Lower Ball Joint Woes

How many times have you replaced your LBJ’s? I’m on number 3. Miraculously every single time has been in a parking lot. Latest catastrophic failure was in my driveway and these ones only lasted 10 months. Bad luck or good luck? You tell me either way who wants a first gen?

 

Ps. One of these photos was from today the other was 10 months ago. Same passenger side

 

Have you been using OEM Toyota parts, purchased directly from a dealer?

 

Mine was in a parking lot also, right when I started to back up.

 

@time623 in this economy?!? But I have so many O’reilly rewards points.

 

Well, on the positive side of things, we have a new thread to point people towards to highlight the importance of only using OEM ball joints. If you continue to use parts store LBJs, expect to keep breaking them.

 

Lesson learned, or nah?

 

Hard to say not knowing. @ace_10

 

Yes especially in this economy, as it would have been significantly cheaper.

Can get both OEM LBJs for $185. The cheapest pair at Oreillys would've ran you like $120 (not a big difference). Third set now, so call it $360, vs just paying the $185 once.

Luckily you've avoided the potentially thousands of dollars in other damages that can happen, not to mention risk to your own safety, during an LBJ failure..

Go ahead and use your Oreillys points on this set and come back to complain in 6 months when they fail again.

 

No need to be sour. They’re probably lifetime warranty anyways. Agreed, OEM will “probably” last longer, depending on how you treat your truck. I seen OEM fall apart in a year but due to abuse, not saying OP didn’t abuse his truck too.

 

@time623 I hear ya. I will likely order OEM parts prior this winter and keep on board from here on out. Maybe I will repair before it gets proper too snowy up north. Due to this being my daily I just needed to repair this go round ASAP.

 

You'll be fine for a while, but don't forget about it forever. When I had one fail I was going maybe 10 mph, and it still took out a CV axle, dented the hell out of my fender, and screwed up the steering rack and tie rods. It can get expensive real quick when that tire comes loose.

 

I had 262K on my original set all highway miles. I just replace them two weeks ago with OEM 219.84 delivered to my door but from here on out I plan to change them every 50K miles.

Note: This was holiday sale price with free shipping.

 

The good news is you will get to use those reward points.

The bad news is you will continue to get to use those reward points.

 

The frequency with which you're breaking them is indeed a bit unusual, even for aftermarket. Spring for the OEM's just once. You should get 30-50K out of them reliably, even if you offroad a lot. I love wrenching on my truck but the unexpected ones are not welcome at all.

 

Your profile says 2.5" lift... how was this achieved?

 

Good catch. Even if done properly this could be the culprit and the fact it looks like OP hit the trails a lot. IMO

 

@Glamisman @t0p_d0g Fabtech front shocks, JBA upper control arms, and then a before leaf kit w/ bilsteins in the back. Probably like 3 inch lift in rear.

 

The reason I ask is that the shock/strut itself acts as the compression travel limiter, on extension, my gut is telling me it is the ball joint and its swivel limit.

 

Aren’t you selling a lightly used set of OEM LBJs in the marketplace forum? This sounds perfect for OP.