There appears to be a leak in the boot of the drivers side lower ball joint boot (not having the best of luck with boots lately). I can't afford to get it replaced right now, as usual, what will happen if I leave it the way it is now for a while?
Thanks,
-Bryan

 

The lubrication will be washed out over time. Wear to the joint will accelerate.

The Great Toyota God will strike down upon thee.

Jay

 

LoL, so it wont keep me from driving it for a while? and wont be dangerous to the vehicle or anything if it does wear?
thanks for the reply
-Bryan

 

It will take some time for this to wear out. Its not something thats gonna happen next week.

It will have to have been driven for an extended time without lubrication before the joint wears to the point of becoming unsafe. Which is difficult to estimate.

Your choices are....

1. Replace it now, because the boot it torn. ( Recomended )

2. Replace it later, because the joint is worn. ( Periodic Inspection Recomended )

Jay

 

Can you take it apart yourself, or do you have a shop do your work? If you can pull it apart yourself, you might be able to find an aftermarket rubber boot for it for a couple of dollars. If you take it apart carefully, you shouldn't hurt the ball joint itself.

Of course, a ball joint is not that expensive, so if you can do it yourself, the cost shouldn't be great in any event.

Randy

 

I had a similar problem. I learned the hard way not to crank the torsion bars too much. I over-cranked them, went four wheeling, and messed up my steering arm and pitman arm, as well as both lower ball joints. I ended up haveing to replace all of them. The pitman arm and steering arm were easy, and with the right tools, a wrench, as well as a pickle fork and a hammer were all that it took to replace the lower ball joints. Funny thing though-There was a guy with a 3/4 ton suburban that was replacing his lower ball joints at the same time (I was on base at the Auto hobby shop) and I couldn't help but LMAO when I noticed how small and wimpy the Chevy 3/4 ton Suburbans lower ball joints were as compared to my "little" Toyota. Well it just helped reinforce my belief that Toyotas a re superior anyhow. Besides while I was in there I installed 5 more zerks on the front suspension- one on the steering arm, and one each on the lower and upper ball joints. 16 fittings in all now. Good luck on your replacement endeavor.

 

Did you have them cranked to the extremes and how hard were you wheeling? I am going to have to crank my stock T-bars slightly after I put my Downey Coils in the back here shortly but I don't want to run into probs later on. Anyone else with cranked bars had any problems since doing it??

 

Unfortunately I don't have the equipment to take it apart myself, so I was going to take it to a shop, I'm not sure when though because I don't have any money lol. Any estimates of how much it'll cost me?
Thanks,
-Bryan