I am planning on replacing my ball joints, I know the lowers are shot and I figured I might do the uppers as well.

I have a ball joint removal kit and I think from what I have read the uppers are going to be a real PITA no matter what kind of arsenal I have in my garage.

I was going to buy the parts from "1sttoyotaparts" they want $50.00 for each ball joint, which sounds pretty good for an OEM part.

Are there "other" parts that I may need that I am assuming come with the ball joint that I need. I just want new ball joints???

I do not know if they come with a boot or not but I ordered 2 "plug" things which I think need to be replaced, they are only .75 cents so even if I dont need them who cares.

Can anyone give me any tips or advice or a reason to do anything different than what i am planning?

 

I got lower ball joints for $36 and a lifetime warrenty at Autozone, so you could do better than $50 a piece if you shop around.

 

for the uppers, jack up the lower a arm. stick something between the upper bump stop and upper a arm like a bigger socket. undo the 4 top bolts. lower the lower a arm down like an inch. then get a pickel fork and hammer it till the ball joint comes off. it took me like 20 mins to change both upper ball joints. cheap ones were 36, better ones 50, best like 90 bucks a piece at my local parts place

 

What need to be removed to get the ball joints off. I was looking at a Toyota Shop manual and it says the knuckle needs to be removed. Can it be done without removing the knuckle, rotors calipers etc....?

 

I see that rockauto is selling Beck/Arnley uppers for $38 and lowers for $27. I think they might possibly be the identical joints sold by the dealer. Beck/Arnley doesn't make parts, they source them from oems all over the place. I bought a Beck/Arnley pitman a few years ago and it turned out to be the OEM Sankei, identical to the one sold by the dealer, down to the 555 on the casting.

Beck/Arnley parts are not always the same as, or as good as, the dealer parts - it varies. But judging from the pics, the ball joints might be the japanese-made OE:



http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,ca...parttype,10070

 

I'm about to replace my lower ball joints too.. any recommendations would be appreciated, otherwise I'm gonna go with the Beck/Arnley's too!

-Tom

 

That's pretty much what I've gathered too. Beck/Arnley parts, at least those sold for our vehicles, are often the same thing Toyota sells. Have you found any that aren't? I'm not saying they are all the same, just that it seems that way in my limited experience.

 

I'm considering buying ball joints with grease fittings (Moog, probably) ... anyone have any advice? It seems like a worthwhile investment.. a few more bucks for grease-able ball joints.. what do you think?

-Tom

 

OEM ball joints can be greased. You just have to take out the plugs and screw in zerk fittings.

 

Many, perhaps most of their steering and suspension parts seem oem. Ignition parts are NOT. I've had one of their coils for a couple years: I'm not crazy about it but it has worked fine. Distributor cap was garbage - terrible. Engine parts seem hit or miss. I bought their driveshaft carrier bearing a few years ago - not identical to oem but a good quality part for much less than the dealer part - I'm happy with it. I would guess their rebuilt calipers & distributors are pretty good - but I haven't tried those parts so IDK for sure. It just depends on where they source the part. But there are some great parts to be had for little $$ - you just have to be careful what you choose.

Happened to notice that rockauto has some moog uppers on clearance for $25 - that's less than half the normal price. They only have 5 left as of now. No lowers on clearance - those are $51. One thing to watch with rockauto is that they drop ship from warehouses all over the country, and if parts ship from more than one warehouse, there is more than one shipping charge. This is all clearly shown on their website during checkout before you have to enter any card numbers.

 

Thanks, sb5. That's good info.

 

[quote=sb5walker;51326864]Happened to notice that rockauto has some moog uppers on clearance for $25 - that's less than half the normal price. They only have 5 left as of now. No lowers on clearance - those are $51. [quote]


Way ahead of ya . . . there were 7 uppers left until about 20 minutes ago It was too good a price to pass up, even with shipping. And I ordered the Moog lowers too... all together, $166 after tax and shipping. Not too bad....

I dunno if I am talented enough to tackle this myself.... I guess I'll have to think about it.

 

I bought a Beck-Arnley fan clutch for my 3.0 V6, it is the same part as the stealer sells for hundreds. I was very happy with that purchase.

 

I just got the entire front suspension, to include all ball joints, 4 tie rod ends, and the two arms for $110...including shipping (you can counteroffer him, but he won't go below $110...I know because I tried 3 times). Check out the link as I beleive he has one or two more to sell (go to sellers other auctions or do a search); parts are moog...they came in today. I'll be doing all of these when I put on the 5" lift...knuckles will be sore.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=320407911051

 

What company are the ones on ebay made by? Seems mighty cheap.

 

Be aware that there are two different lower ball joints. The 86 to 3/31/89 joint sits lower in the bracket:






While the 4/1/89 to 95 joint sits up higher in the bracket:






The 4runner joints are the same as the 4WD pickups. The upper joints are the same for trucks & 4runners all the way from 86 to 95. That ebay listing has the later style lower ball joints, and yeah, the parts do look cheap.

.

 

He lists on the web site as fitting 4runners for years 86-95 and trucks 89 -95. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't 86-95 trucks and 4 runners have the same front IFS. Or is he just mistaken?

 

As my post states, they are made by Moog...and yes, they were cheap but made by the same company quoted by others. Moog is not the best out there but they are a good price for their lifespan. IMOHO

 

Sorry about that. I must have somehow skipped that part. Moog is good in my book.

 

That idler arm certainly isn't a Moog. It looks like the same design as the oem but the Moog is different: