SuaveGato

Upper Ball joint mystery? PLEASE HELP! Hello all, I just got done replacing the front wheel bearings on my 1996 Taco 4X4, X-cab 3.4L with ADD. When I went to reassemble it I ran into a little snag… For some reason the Upper Ball joint on the drivers side when properly torqued (105 Ft. Lbs.) the Castle nut torques down so far that the cotter pin won’t do any good? I.E. the nut tightens down way past hole for the cotter pin, see pix below of the passenger side OK & the drivers side something ain’t right? I have looked at the upper control arm for wear, can’t find any? And the ball joint stud doesn’t seem to show a bit of wear either? It is possible that it was this way when I took it apart and just didn’t realize? Maybe the previous owner had replaced the upper ball joint with one that was too long? I dunno? Any ideas anyone? Anyone ever see anything like this before? Could I just shim it with a washer to raise the castle nut and be OK? There were no washers on it when I took it apart and the other side doesn’t have one it is seemingly fine? HERE IS A PIC OF THE ONE THAT IS “NORMAL” HERE IS THE BAD ONE Thanks for looking, any ideas?

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eric-the-red

Hard to tell from the pics but is the space between the upper control arm and the spindle less on the not normal one. If so I would think it's the wrong ball joint.

vegaskurt

More pics would be good. I have a upper ball joint that needs replacing. I've yet to find a guide on how to do it.

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1997 Limited 4Runner | Stubbs Sliders | Budbuilt Skid and Belly | Homemade Bumper

SuaveGato

I wasn’t replacing them, in fact up till this point I hadn’t even removed the grease boot(s) or the ball joint from the Knuckle… I was just re installing the knuckle after I had new wheel bearings pressed in and ran into the problem with the nut tightening too far down thus making the cotter pin ineffective in the castle nut…

The procedure to replace the upper ball joints is pretty simple & straight forward though… jack it up, remove the tire, remove the cotter pin and castle nut from the ball stud. You can use a ball joint press to pop it out of the upper arm or what I did was to leave the castle nut on a few turns and then hit up into the control arm with a mini sledge hammer until the ball joint popped out of the upper arm, then just remove the nut. Take off the grease boot, remove the retaining clip (cir clip pliers make this much easier than wrestling with it) pop the ball joint out, put in the new one and reverse the order to assemble… torque for the castle nut (ball joint stud nut) on mine (1996) is 105 Ft. Lbs. There are several different types of upper arm and ball joint set ups though, so if yours isn’t like the picture of mine, Get a Haynes or Clymer repair manual for less than $20 and read up and look pix of how to do your specific model, good luck.

SuaveGato

Well… I figured out what the problem was and have “FIXED” it… Somehow the tapered hole in the upper control arm that the flared ball joint stud goes into got reamed out a few thousandth and thus it opened up allowing the stud to seat farther into the arm before reaching the required 105 Ft. Lbs. Of torque. So the upper control arm is actually what is messed up. Must have been over tightened by the previous owner, reaming the hole out bigger or perhaps not tightened enough so it was a sloppy fit and wiggled the hole bigger from the stresses of driving it? Either way, I think I came up with a simple solution? I just added a few washers in-between the nut and the control arm to shim it. I don’t know / don’t think that it will change the geometry of the front end enough to matter? I hope not, because I really don’t want to have to buy and replace the upper control arm… that would really be PITA not to mention $$$.

Are there any front end guys out there who might be able to tell what if any problem(s) I might incur by adding the washers? I guess if I had to I could remove the arm and then finagle some way to “fix it”… maybe add a few thousandths of shim stock before putting the ball joint stud in? Anyway, here are some more pix of the “BAD” (now repaired) side.
Thanks,

Ringmaster

As long as the tapered portion of the ball joint is pulled up tight, the steering geometry shouldn't change at all.
I see no problem with using washers to set the height of the nut.

SuaveGato

Thanks. The only difference between the two sides now is that the gap between the control arm and the top of the steering knuckle, where the ball joint is, is about 3/16” – ¼” inch less on the side with the shim washers. You can see in the above pictures that since the ball joint stud is inserted farther into the control arm the Gap (where the ball joint grease boot is) is a little closer together… I hope / don’t think it will affect anything adversely? I mean, the upper arms are bouncing up and down at different times independently of each other all day while driving right? We’ll see. Worst case, if I notice any problems, I will try putting it back together wrapped in Teflon tape or some strips of shim stock…
Thanks,

JGM

That solution may work. I don't know for sure. What I do know for sure if getting replacement upper a-arms is the real solution.

Incidentally, I have a set of SS shaved a-arms for sale. With proper ID for ball joints, too.

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1996 4Runner & 1971 FJ40

SuaveGato

Nice pitch... LOL. ;-) thanks but I am going to drive it for a while first and see how if anything changes? Before I go replacing PITA to replace & Expen$sive parts. If it doesn't "feel right" or handle right, or I notice any unusual tire wear etc. I think I'll just shim the ball joint stud with some teflon tape or shim stock and reinsert it, that should solve any problems.

JGM

Cool man - I just provide options!

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1996 4Runner & 1971 FJ40

SuaveGato

Seems to be riding fine so far... nothing noticable so far at least?