'05 Tundra - 210k miles - Smart buy? (newbie looking for help)

the V/C gaskets are a pretty easy job. Which bushings we talking? control arms are a bit involved. steering rack bushings are not TOO bad. Shocks are pretty easy to swap

 

Thanks man!

Lower control arm bushings. Guy at the Toyota shop said they're not that bad and don't need immediate attention.

Sorry, it's the ball joints that are said to have some play. Is that a doable job?

Shocks are King shocks, so I wouldn't want to replace them if that's possible.

 

the lower ball joints are pretty simple But DO use OEM. they lasted 210k miles. dont chance aftermarkets.

Kings can be rebuilt. but the truck will be down unless you have something to put there till their rebuilt. dont run them too long worn out. because if they get too beat up they cant get rebuilt

Lower control arm bushings arent super hard. But you WILL have to have it aligned once you do do them.

upper ball joints are not too bad. you need snap ring pliers and a ball joint press for them

 

Thank you thank you! Love the Tundra community already

Is there a good online spot to find OEM parts? From the little I searched on Google, it wasn't as easy to find one as I thought it would be. Is it okay to only replace the ball joint that was pointed out?

As for the shocks, if one is just leaking do I need to have it rebuilt or what? The mechanic just stated "Shocks leaking" and then it said a price of anywhere from $300 on the low end to $500 on the high end to fix it.

 

yea the shocks diy. If anything buy Bilsteins or something and you can sell the kings for some $$
(Hell I’d buy em if they’re not completely trashed.)

there’s plenty of dealers that deal online for oem parts @Roman can probably hook you up

 

DIY on shocks? You have more faith in me than I have in myself... but could be fun.
Thanks for all the help

 

Ask anyone on here and they can help guide ya through it. It’s really not too hard.

 

Ball joints and shocks/struts are pretty easy. I just did that work myself over the last year. Got most parts from @Roman (toyota of cool springs). Ball joints are $100 each OEM. While I was there I did my inner and outer tie rods also OEM. Took me about 4 hours. You need to get an alignment after. Total cost:
Ball joints $200
Inner tie rods (pair) : $156
Outer tie rods (pair): $104
Alignment: $99
You need a tie rod tool you can borrow or buy for cheap on Amazon.

I went with Bilstein 4600s. Fronts were $180 (total) and rears were $160 (total)on Amazon. You need a spring compressor for fronts. This job took about 2 hours for front and 2 hours for back. This was all in my driveway taking my time.

 

Thanks man! I haven't ever heard that it's 100% necessary to change out the tie rods while changing the ball joints. Are the tie rods something that could wait? Also, any special tools I will need in order to replace the ball joints?

As for the shocks, I'm totally lost on those. Does a leaky shock mean it needs replacement or just to be fixed/serviced? Talk to me like I'm a 5 y/o here lol

 

@thefish712 I wouldn't classify it as driving on a bald tire that's about to blow anytime you least expect it but I personally would not wait too long in changing that shock. Do we know if it's the front or back, given the back are less difficult to change than the front shock/coil spring.

 

Tie rods are a wear item and the shops doing my alignments over time were complaining more about stuck bolts so I figured it wouldn't hurt to tackle them. I wouldn't say it was a necessary repair. It added 20 min to the job. In terms of a tool, you need something that fits over the ball to spin it off. I borrowed the tie rod tool from autozone for that job (it's free). I was slated for new tires in the coming months, so I figured it would make sense to address it. I went OEM thinking I got 12 years out of them, so why not keep it OEM. There are aftermarket options that are cheaper for sure.

For the shocks, I was seeing some uneven wear on my tires so I decided to tackle them (they were feathered or scalloped - alignment shop suggested it could be suspension related). They are certainly a wear item, so I figured before I put $900 into my next set of tires I might as well rule it out. They had 130k miles on them, so they were going to have to be replaced at some point. I bought this for the spring compressor ($28)

$26 ABN 11.5in Strut Spring Compressor Tool – Set of 2 (Pair) – Macpherson Spring Compression, 13/16in Socket 1/2in Drive

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SX5RSA4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1. The shocks are super easy to replace, and the only sketchy part is the fronts because you have to compress the spring to move it to the new strut. I

 

Congrats on an awesome truck!

Couple of thoughts. Are you sure it's the front shock that are leaking? If it is, those king shocks are super high end and very expensive. If you're not going to off road much then they're overkill and you could probably sell them for less than what it would cost to get new Bilstein 5100's and eibach coils. Wheelers off road will mail them to you fully assembled. If you're going to rebuild the kings, then maybe you could talk your neighbor into letting you do that now while you still have the jeep so you're not without a vehicle.

Lower ball joints are super easy to replace tons of videos on youtube, then get a lifetime alignment so if you need tire rod ends later you can get it aligned for free. Front brakes are also easy. Pull one of the spark plugs and take a picture, we can tell you if they're ok or not.

Stereo install is also not bad. Once you tackle a few of these projects you'll get the bug like we all have and spend way too much time on your truck, but realize it's actually therapeutic and makes you happy

 

Keep the Kings and just get them rebuilt if they are leaking. Its around $125 to rebuild each shock and you are in San Diego so there's a million off road shops that could do it for you in a couple days.

 

Hey guys, sorry for the delay in response. Really appreciate all the help thus far.

Not sure which shock, need to re-look into that. The shop is quoting me at $300-$500 depending on severity.

What about the ball joints? Do I need a specific tool for those?

 

Standard tools for lower ball joint

 

Dont take it to the shop quoting you $300-$500 to rebuild a shock, thats a rip off. If its leaking it probably just needs new seals. Call King and see what they charge for a rebuild. Fox is about $150 a shock.

 

That would require me sending the whole shock in, right? That would mean the truck is out of commission for a while.

 

A week or
So.

 

Hope this isn't too easy a question to just google,,, but is the shock pretty easy to disconnect from the truck?

 

Real simple. Take the wheel off, loosen the 3 top bolt/nuts (not sure how the kings are setup) and the big bolt at the bottom. The shock will slide right out.
May have to remove the sway bar end link to get some more articulations.

 

I started my search for a used truck 5 years ago with 5k-10k self imposed budget. After two Silverados that had high mileage and nothing but constant repairs I ended up buying a new 2019 Tundra in September of 2019. If I could of found a truck like this for that price I wouldn’t be making payments...

 

At least ask King what their rebuild price is, they may even be able to point you to somebody local to do it. Ask @dirtydeeds he can either do it or knows someone who can. For $300-$500 that shop either doesnt know what they are doing with those shocks or is ripping you off.

 

Well guys, I finally got the truck! Took awhile to sell the Wrangler, but it finally happened. I'm still a bit uneasy about the 210K miles, but you guys have put my mind at ease on this, especially after the shop checked it out and said it was in great shape and worth more than $9k.

 

I've got 319k on mine, and others have more. I wouldn't worry about it. Congrats on the purchase!

 

Love to hear that! How much maintenance are you putting on it to keep it that way?

 

Mine has 240,000 and I wouldn't hesitate to drive it anywhere. These trucks don't take a lot of maintenance, really just fluids and timing belt. I think a fair amount of us here bought neglected ones and freshened them up and they are doing great. When I got mine the transmission was pretty rough I did a full drain refill through the trans cooler and it shifts perfectly now. These trucks aren't finicky and don't need much love.

The lower ball joints and lower control arms are really easy to replace and not very expensive. Buy the lower ball joints from Toyota of Cool Springs right now and you get free shipping. Grab lower control arms from rock auto and replace them at the same time as the lower ball joints. Watch the youtube videos and you can do one side in under an hour.

 

Awesome, good deal. Thank you for the info.

For the lower ball joints/control arms, I was told those do need replacing on one side. Do I need to go ahead and replace both sides?

Also, the rear passenger door on the left won't open from the inside. Seems like an easy fix.

 

So far I've done quite a bit to kinda get it back to normal. Nothing too expensive yet. I try to take it a small piece at a time, but never do and I always end up in a self made disaster.

 

I would. Anything you do to one side, it's a good idea to do it to the other.

 

I'd do the lower ball joints on both sides for sure. As long as the bushings aren't cracking or loose on the other side, it's not an absolute necessity. If you do replace both sides though, you'll know they're good and you won't have to come back in 6 months and do the other side.

Also, the bushings themselves are not that hard to replace just a little exciting. I bought a bottle jack and put it inside the control arm until the bushing shot out (it really launched and sounded like a shot), then I rented the large ball joint c clamp from o'reilly to push it back in.

Once you do all that, you'll need to get an alignment (I'd wait until the shocks are rebuilt so you have all the suspension work done, then get it aligned)