Lower Ball joints or upper and lower?

I am about to do a full suspension upgrade. In researching that, it has been brought to my attention that the lower ball joints should be replaced on a regular basis.

Should I be replacing the upper ball joints as well?

Or is it only the lowers that fail suddenly and cause the wheel to fall off?

Thanks for input!

 

Should just knock out both the upper and lower while you're there.

Lower, extremely important that you go with a quality set such as OEM, or at the very least, 555.

That's pretty much it.

 

Lowers tend to be the area requiring more attention. Uppers depends on your setup. You may require UCA's to facilitate proper alignment. Then it's just preference at that point. There are a variety of ball joint options like Delta Joints and similar all the way to Uniball's. I went with uniballs and love them. But the debate rages.

OEM LBJ's for me.

 

555?

I was thinking to go with Moog, just to save some cash since I am spending way more right now than I should. But seems like this is a part that I really don't want to fail. So perhaps OEM.

What's 555 though?

 

What is the purported benefit of Uni-balls? I have seen them but haven't been clear on why someone would choose that over a more standard ball joint.

 

So, I wouldn't go right away and say that off brand items don't work well, but if OEM has lasted many people well over 100k miles, why not go with a quality replacement?

No reason to chance something.

I bet you'll get some life out of that Moog, but I'd rather have a ball joint that has proven itself many times over.

Cry once.

 

555 is another manufacturer of ball joints.

Again, debate rages on which LBJ. Not to rehash, but for such an important safety item I tend not to skimp $ for safety. Not saying the 555's are not safe. I just feel safER. That's what makes me sleep at night.

 

Uniball, or other UCA's with their own proprietary joint, are offered to help achieve proper alignment as stated earlier, and to allow for better articulation for off roading.

If you're not actually wheeling, then just go with OEM uppers too. Even then, I find a ton of people on the forum that wheel pretty significantly on stock arms.

 

Don't get moog lower ball joints, they suck and are just as bad as not replacing them

 

This topic is heavily discussed and there are hundreds (even somewhat recent) threads on the subject.

Your answers are provided in those threads, even before you ask the question here.

 

I am with you there. I generally like to go OEM in most cases as I believe in quality parts and doing repairs less frequently. And when it comes to an item that has major safety implications and the possibility of causing a lot more vehicle damage if it fails...then it makes even more sense. I will probably just suck it up and go OEM. This one seems pretty unanimous in terms of people choosing OEM.

 

Fucking strong as hell and way overkill for me. Delta joints and other ball designs are also strong and allow for high misalignment. Personally the difference for me was maintenance. Back when I bought them, the other options weren't available. So I liked the fact I could change them in less than an hour and barely break a sweat. Uniballs are also fairly cheap. New delta joints are 200+ I think.

 

He's correct, but I don't mind replying. Do some digging and see. Visit some vendor sites and see what you like.

 

I know this is 100% accurate, I am just still learning how to be skillful in searching the threads. I did do a bunch of searching before posting this, but found no commentary on replacing the upper ball joints as a regular maintenance item. Any tips on doing a better job searching for answers? Or is it just a matter of slogging through hundreds of threads to find the one that actually addresses my question rather than the one that happens to mention a ball joint in the context of some other question?

Your input and help is much appreciated, I know it can be annoying to see the same questions over and over again.

thanks,

 

I don't mind answering most questions either, just throwing it out there as a general statement.

I found it best to be short yet specific in your question, and add Tacomaworld, in a google search.

Helps a ton.

Going back to this though, just go OEM.

 

Thanks for the heads up. Will go OEM.

 

555 is supposedly the manufacturers of oem lbjs

 

See! Lol. 555 Moog OEM...

Search tip... just look at the search box. I find it helpful to search thread titles only. Cuts down on the content and ups the relevance.

 

Searching for OEM parts, I am seeing a couple different numbers for my model year, 2000, 4wd.

Lower left:
4334039585
Lower Left:

$136 43340-39436 Ball Joint Assembly

43340-39436

Anyone have any ideas on how to verify the correct part number?

 

There are variations, where some come with bolts, some don't, and others come with an outer boot. Also, some numbers are discontinued and replaced with a new number.

Same ball joint though.

These are mine, upper and lower -