Front Suspension Rebuild Thoughts

First post here. Thank you to everyone who has provided insight on the LBJ rabbit hole and other common suspension questions.

My '95 is still riding on 100% original front suspension at 230k miles. I'm planning out the course of action for tackling the rebuild and my primary question revolves around disassembling and reassembling the LBJs at the LCA.

It's easier on my schedule (and wallet) to get the LBJs out of the way on their own first and then work through the rest of the suspension later on. Ideally in weekend-sized increments... If I do this, I'll need to pop the new LBJs out of my LCAs whenever I get around to replacing the LCA bushings. Do I have a reason to be concerned about doing this?

The '95 V6 5MT 4WD in question:

 

As long as you don't over torque the bolts (and various LBJ bolts use various torque specs), it's no problem at all to pop the new LBJs out/off of the LCA and/or spindle when you go to replace it later.

Details on the LBJ replacement and torque specs/different bolts: Step-by-Step Replacing Lower Ball Joints (LBJ) on a 1st Gen Tacoma

 

Welcome aboard, LBJ's on their own is pretty common but I will say if you spare the anguish of pressing out bushings and just get the whole lower OEM A-arms, it's only around $100 extra per side and you don't have to remove the LBJ's at all. I had to do mine because it just wouldn't align (bad coilover bushings contributed to that to.) Then you can bench it and never take out the ball joint.

What you will find is at least 80% of your time is getting things apart. I nearly gave up on the TRE's alone. Recent thread on stuck ball joints. At least two really good jackstands, BAH, two cans of PB Blaster, correct pitman pullers, and an extra large bucket of expletives will be required.

Best of all worlds, save up, do the coilovers, rear shocks, LCA's, LBJ's, rack bushings, sway bar links and bushings, and outer TRE's all at once. It will drive like new. Upper ball joints and bushings don't take as much punishment, but those can be added too.

 

Thanks for the input y’all. I definitely haven’t ruled out the option of just replacing the lower arms entirely. The truck is my daily and I’m not super interested in ever lifting the truck, doing poly bushings, etc

@turbodb thanks for linking your write-up. All of them are very helpful, I’ll likely be referencing your guide on doing the clutch job here before too long.

 

I don't think there's any issues with phasing the front end rebuild as you describe. Replacing LBJs is pretty easy based on my experience. The only issue you might run into is separating the LBJ from the LCA, I'd recommend renting a seperator tool to make your life easier; https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-...-fork-opening-ball-joint-separator/787834_0_0.

 

I've got one of the tool kits with a pitman arm puller, ball joint separator, etc. I should be set on tools aside from picking up some carbide blades for the sawzall.

Side note for anyone else looking: I was able to get the LBJ kit from Ourisman Toyota without any issues. PN 04005-02235. I saw in some other threads that people were having trouble getting this, with sites letting them add to cart but not actually stocking the kit or shipping it out.

 

Sorry, random question. What size are your tires?

 

They're 31x10.5x15 K02's.

 

@Lycus welcome to TW!
This forum and youtube can get you 99% of anywhere you want to go with DIY projects.
I just did the LBJ's and UCA's on my '99. Good advice above about paying attention to proper torque specs depending on the specific bolts with your LBJ's.
I've found there are two camps when it comes to dealing with ball joints: there's the BFH camp and the "use the right tool for the job" camp. I will admit to having better luck with the latter (i.e. rent the pittman arm puller from autozone). That said, there's enough experience in these here threads to convince me that either path is reasonable.
Good luck!