metalhed

Greetings does anyone have a good write up for the a Tacoma LBJ replacement. I have searched all over and have not found much helpful info. I looked at parts online and they vary widely. Some are just the round cylinder shaped joint and others have a plate system attached. Which has slightly confused me as to how the removal and installation process takes place.

I believe this is a fix that a person with some good mechanical skills (me) could tackle, but just want to get a good idea before tearing into the trucks frontend.

I am assembling a few tools to assist-- Ball joint C clamp press, BFH, Pitman arm puller, hand toold etc. anything missing?
thanks

scuba

http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/2003/index.html

Bird-Doggin

I don't know if this applies to your 01' but I am using this write-up to assist me on Sat to replace both upper and lower ball joints. Good Luck, I think the lowers will be alot easier than the uppers.http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53032

Bird-Doggin

I am replacing both upper and lower ball joints this Sat. I found this write up http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53032 Good Luck! I think the lowers will be alot easier than the uppers.

metalhed

well I just finished the Lower Ball Joints. 2 Hours, not to bad. No major issues.
Paid $66 for the each LBJ, Moog Brand, at Advanced Auto. Rented a Tie Rod end puller, and that worked pretty good. An easy R&R process, very straight forward.

Thanks for the writeups.
Next is the steering rack bushings.

Grn99Runner

I need to replace my lower balljoints soon as well since they have ripped and the grease is coming out. My question is have any of you guys had experience with balljoints other then oem such as from napa, autozone or advance auto? Also would i have to replace the uppers or will i just be fine changing the lowers for now

noahrexion

ABJ - always buy Japanese.

You can go online and buy moog parts for a lot less than advance, autozone or napa will sell there upper end line for. Autozone likely won't have them, advance might and napa does. They are all renamed and all made by the same manufacturer: 555 of Japan.

Moog is about the cheapest "name brand" that utilizes 555; the Napa Premium (most expensive line) also uses 555 but you can usually get them in stock. If you are ordering ahead of time than Moog is the way to go. The LBJ is specific to both sides
Moog Part # K90258 and K90259 (K90255 are the uppers). Rock auto has them for about $51/each which is a good deal. Napa sells them for around $74/each for the same thing.

OEM is also a great choice but my experience with Moog parts has ALWAYS been 100% satisfying just like OEM. Moog is about the only non-oem suspension parts I use.

Grn99Runner

Thanks for the info noahrexion, have you had any experience buying from rockauto? ive never heard of them before.

Anyone else agree on the quality of moog? i think thats the way im gunna go

noahrexion

I buy a lot from Rock Auto. They are very professional, great customer service and are very good about returns and such (good pricing but not great, rather buy there than Ebay).

I think if you do a little searching about "moog" you will find great results. Rather, you can also search Napa Premium and all that junk too. Call up your local parts store and ask about the top of the line suspension bits; they are likely to be 555 regardless of what the "brand name" actually is.