Ball joints brutally beating my behind

Replced the ball joints a few months ago, after a catastrophic failure on the driver side. (The lower ball joint itself snapped) I just had another catastrophic failure on the same side. This time the bolts sheared. I need some help. I used the black flanged bolts that came with the kit and torqued them to 59 ft-lbs and i got this...

 

Damn. OEM Toyota LBJs? I thought the black flanged bolts only got torqued to like 37 ft/lbs? What were the driving conditions during both failures?

 

Did you lubricate the bolts with ANYTHING? Thread locker, anti-seize, grease? That would cause you to increase the torque value (which may have been too much to start with).

 

By the grace of God, low speed. First time, I pulled into my parking lot, this time I was turning around because something didn't feel right. Both times I had to drive to 3 hour round trip to Oxford MS. I was going off of a Hanes manual and YouTube when I replaced the ball joints.

 

I was discouraged from using thread locker by the shade tree mechanic i had helping me. But for my part I didn't know there were conflicting specs for the bolts.

 

Those bolts are brittle and I replace them every time.

Sorry to see thats a rough thing to learn. I just did ball joints on a 3rd gen 4runner this week and the bolts were rusty and elongated.

 

They were new bolts that came with a full ball joint and control arm replacement kit, i was just dumb.

 

The black bolts require LESS torque.
See the graph/ snippet below.

Also see the link. It’s where I got the info
https://spikerengineering.com/lbj-bolt-testing-torque-vs-preload-2

 

OP,
We feel your pain. But you need to help us help you. In regard to the "black flanged bolts" that you state came with a kit: There are (3) different types of OEM LBJ bolts (below): green flanged bolt, red flanged bolts, and black non-flanged bolts with captured washers. You need to tell us or better yet show us exactly which LBJ bolt you used in order for us to come up with the proper torque value and possibly a reason for your latest LBJ failure. Best of luck!

The (3) OEM LBJ bolt types (not my pic) L-R: Green Flanged/Red Flanged/Black with Captured Washer (non-flanged)

 

Were these OEM Toyota Ball Joints?

 

At this point you might as well delete the lower bj with a total chaos kit. Include arp bolts too. Those bolts should never be reused. Clean bolt holes with a chaser and torque dry or with a small amount of locktite.

 

I got a question related to this.

I JUST changed my LBJ this last weekend and used the black bolts. Unfortunately, I torqued them to 59 ft-lbs. Nothing is broken, and it all seems to have worked for now, but I wanna back it out.


Is there any issues if I pull the bolts, reapply loctite, and re-torque them to 37 ft-lbs?

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...s-wanted-about-lower-ball-joint-bolts.772506/

 

According the link I posted above.
You don’t want to reuse the black bolts it you tq to 59 ft/lbs.

Read the LAST sentence below.

 

Yeah copy, I immediately ordered new bolts after reading this thread. I'm scared to drive all over again haha

 

I wouldn't reuse them. New oem bolts (not black) and torque to spec. Blue lock tite if anything.

 

Read this link like the previous user posted. It will tell you "Everything" you ever wanted to know about ball joints. It has a ton of great information.

 

Most likely were Not

 

Read that before I did mine last April. Glad i did! I was very surprised reading the part about reusing the bolts and what happens after you torque them!

 

Long ago I found a youtube video about 555 Sankei ball joints. The creator cut them open and many were built differently. He said sometimes 555 is an OEM Toyota supplier. I wouldn't risk using them.