Ball joints

i had to order new lower ball joints for my 99 Prerunner. But I
Wondering if there is a better route product wise to go. Factory or nah?

 

Ooooooh boy, here we go.


Might as well start a poll


OEM vs AFTERMARKET

I vote Oem

 

Welcome to TW - reference this (especially the last post, #6):

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oem-ball-joints-durability.587864/

FWIW, I agree with JKO - OEM has my vote.

When you do replace them, replace the bolts as well.

 

get what you can afford.

 

LBJ again ....

I also vote OEM. As others have said get new bolts as well. Also Camelback Toyota has pretty good prices on these.

 

Oem and need bolts. Oem equals peace of mind

 

Ok now I do t feel bad about spending $385 on both. I still have time to cancel them and wanted to get a consensus

 

Seems kinda high for just 2 LBJs... a quick search on camelback toyota shows less than $120 each. I always get the part number and search several sites before I buy parts since they vary in price so much

 

I believe that’s correct I can pull up my old invoice

 

I spent about $280 on 2 new OEM LBJ's through toyotpartsdeal.com. They sometimes have really good prices on OEM parts.

However, I have heard some people have had really bad experiences doing returns through them...so keep that in mind if you order there. Both times I've used them though it all went smoothly.

Don't cheap out on LBJs, get OEM ones from wherever you feel comfortable getting them. And be sure to get new OEM bolts as well if the ones you ordered don't come with them.

 

I have MOOG ones on my truck now. SO far they are fine and they are made in Japan as well, so that's nice. However that was all I could afford. I would have gone OEM if I had more money to throw at them.

 

Ended up going OEM. So glad I did it now instead of waited.

 

Was the boot like that while it was on your truck? Or did it get ripped while taking it off?

If it was like that on the truck....that thing was a ticking time bomb

 

It was on my truck like that

. I’m going on my 1st overlanding trip and I wanted to make sure this thing was at the best it could possibly be.

I have a family friend that is a mechanic and I take my cars to him and he tells me what to do and I pay him a “consulting fee” $20. We put it in the lift and he noticed it right away. He told me not to skimp on this part. Man I. Glad I listened.

 

OEM. I just did mine since the service record ( https://www.toyota.com/owners/ )showed the original owner had the ball joints replaced at 20K miles (I imagine as part of the LBJ recall back in the day). I just hit 200K so I thought I should even though I couldn't quite tell if they were worn (did the jack the A arm up and use a crow bar to lift the wheel test). When I took the old ones out, they moved more easily than the new ones, but I couldn't feel any play when I pushed or pulled on them. Pretty good for 180K. Based on that, I am glad I went OEM (two new ones were $211.70 shipped at Camelback Toytoa). I watched a few Youtube videos on it so I knew what to expect and what tools I needed.

 

Were they making any creaking noises when turning or otherwise?

 

No noises or clunking. I just figured since they had so many miles on them it would be good to replace them. I cut the rubber boots off them before I tossed them and there was a ton of grease in there.

 

Amazing oem quality man

 

i don't recall anything about recall in 2oo3 as mentioned a few posts back
i don't remember getting a notice about that or anything ever on my truck
did Toyota just shove my chit under the table or something?
i am getting the awful vibes they could really care less about my safety

 

I bought napa ball joints. 10k miles later one broke loose and slammed the front right of my pickup to the ground. Destroyed my CV axle as well. Because of my experience I will never go anything but OEM on ball-joints. Could of worse. Mangled my inner fender a little as well. Some have had even worse damage.