol

 

Yeah I've gotten rid as much black butyl parts as I can....bushings, vac hoses ect..
So my solution was the napa one's, grease zerts and poly boots....

 

Did my front rebuild last weekend. Made sure I used all Toyota parts and new 4600 all 4 corners.