slow-mo

Correct.

I should have said that I have Sankei (mine are stamped 555) ball joints packaged in a MOOG box. Even though that is the way they came from Rock Auto.

MudHippy

I like pics...

2WD lower ball joint (555)

2WD upper ball joint (555)


4WD lower ball joint (555)

4WD upper ball joint (555)

kpnalder1

Alright, so I still have not replaced my ball joints but AM doing so in the next couple weeks. Yeah, I'm a little slow I know!

So, I know my dilemma before was the moog vs beck/arnley as OEM ball joints are $320 out the door to buy local and even on the interwebs still close to $300. After doing more research this time it doesn't seem like the moog stuff is what it used to be. Actually, the beck/arnley does seem to look a little better built. Especially the dust boot seal compared to the moog. I also decided to look at NAPA and was really disappointed in what I found as I've heard their ball joints are descent. I had the guy show me the altrom 8 brand and while the upper bj's seemed alright the lower bj's were marked and tagged as the exact same part but the casting, dust seal, and post were completely different. Also, I could not hardly get the lowers to move/rotate at all which seemed odd. And that was after using the counter for leverage and trying to press on the post at an angle to get it to move but very, very finite movement at best. I believe the altrom 8 is just below the premium brand of NAPA bj's and they were $180 out the door. Not too thrilled or excited about those... Next, I asked to see the premium brand which are $74 ea and when he brought those out I was blown away to see that both the lower and uppers had nylon lock nuts instead of castle nuts on them! For those being $300 for 4 of them I really wasn't excited and also the dust boot system didn't seem to be very well designed either. The beck/arnley ball joints look from what I can tell from looking at pictures(can't seem to find them locally) to have a pretty descent dust boot design as they have bellows built into them similar to the OEM joints. From rockauto they are only $135 for a set of uppers and lowers which obviously is pretty appealing and where I'm kind of leaning toward. I'm looking more at the design than price by the way...

I'm hoping to get some input from those of you who have had some recent experience in looking for and buying ball joints. Of course, I would love to go OEM but the price is pretty steep. So, lets hear what you guys have to say about this! Thanks

slow-mo

In my case, 3 of the 4 Moog ball joints were the Sankei (555) brand, which did have the castle nut and cotter pin. The forth, which was an upper ball joint, was a no-name ball joint with that same nylon lock nut.

daved5150

iTrader: (1)

Check out Pro Forged here at Summit. I'm gonna do ball joints this year because I want to put on ball joint spacers. I checked them out online and they get good reviews for all kinds of vehicles. But I do like the fact that Beck Arnley's are rebadged Sankei's. I would have thought Moog too because of the name but I've heard of complaints and stuff isn't made here anymore so you have to watch what you're buying. Plus I agree also about buying them w grease fittings. I'm the type who doesn't go with the cheapest. I want to buy the best part and will pay for it. And ya gotta love the "Made in Japan" stuff...obviously because we drive Toyotas. Let me know what you think. I've heard that the guys with street cars like Pro Forged and I've seen threads on them on truck forums like Cumminsforum.com.

kpnalder1

The pro forge do look like some pretty well built bj's. It's too bad rockauto doesn't sell them. On Summit's website they're comparatively priced to the beck/arnleys. Since rockauto's price is tough to beat on the beck/arnleys I'll probably just order them from there unless anybody else has any suggestions or brands I should look at. Only thing about the beck/arnleys I didn't like is that they don't have grease zerks. I guess if the design is good then they probably aren't really needed, right?

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

I'd g with the BA ones. You already know they're the good ones and at a good price. I found mine on amazon for good price I'm sure someone else online has them cheaper if you search part number. As for the grease zerk, if you look at the pic they have a bolt plugging a hole - simply install a zerk in that hole. That's what I did. You shouldn't really need to grease them very often at all, modern parts are not like back in the day where they needed grease like every oil change.

For toyota branded parts, there are a few toyota dealerships that let their parts dept sell at discounted prices to certain toyota owners (maybe up to 20% on certain parts). I know of 2 that will if you tell them you're a forum member at ih8mud (the land cruiser site). They are cruiserdan and beno, their contact info can be found over on ih8mud.

kpnalder1

Thanks highonpottery. Sounds good on the BA joints then! Guess I can throw in some zerks and grease them once or twice a year then. Thanks for the help guys.

daved5150

iTrader: (1)

I think I am going to have to look into getting those Beck Arnley's also instead of those Pro Forged. Good thread...thanks for the info boys!

bbrideau

x2 on what mudhippy says.

stay the eff away from moog if it is a wear part. OEM Beck arnley or raybestos

kpnalder1

Good to know on the moog stuff! I'm going to order the BA lbj's and upj's Monday and will probably go with the BA tie rod ends and sleeves when I replace those in a few weeks as well. What about the pitnam? Go with BA or another brand? I'm going to go with the autozone idler arm since it will be nice to replace the bushings as they wear out....

daved5150

iTrader: (1)

Been sitting here researching Sankei 555 branded ball joints and came across this thread on another forum. Very interesting to say the least so maybe all the older posters to this thread here will read it and keep the coversation going.

To sum up the thread, here's a quote from it that comes pretty close to a summation:

"FYI... just because the casting is a 555 doesn't mean the guts are from Sankei. I've been researching the hell out of this recently and I now have a new pair of Sankei joints at home waiting to be installed this week. Any brand besides OEM Toyota or Sankei will buy new or used 555 castings and install their own guts into them. The only way to guarantee a real Sankei joint is to buy a Sankei or a Toyota joint."

hockey88fan

Wtf is this 555 thing? Never heard of this. Although only had my yota for a few years. I agree the moog boot design sucks and won't last, it's more like a cover. I returned them after I opened the box.

daved5150

iTrader: (1)

From their site on profile page here:


Name Sankei Industry Co.,Ltd.



Location 305 Takano, Ritto, Shiga, 520-3045 Japan

Founded September, 1960
Capital Yen48 million
Number of Employee 295
Factory Site 17,595m2
Buildings 13,221m2

Business Manufacturing of Steering and Suspension Parts for Automobile
(Tie Rod Ends, Rack Ends, Ball Joints, Cross Rods and Others)

Trade Mark
555 logo Three Five Brand
Registered in 74 countries,and Applied in 17 countries

Customers More than 500 dealers in USA, UK, AUSTRALIA, SINGAPORE,
SAUDI ARABIA, DOMINICA etc, over 100 countries
Annual Sales Yen7.5 billion

Principal Bankers
The Shiga Bank,Kusatsu Branch.
The Tokyo-Mitsubishi Bank Ltd.,Kyoto Branch.
The Shoko Chukin Bank,Otsu Branch.

Related Companies
Gohsyu
Jyoetsu Industry
P.T. SGI

Gohsyu Corp.
2-1-1 midoridai, Konan-city,
Shiga, Japan

Jyoetsu Industry Co.,Ltd.
55-1, Kirisawa, Oguni-cho, Nagaoka-city,
Niigata, Japan

P. T. SGI
MM2100 Industrial Town Nlock J-8, Cibitung,
Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia

Bing search here.

RSR

Raybestos Professional is almost always 555.

I went with Deeza TREs instead of 555, but either is good.

Nearly all Moog parts these days are poorly made of cheap metals in China.

Definitely get the parts name/number from Rock and compare on Amazon too. With shipping from multiple warehouses and the handling fees, Amazon is usually cheaper for me anyways.

RSR

And their 555 boxed parts are usually considerably more expensive than Raybestos Professional if you do some price comparisons for the lowest Raybestos products online...

daved5150

iTrader: (1)

Another interesting point from that previously listed thread from above is this:

Sankei 555 is NOT the OEM manufacturer of UBJs. This has been covered before and I reached out to Sankei directly and here is there response:

Dear Mr. Mike,


1. Sankei is not an OEM supplier but has been supplying our suspension and steering parts to North American Aftermarket through our customers for more than 45years.

2.Our products are designed and manufactured with our own engineering and technical standards, which are “equal” or “exceeding” to OEM quality. In fact, we have a high reputation as a qualityproduct manufacturer and supplier.

3. Sankei does not have different grades of product, though in these days, some American parts manufacturers and distributors have so called the “Premium” and the “Economy” which is lower grade of product coming from low cost countries. Our Sankei products are supplied for the aftermarket as the “Premium” through our customers.

Best regards,
Taro Yamazaki

I just posted this as FYI. I just want to keep the coversation going.

I'd love to buy OEM ball joints but they don't have grease fittings. I think I will go with Sankeis or try the Pro Forged.

kpnalder1

Received my BA bj's last night and in pretty impressed with the finish and quality compared to the premium Napa bj's and autozone bj's I looked at. They seem to be of a much better quality than anything else I looked at. Every bj had the 555 stamp on it and also came with all new hardware so no having to use old stuff. Also came with grease zerks. Have to give props to rockauto for quick shipping! Ordered on Tuesday morning and they arrived Thursday.

bbrideau

good stuff.