Ball Joints

Here's the thing...

All 3 of those tools pictured above, cost $50 collectively, max.

Try as I might, with a big hammer, I couldn't separate the ball joint or the inner tie rod. The outer tie rod, I made into a mangled mess knocking it free with the hammer.

Now using each of those 3 tools, I got the respective component (lbj, outer tie rod end, inner tie rod) in less than a minute each with very little force. Easy as pie.

So when we are talking about spending a little money for the proper tool and making your life easier, why not? The added benefit is that now, I have that tool for future applications. If I use them for another car or to help a friend, or use them for my truck again, they will have already more than paid for themselves by the amount of time, effort, and frustration they save.

 

Thats great and all, but when that thing doesnt come loose even with an 18 in pipe wrench and all your might, then you'ld wish you had the <$20 tool to do it in less than a minute.

 

I totally agree and my post was in no way intended to criticise, I actually have a complete set of pullers; I have just never needed one to release a ball joint is all. As far as time, it would take me longer to get the tool and set it up then to do the actual job.

I do think it is important that the "hammer" used is of adequate mass so that the energy imparted to the structure with each blow minimizes the number of blows needed.

This has just been my experience and my previous post was more a question than suggesting that any other method is wrong.

 

Using these tools definitely save a lot of time and get it done the right way.

 

Cut the Moog ball joint open today, it is metal on metal contact and does not have a full ball. Crappy and quick wearing..

 

Do you have any photos that we can compare to Dirty Pool's pics?

 

Thanks for the information; purchased from camelback today. Camelback online was about 40% cheaper than my local dealer for toyota ball joints. Going by parts store today to look for pittman pullers and tie rod tool. I plan on buying moog for tie rods; hopefully this will not bite me in the butt.

 

Thats what I did. I orginial got Moog for everything: lbjs, inner, and outer tie rods. But after reading on here about all the negative stuff about the Moog lbj's, I sent them back to Rockauto and got Toyota OEM lbj's from Camelback Toyota (thanks Jorge for matching up the correct part #'s I needed). After looking at the Moog tie rods, I decided to give them a go though. So I ended up with OEM lbjs, and Moog tie rods.

 

Heres a good video on the tie rod replacement. http://youtu.be/AVQHgcXEhpE

 

What lock nut is that?

 

I wish one of the aftermarket companies would come out with 1" I.D. uniballs for the lowers. Several companies make the UCA kits that already have them. Yet there is no lower one offered unless you wish to get a super fancy, super pricy "long travel racing" complete kit that require longer CVs and a deep wallet.

It's this simple:



It really wouldn't be hard to design a uniball to go in place of the BJ.

 

Moog LBJ. I think there was a rubber washer between the two plates in the third pic to keep preload on the ball or something
Very happy i bought toyota ball joints. Think the moog uppers will stay until all pro ucas are in the budget..

 

Good work, confirms my suspicions.
I stole your pics for my data base and to update the other "ball joint" threads.
You should be good for a while with Moog uppers, they don't see half the loads the lowers do.

 

Sorry outer tie rod has the locking nut, inner just ha the big hex that should break loose with a big crecent, the tool pictured up above is only for the outer. There is no place to put it on the inner.

 

I have the same lower ball joints as you. You said that they are on recall and the dealership will install new ones for free?

 

There was a recall on the 01-04 LBJ's. If your the original owner and they havnt been changed then tgey will swap them. If you are not the original owner you can go to a certain website and type in your VIN# and see if its been done already. I called Toyota and did it by phone as i wasnt sure if my dad had done it.

 

You can also take the truck to any Toyota dealer and they'll be able to tell you if your truck is recalled for the LBJ's. I'm pretty sure not all 01-04's were recalled.

As far as my Moog LBJ's, I plan on removing them soon and putting my OEM's back on since they were not bad to begin with. I'll send the Moog's back to Rock Auto under the lifetime warranty and keep them as back up. I wish I could get my money back.

Moog used to be really good back in the day but it seems like they have dropped a few notches.

 

Damn Im the second owner.. And do you know what the website is called?

 

It doesn't matter if you're the first or second owner.

http://www.toyota.com/owners/web/pages/resources/recalls

 

Had my '03 checked both via that Toyota VIN site and by the dealer, mine did not qualify and at 140k miles, weren't 'that' bad upon replacement. I still feel better knowing they've been replaced with OEM, even if i paid for the part myself.