2006 DC lower ball joints and shocks what else?

Hi just had water pump and timing belt done. Mechanic recommended lower ball joint, Right now! Expected Im 3rd owner no record of it being done 175K miles.

18 year old son is starting as a mechanic and asked if we could do it together (rare for me if he wants to do It Im all in). What else should we do while its on the lift? One shock is leaking...

Upper ball joints? Plan in a year or 2 is to get a 19ft scamp 5th wheel and travel a bit. More dirt road to camp than 4 wheeling. Do not plan to lift.

Thank you for the help. Art.

 

I’d replace both shocks, outer and inner tie rods, Sway bar bushings, steering rack bushings, valve cover gaskets if they leaking. ( I’d do all that if it’s never been done)

 

thank you for the quick response.... valve cover gaskets are top inside on this engine correct? A few years ago I did the timing belt water pump on a v8 4runner along with spark plugs... sorry for the inexperienced question. If that is where they are I might wait until we get it home, we will have limited time on the lift in his shop, only after hours work so we will be doing it in 4 hour chunks...

mechanic recommended billson shocks. Know anything about what type is best? Other cool thing (besides a roof and a lift) a commercial spring compressor. The home ones scare me, I nearly died once tensioning a garage door. Whipped the glasses off my face and left a cool scar, 1/8 inch and I would have been in a box. Always respect mechanical energy... Thanks for the tips....

Considering upgrading brakes but I think I will wait this looks like a big bite to chew..

 

Beautiful truck and welcome aboard.

Yes, replace both of the LBJs with new Toyota OEM. Repeat - new Toyota OEM. I recommend getting 8 new bolts and some Loc-Tite for the LBJs too since they're so cheap and our LBJ is "under tension". I also don't see any reason NOT to do the upper ball joints as well if there isn't any recent service on them.

For what you plan on using the truck for, the mechanic's recommendation of Bilstein shocks sound good. I've read that some Bilsteins are back-ordered currently, unsure if that affects their first gen offerings. Maybe the mechanic has a source for them? I don't know the model numbers exactly, but I think you'll be wanting the 5100s or 6112s. Someone else may chime in on that. Replacing shock coils can be scary, I know from experience. Access to that commercial spring compressor is going to save you money.

I would drive the truck for awhile and see how effective the braking truly is. Your truck most likely has the 13WL calipers already which is the "upgrade" that some earlier model years do. If it's stopping fine, you might open up a can of worms and make it not stop fine if you start doing the other "upgrades" that are possible (rear disc conversion, 14WA Lexus calipers). If anything you could see about bleeding the brakes and replacing the fluid with the Bosch 5.1 PHM got us all hooked on.

Outer tie rod ends, sway bar bushings, sway bar end link bushings as @Toyoda Tundra mentioned are all extremely easy to do and now's a good time to do it. I haven't done my inner tie rod ends but I hear they are a little bit more work.

If either of your tie rod bellows have tears in them, it's a perfect time to replace them when the outer tie rod ends are off.

The lower control arm bushings might be starting to get worn out so I would take a look at those. Replacing them is tedious per other members on here but it sounds like you may have the tools to do it. Some just choose to go with new OEM lower control arms which include the bushings and cuts down on installation time. I noticed an increase in ride quality when I replaced my tired LCA bushings with brand new OEM arms.

If you try take off the lower control arms you might notice that the cam bolts are frozen. Many end up having to saw them off and go with the SPC eccentrics kit.

Your steering rack bushings are probably tired as well after 15 years. Replacing those with polyurethane bushings will eliminate some steering slop.

 

de2mtn, wow give me more homework... thank you. SPC eccentrics kit, Ill see if it can figure it out, early search tells me I have some learning to do.

I will eagerly await shock recommendations. new on Amazon are $304 I will have him check he gets a business discount and can get OEM parts. I would rather replace things while its on a rack if I can, not going to say price is no object but if I can work with him on a rack time is more important than money... Ill start doing my homework and post what I plan to order, hopefully one of you experienced folks will tell me what I am missing.... good tip on the bolts, Ill see if I can find what size they are....

I used to work on aircraft for NASA Dryden FRC loc tite is my friend, I have no idea why people dont use it more...

Ok Ill hold off on the brakes for now but definitely bleeding them, I do all my cars every year, I have taught a lot of people as well. So simple, so ignored and so important. In my opinion starting the car is optional, stopping when you need to is mandatory.... Kind of like airplanes, take offs optional but you will land somewhere....

Thanks man

 

It does look like the list is getting long, for you experienced folks, I must do the lower ball joints. what would be more efficient to do at that time? Looks like all is important and doable but Im not driving the pickup at all until the lower ball joints are done. The rest I will do later this summer but due to work stuff I need to get this running before July. I was not clear in my original question. Actually a good thing as I did not think of this other stuff. steering rack bushings look cheap, so likely good to do... thanks for loaning me your brain...

 

This is what I meant, it's a lot cheaper than the OEM.

 

The LBJ bolts I got from Toyota were 90105-A0187. They were identical to the ones that came off. Don't know the thread dimensions off the top of my head.

x1 Driver Lower Ball Joint - 43340-39595
x1 Passenger Lower Ball Joint - 43330-39825
x8 Bolt Flange - 90105-A0187 - $1.54 ea x 8 = $12.32

 

control arm bushings

 

des2mtn, you are amazing, will you adopt me? Thank you so much.

 

Well, I've had the (dis)pleasure of doing some of these things more than once within the last few years, and learned a few things along the way. This forum in general is a wealth of knowledge, more than happy to contribute when I can.

 

1) New Control Arm Assys (with bushings already pressed in)

2) New Cam Bolts

3) High Dolla Alignment


Do all these with the shocks and LBJ’s whilst on the rack.

 

I'll be the dissenter here. Bilstein are good but for a pavement runner your run of the mill replacement will be fine. Sachs, KYB, Monroe, as long as you're not buying the cheapest they offer or ebay specials it'll handle fine and you'll save $40/shock over Bilstein.

 

Yeah, but for $40 more each, I vote Bilstein.... This based on my impression he wants to do it once and right. I can’t recall if Bilstein are rebuildable though....

 

None of them are rebuildable as far as I'm aware.

I may be a little sour on them since mine leaked pretty quickly and rode harsh on the lowest perch with 885 springs.

I'm not going to say they aren't good since so many have positive experiences but I'm not sold they're worth the premium.

 

Fair enough. I am not vouching for them, never tried them, but I do know most agree they are a step up from the truly basic options.

 

Thanks guys I feel really welcome