Lower Ball Joints

I recently purchased a 96 Tacoma. It now has 211,000 miles on it after driving it around for a few months. I did not find out from the previous owner if the lower ball joints had ever been replaced. How can I go about checking to see if they are worn out and need to be replaced? I want to make sure the truck is safe to drive but I don't want to spend the money if I don't have to.

 

Jack up the truck until the wheel comes off the ground. Stick a pry bar under the tire, lift the tire up and down using the pry bar. If you can see or feel slop, then its time to replace.

 

I will do that tomorrow. Planning on changing the oil so I'll check that while I'm at it. If I do need to replace, do you have any recommendations for a good place to buy parts? I've done some reading and the general consensus seems to be OEM.

 

Just replaced mine, they were a little sloppy at nearly a quarter million miles. Koditten^ had some advice that really helped me to remove my old ones after having no luck with the auto part store ball joint separating tool.

 

It should be noted that you need to jack up the truck by the lower control arm so there is no tension on the spindle.

 

Once you do your first set, you will realize how easy they are to change.

OEM are the best. Aftermarket aren't as good, but you usually get a lifetime warranty. Replacement is free.

It's a crap shoot. Replace them for free more often our go longer on factory joints.

I went after market because I like working on my truck and didn't mind changing then more often.

You need to decide for yourself.

 

Also, if I am replacing the lower ball joints, do I need to replace the lower control arms as well? I don't know much about suspensions so this is all foreign to me.

 

Nope, as long as the bushings are okay those are pretty bullet proof.

 

I will be doing mine pretty soon as well.

 

I was in the same situation as you are when I bought my truck. Except the previous owner had a ball joint fail and fixed it. Only one side though. I couldn't tell if OEM but I went ahead and replaced both with OEM and upgraded the UCAs cause with coilovers it was needed. Now I don't have to worry about a failure for another 100k miles at least.

 

I got ahold of the previous owner and he said the ball joints have never been replaced. I've been noticing a knocking noise from time to time when turning or going over bumps. I went ahead and ordered new lower ball joints today from Rock Auto, should be able to get them installed next weekend. It will give me some peace of mind for sure...I've been getting a little worried the more I read about ball joint failures and how catastrophic they can be. Wouldn't want to be cruising down the road with a loved one in the truck and have something like that happen.

Does anybody know the torque specs for installing?

 

Going by memory, I believe the 4 bottom bolts are torqued to 54 lbs. The castle nut, I don't know. It has a cotter key, so I don't really worry about the correct torque.

 

The 4 bolts: 59 ft. Lbs + blue loctite
Castle nut: 67 ft lbs

When I replaced the ball joints I went ahead and did inner and outer tierods too. All Moog 555
Replaced shocks and coils too
Truck had 185k miles at the time. Going on 224k and no problems at all

 

Close enough. None of us have a recently calibrated torque wrench.

 

Where did you get the lower ball joints & tierods? I need to do mine, but I'm on a tight budget. I've been looking around, and I saw some on Low Range Off-Road for a decent price.
http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/1995-5-2004-toyota-tacoma-4x4-lower-ball-joints-made-in-japan.html

 

I got them from Amazon, but remember you'll have to buy right side and left side and don't use the 4 bolts coming with the lower ball joints. Buy OEM bolts(2 dollars each).The ones coming with the moog are shorter them oem and easier to strip.

$31 MOOG EV433 Steering Tie Rod End for Toyota Tacoma

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...g_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=JDNW2CJQM7DY8MWJC62K

$35 MOOG ES3545 Steering Tie Rod End for Toyota Tacoma

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...a+tie+rods&dpPl=1&dpID=310VTKS742L&ref=plSrch

ACDelco Professional 45D2266 Front Passenger Side Lower Suspension Ball Joint Assembly

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000...t+ac+delco&dpPl=1&dpID=414YBvOjMjL&ref=plSrch

 

Does anybody know of a link to a good write up on how to change them out? I did some searching and couldn't really find what I was looking for

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qaQCb894F_M

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AVQHgcXEhpE

 

Thanks roadeater. I'll watch this when I get home tonite.