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I believe my ball joint(s) are toast on the front right side of my truck as indicated by the steering wheel/front end vibration at 45mph and loud creaking noise when I go over a bump and have steering wheel cranked all the way left. I will be posting pics this weekend of the entire assembly and performing the check in the above thread with the front tires jacked up. I will post pics of everything as I go through troubleshooting this weekend. I will post questions as I go and to start I am pretty sure I will be required to buy new ball joints. Any suggestions on where/what to buy would be greatly appreciated. I have read in the forums that Moog are preferred and bottom line, any ball joint assemblies I buy should have a grease port (didn't even know you could buy without).
There are alot of 'kits' out there that offer all four ball joints, tie rods, idler arms etc..for rather cheap. Don't know if it is worth it but I'm willing tackle all of the installation if it is a "might as well do it now because it's a 93 with 204k miles on it and you will have to do it at some point anyway" situation. Ditto on the steering dampener as visual inspection looks like that thing is toast as well.
I am not attempting to do any hard core off roading. I use this truck as my daily driver and off road only as required on the island as needed for surfing/diving. I'm not super rich either and am just looking to make this truck solid and functional. Doesn't have to be over the top. Mahalo ke akua,,,
Avoid the all in one kits from ebay. I tired one of those kits years ago when my truck was in stock form because it was a good price and the boots on the ball joints all cracked within a few months of use. The ball joints were tighter then the worn ones that I removed but not by very much. If you are going to spend the money on new stuff, buy better parts.
Ok, so I followed the troubleshooting advice and put each side up on the jack and applied torque to each wheel vertically and horizontally. There was zero play vertically and slight play horizontally. Does this imply my tie rods/bushings are shot? I didn't have a friend around to help with the steering test but can do that later today. I am posting pics I took today of all the ball joints, tie rod ends and steering dampener. I need some help in prioritizing which repair to do first:
1. Tires (includes balancing etc..)
2. Tie Rod Ends
3. Ball Joints (upper and lower)
4. Alignment (all 3 will require this but I cannot afford to do it all right now)
The creaking noise is only when I go over a bump and have the wheel cranked all the way right or left. The steering wheel/front end wobble only occurs at 43-47mph range and is attenuated at all other speeds.
The creaking noise is probably the steering stops. Its a common thing on these trucks. The steering stops are located on the steering arm by the outer tierod end and rub the plate on the lower arm. You can see where it rubs in this picture you posted. Try putting a little grease on the plate and see if the noise changes or goes away. I would also look at all the bushings in the arms too. I can see the sway bar end link bushings are cracked and need to be replaced.
The list you made seems to be ok to me. You just don't want to wait too long between new tires and the alignment.
Sometimes the head of the steering stop bolt in the picture rubs the dry contact area and squeaks. Try adding some thick Moly grease to them and see if the noise goes away.
If it eliminates the noise just grease it again when makes noise or you can get caps for them for about $35-45. off of ebay. I think they fit just about all the 85-95 4wd trucks and 4Runners.
They may or may not fit some 2wd trucks. I think this is because of the size of the bolt head. I guess a person could always change the bolt out if they really wanted to use them. They'll probably decrease your turning radius a little because there is no cap on there at the moment.
Spot on...I had the same issue with my 94 Pathy and put axle grease on the steering stops to quiet the creaking noise. Thank you both for reminding me,funny how you forget stuff overtime. I will pick up some grease tomorrow and report back. I will look into the sway bar bushings. I think the best course of action right now is to replace the tires (balanced), then have an alignment done immediately. If possible I will replace the sway bar bushings prior to the alignment. I think I will revamp the entire front end steering/suspension in january time/money permitting. I think I can make it until then with what I have going.
Yeah every IFS truck I've had up to when they switched to Tacomas has had that noise when I crank the wheel. I always just dealt with it but these days I'd probably try to address it.
Can't really tell anything from photos. You just need to do what you've been doing, which is to test the components the way the manual tells you to.
I bought a 98 Tacoma, which has the ball joints which tend to fail catastrophically. They were really wet from leaking grease. Had a shop check them out and they checked out fine.
I replaced them anyways... Makes me feel better.
Moog used to be the "go to" for "upgraded" ball joints. If you search around, you'll find some serious horror stories about them in the last few years. I'd go with nothing but OEM Toyota ball joints. The ones on my truck were 17 years old, with 190,000 miles on them, and checked out fine. They don't come with a grease port. They had lost some grease, and still checked out fine. If that says anything to you about "needing" a grease port...
Yeah every IFS truck I've had up to when they switched to Tacomas has had that noise when I crank the wheel. I always just dealt with it but these days I'd probably try to address it.
Can't really tell anything from photos. You just need to do what you've been doing, which is to test the components the way the manual tells you to.
I bought a 98 Tacoma, which has the ball joints which tend to fail catastrophically. They were really wet from leaking grease. Had a shop check them out and they checked out fine.
I replaced them anyways... Makes me feel better.
Moog used to be the "go to" for "upgraded" ball joints. If you search around, you'll find some serious horror stories about them in the last few years. I'd go with nothing but OEM Toyota ball joints. The ones on my truck were 17 years old, with 190,000 miles on them, and checked out fine. They don't come with a grease port. They had lost some grease, and still checked out fine. If that says anything to you about "needing" a grease port...
Thank you for replying Zach. If I can afford the Sankei 555 components I will use them. If not I will have to go with B.A. ( I will steer clear of the Moog parts for sure). B.A. should be an improvement on the stock gear in their current state at 205k miles. I am going to get new tires, and alignment first before xmas then rebuild/replace the front end suspension and steering sometime in January. I will review the manual on how to test the Ball Joints. Thank you again and hope you and everyone else had a bitchin Thanksgiving.
If you're going to rebuild/replace front suspension and steering stuff no matter what, hold off on the alignment until after you do all that. It'll need it again. If you're systematically eliminating things one by one, and thinking that maybe if an alignment fixes your issues, you won't replace all the other parts, then that's cool.
But doing ball joints and other stuff will require an alignment afterwards.
11-20-2015, 11:22 PM
Makes me feel better. 
