Hunter89

Hello,
I have a 93 runner & it is 20 years old now so I would like to rejuvenate my suspension. While I drive, it goes straight but my steering wheel is like 20-25° offset to the left. While I brake the steering wheel shakes violently. Even when I turn there's a lot of play. So I'm guessing my suspension is toasted. I've decided to replace the upper & lower ball joints, pitman arm, idler arm, & tie rod ends. I've priced all these parts from Toyota & just in parts it comes out to $1000. So my question is have any of you guys had any luck with eBay parts? I've seen a kit that includes all these parts for $160. I do plan on a sas in the future so I don't want to drop a g to just remove and discard these parts in a year or so. I just want to get my rig ready for huntin season. I will also be insatlling a bj spacer kit front and rear, new springs, & new shocks. I would like to do all this @ the same time. Any help or replies are greatly appreciated.

adahlin

I can't comment on the ebay kits, but I just did the exact same thing you did (plus steering stabilizer and shocks) and got most of my stuff from amazon.com. Off the top of my head, I think I spend in the neighborhood of $450. I used the beck arnley brand and it seems pretty good quality.

I only have 100 miles or so on the new stuff, but so far so good. It's more than the ebay kit, but might be a nice compromise between quality and price.

Toyota~Boy

iTrader: (2)

I bought from eBay once. They will tell ya that there MOOG products or something good like that. However there not. There just some knock off brand trying to sell a mock off.

I bought a complete kit.
2 inner tierods
2 outer tierods
2 upper BJ
2 lower BJ
1 idler arm

Out of all those parts I could only use the top balljoints. The everything appears to be the exact replacement however they weren't. Lower BJ's were larger, idler was made for 2wd or something, tierods had different thread pattern.

That was my experience. The seller of eBay was.
ACCars2009

Hunter89

$450 including shocks & bj kit? Did you purchase each part separately or in a kit?

adahlin

Here's what I got for my 1993 4runner:

- $52.00

- $22.17 x 2

- $27.41 x 2

- $25.63 x 2

- $36.40 x 2

- $32.80

- $41.26 x 2

I actually got my idler arm from napa (didn't want to wait for shipping), but I Probably would have bought this:
- $65.31

Grand total (with idler arm from above): $455.85

I'm signed up for amazon prime so I get free shipping, even up here in Alaska. They also have a thing like napa where you enter your truck's info and they tell you if it fits or not.

Hunter89

Thanks, I'll be ordering up those parts this weekend. Did you install all those parts yourself? If so how long did it take? I have a good amount of tools & impact gun. I'm pretty mechanically inclined as well

adahlin

Yeah, I did it all myself. I've done oil changes and other small stuff before, but I'm new to all this stuff. I'm pretty much using this truck to teach myself about how cars work. As a point of reference, I started the project off with "what #%@ is a ball joint?".

It probably took me about 12-15 hours over the course of a few days because of a couple screw ups and runs to NAPA for tools and stuff. If I had to do it out again, I'd guess it would take me 6-8 hours.

It really wasn't hard though, you'll be able to do it. Between the FSM, these forums and this video: there's a lot of info.

My screw up was that I torqued down on the upper ball joint nuts on top too hard and sheared one off. That led to me trying to "fix it" and destroying the ball joint. So I had to get a replacement, etc etc. Lesson learned: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ALL THE TORQUE SPECS WRITTEN DOWN AND HANDY. I "remembered" it was 30 ft-lbs instead of the actual 25 and it broke!

Another hiccup was getting one of the shocks off. I was monkeying with it for a long time, but ended up grinding the upper nut off. I should have done that a lot sooner.

Let's see, make sure you put something between the upper bump stop and the frame to give yourself some space when trying to expand the control arm to get them onto the BJs. It doesn't seem like it's giving you a lot of room, but oh man do it.

Pittman arm was also a PITA. I bent a puller on my first go; that thing is on there. I ended up using a dremel with a cutting wheel to put a notch on the outside of the pitman arm.. like 1.5mm or so deep; make sure not to cut too deep! I found that technique on a thread somewhere on here. Then I put on the puller, a C-Clamp on the puller to keep it from bending open and cranked down on it. worked like a charm.

Finally, I wish I had a proper torque wrench.. I have a digital thing that goes between the wrench and the socket. It works well, but has a tendency to fall off and won't fit into tight spaces... so i had to guestimate a few of the bolts. The engineer in me was not happy with that =)

I'm really glad I did it and understand the suspension/steering system way better. So that's my experience with all this. I'm sure there are guys here that could bang it out in a few hours but that's not me.

[edit]
Getting a tie rod end puller and a pittman arm puller are a must from my perspective. About $15 each and made life waaay easier.

blacktail hunter

If you are getting violent shaking in your steering wheel during braking, you probably have warped brake rotors. Might as well replace them while you have the front end torn apart.

My 89 did the same thing, found my rotors were warped and rusted. Replaced them and problem solved.

Sturmcrow

Blacktail is right about the rotors. I've found that replacing the steering stabilizer will really help with steering shaking too, so its good that you are planning to do that.

I just bought Moog balljoints and some new CV axles from RockAuto.com. I ordered them yesterday, and they are already waiting for me at home. Apparently they shipped from San Bernadino.

cobolt23

Just a heads up. The Autozone idler arm is better then OME. It has a thicker shaft and holds up better.

arlindsay1992

iTrader: (8)

That's my 4Runner, that's my video. Glad it's helping people out.

Hunter89

Yea you guys are right might as well get some brake rotors & pads while it's all tooken apart. Maybe a rear disc conversion as well :-P have any of you guys done it?

Nervo19

Alex, I just watched a couple of your great videos. I bookmarked it to read some more later since you seem to have over 300 videos. If I can remember my name and password there I'll subscribe!

93Xtra-Cab

NO! NO! NO! NO! Do not buy ebay ball joints. Last year I bought a kit from ebay that had ball joints, inner and outer tie rod ends and a new pitman arm. The pitman arm and rod ends are still fine, but the ball joints started squealing horribly only after a month or so. They had no grease fittings, so the only option was to take the boot off and try to put in grease by hand. Even greased, they still squeaked. I eventually replaced them with Moogs from Rock Auto and couldn't be happier:http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...parttype,10070

Don't waste your time and money. Just go with OEM or Moog and never look back.

I also see that you're looking into a ball joint spacer kit. I recommend this one, as this is the one I'm using now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toyota-IFS-Pickup-4Runner-2-5-Front-Lift-Kit-4WD-/270441652053?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Year%3A1993%7CMake%3AToyota&hash=item3ef7941f55

It is only $90 and it comes with sway bar drop brackets, differential drop brackets AND grade 12.9 hardware. It's not some cheap chinese kit. It comes from Fat Bob's Garage in Utah. WabFab or 4Crawler sells just the ball joint spacers for over $110.

As for shocks, I used Skyjacker Hydro 7000s. They're good for the money.

adahlin

Yeah, that video was great. I'm a visual guy so SEEING someone do it really helped. I know they're a pain to do, so thanks!

bone collector

The latest issue of 4wd Toyota Owner covers this topic. They bought everything from moog.com for 360 minus the idler arm. For the idler arm the got bought an Autozone unit and beefed it up with bronze bushings and a reinforcement arm. all of that was less than 100 dollars.... check it out

arlindsay1992

iTrader: (8)

Yes, I read that article. It makes me cringe. Moog parts are not the way to go if you ask me. Their parts are not nearly as good as OEM, this is mainly attributed to the boots they use. Here's another video I made explaining exactly why you should fork out the cash for OEM parts.

Hunter89

I just got my bj spacer kit in the mail today but there are no instructions. The bj spacer video is really informative, but the kit I got comes with a diff drop. I'm lost on how it works, and how it goes on. Can anyone point me in the right direction please.

arlindsay1992

iTrader: (8)

I have a video about BJ spacer installs as well. Just search my channel for it. I don't have a video about diff drop installation yet, so here is 4Crawler's write up.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...l#Installation

Hunter89

Thank you very much sir, now I know how to install the diff drop spacers. Just need to order up some balljoints, tie rod ends, pitman arm, idler arm, some shocks and then time to start wrenchin! I've been looking for some shocks I've found some skyjacker hydro shocks for $160 a set on eBay. They have two kinds, one says it's for 0-2 inch lift. The other says it's for 3-4 inch lift. Which do you think I should get?