Greasable ball joints

Has anyone in here replaced their ball joints to aftermarket greasable lower BJ's on their 2nd gens? I was thinking of doing this since I don't trust the factory ones since I had a bad catastrophic experience with my 99' runner the BJ popped on me one day I'm also wondering if the 2nd gen tacos are known for this issue?

 

2nd gen Tacomas don't have the same catastrophic ball joint issues that 1st gen Tacomas and 3rd (?) gen 4runners had. Toyota changed the design of the ball joint in 2005 and its much stronger/less prone to failure.

It wasn't an issue of not being able to grease them, it was the way they were designed to where the ball joint was constantly wanting to pull out of the socket, coupled with a run of ball joints that were defective from the factory. I think you're safe with the 2nd gen ones unless you really beat on them offroading or something.

 

Oh ok but I am wondering how long do they last before replacing them? I barley use my truck off road it only sees bumpy roads & potholes where I'm from & sometimes gravel/ice roads when I'm searching for a fishing spot.

 

^My RH ball joint started leaking in Sept. That would be after 7 years and 60,000 miles. I'll be replacing it with a Moog one when the weather gets warmer.

2nd gen lower ball joints are flipped around, so the weight of the truck compresses the ball stud instead of trying to pull it out of the socket. Just inspect the boots every oil change (like the maintenance booklet tells you to do...) and replace it if you see the grease leak.

Dealers don't sell the lower ball joint on its own. Only trustworthy aftermarket ball joint is made by Moog, and it comes with zerk fittings.

 

Honestly I don't even know if I've heard of a 2nd gen LBJ failure, not to say its never happened but compared to 1st gen LBJ failure it's extremely rare.

I really don't think it's something you need to worry about unless your lower ball joints are starting to look bad, or if you start to see/feel signs of them going bad (popping/clunking while turning, excessive up/down play in the wheels, etc.)

 

Yes I was looking @ those today @ my local parts store pretty $$ but looks like it's worth it the reason why I'm thinking of replacing them cuz I'm gonna be installing my pro suspension soon so if I'm taking the lowers off might as well replace them with good ones.

 

Unless your taking your truck off of some sweet jumps on stock suspension, a ball joint rarely fails without warning signs long before it gets to that point .

 

There is no need to touch the lower ball joint at all when installing the TRD Pro suspension...

 

Yeah installing new coilovers is essentially just a bolt on swap...take the old ones out and bolt the new ones in. No need to do anything with the LBJs or even the upper balljoints unless you're swapping UCAs.

 

So sounds like I've got no worries then hmm ok I'm gonna check the play of the BJ's when I have them apart so I'll post up to date after inspection

 

Always a good idea to check them
When you have the wheel jacked up, give it a good up/down tug and see if there's any major slop. As a 1st gen owner, I'm very used to doing this sort of thing lol

 

No I don't do anything ridiculous like that lol it's just my daily but after my pro suspension is installed then I'm gonna try some mild off roading nothing crazy

 

Lol ya can't blame u I shoulda did that more often when I had my 3rd gen runner I kept hearing this slight clunk noise going over bumps @ slow speeds then one day driving going to work in the morning then BAM the right front drops down & now I was stranded had to call the tow truck uggh that was a hefty lesson for me!

 

If the ball joint boot isn't torn, it won't have play. But if you want to check, do it properly: jack up the truck by the frame until the tire is ~1/2" off the ground. Insert a pry bar between the tire and the ground. Pry up and see if there's slop at the lower ball joint.