Newer??? Lower ball joint failure

First post here, on my way to the dump this morning and this happens. Glad it happened in my driveway. I was completely shocked as I had a bunch of work done last summer at my local Toyota garage including replacing both lower ball joints. After a closer look it doesn't look like they replaced the passenger side but I paid for it. I know this a common problem so I wanted to be pro active. I have attached a picture of the driver side for comparison. What are your thoughts??

 

Time for the IFS elimination

 

Is it still in “warranty”?

 

That ball joint is dryer then the Sahara desert. I can't see that thing being replaced just a year ago.

There is a reason, if I don't do the work, that I ask for the old parts back.

 

It would've been a lot easier to tell a year ago. They seem to have similar levels of rust, which kinda makes it seem like they both are of similar age.

How old were the ball joints that got replaced a year ago? Based upon how much rust these have in a year, you'd think the other one would be literal dust by now if they hadn't replaced it (assuming it was 5+ years old).

 

June 30 of last year. 7,000 miles on it since the replacement. Keep it in a climate controlled garage year round. Really a shitty way to start out a 4 day weekend. Of course their service dept is closed on Saturday but I talked to someone there and emailed off all the info...see what they say on Monday

 

...and I'm in Wisconsin...so yes..snow

 

No my question was how old were the previous ball joints that got replaced (not the current ones on there)? And I only ask because both left and right in your pictures look to be roughly the same age. Sorry this happened and I hope that shop takes care of you and your truck.

 

Poor Tacoma has the Detroit Lean , who's the Dealer that did the repairs in Da Badger.
Good luck with all that.

 

OP, what brand LBJ was installed?

 

Ball joint shouldn't have failed that soon.

What does your invoice state as far as parts used? You should have everything itemized with a separate labor cost for the work.

That aside, that's some nasty rust.

How's the rear of the frame? Can't imagine it being safe if even your coils are that bad.

 

Those are phosphate coated ball joints….the OEM ball joints are painted black.

those are aftermarket junk.

I used to be in the chassis parts business and I’ve cut apart every aftermarket Tacoma ball joint…with the exception of OEM…they’re all trash.

 

We've seen aftermarket ball joints fail in 3 months, same thing.

My shop will only install OEM ball joints, even if they are back ordered to the moon.

 

Even the 555 variants aren't painted.

 

They’re not OE…Japan made aftermarket.

the Sankai 555 units uses a 1 piece steel ball stud with a few grease grooves in the ball bearing against the forged housing…they’re OK if the get a dose a dose of moly grease regularly…just like the Moogs, but without that, they’re wear pretty quick.

mall the others use a one piece split delrin liner that extrudes the grooves shut under load and as soon as it gets loose and the ball contacts the housing…it’s game over. That’s what happened here.

the OE uses a graphite impregnated solid delrin liner with a polyurethane plug that goes in after the ball stuff is inserted with no grooves or slits so the bearing material can’t migrate under load…

 

I never said they were OE; in fact it's why I stated them as '555' and not OEM because I know they are different.

 

The greaseable JAPAN 555 LBJs lasted me for 8 years and the non-greaseable OEM LBJs lasted me for 16 years. Same offroad abuse on both sets and I kept the 555s well-greased. You get more value for your money with the OEM LBJs, not to mention the peace of mind. So the 3rd set of LBJs on my '97 V6 Taco are OEMs.

EDIT: I forgot to add that the boots on the 555 LBJs were not nearly as durable as the OEMs and both 555 boots had pin holes at 6 years which were patched with UltraBlack. At 16 years, the OEM boots were still very serviceable with no pin holes.

OP: Good luck with your LBJ repair!

These are the greaseable JAPAN Sankei 555 LBJs I installed in May 2013. I painted and sealed them with UltraBlack before installation and religiously kept them well-greased, probably after every 4 weeks of off-road use. Neither ball rotated smoothly after 8 years of use, so they were replaced with the non-greaseable OEM Toyota LBJs in the 04005-03235 "recall kit".

 

Everyone is moving towards sealed joints. Especially aftermarket.

I find that even with greasing properly, the non-sealed units never seem to last as long, and that goes for any thing like tie rods, sway bar links, ball joints.

We had a bunch of SPC arms fail on us that I installed and were 100% greased. They stopped making them and now all new SPC BJ's are sealed.

Toyota switched to sealed ujoints and we havent seen one fail yet.

 

Dang, seeing this reminds me that I really gotta change my 20+ year old, original LBJ's. I've had the new OEM replacements sitting in my garage for a year now.

 

out of curiosity have you checked for play?