Upper Ball Joints

Had a weird experience this week. After doing my steering rack bushings, and feeling like my truck was brand new, I noticed a brand new clunk in my front end.
After a little investigation, not one, but BOTH of my upper ball joints are done. Even with tires on the ground, I’m able to pull them and produce ~1/4 inch play. They’re Toyota oem, and I did them when I bought my truck in the fall of 2019.

frustrating, but also really strange. I have a mild lift, but nothing that should create such a drastic and quick failure.

My next move is to
A) replace the joints and hope I’m not doing it again in 2022
B) swap out the uca’s with either a uniball or integrated bj design.

Cost is a factor, as is availability. In my admittedly limited research, most aftermarket UCA manufacturers seem to be back ordered, or out of stock with no timeline.

I’m leaning towards the whole UCA replacement for obvious reasons, but also don’t want to be unsafe while driving this as my daily.

Anyone have any leads on uca’s?
Any thoughts on what I should do?

thanks everyone!

 

I agree on replacing/upgrading the UCAs since you're running a lift. I wasn't aware that most UCA mfrs were experiencing backorders, that sucks! I'm running SPC uppers... so far, so good... but kinda pricey.

 

Check partsgeek.com for the mevotech adjustable UCAs. I bought them and they are exactly SPC. They have SPC logo and all. Only downside was one box was missing the ball joint so I had to place another order and return the original. Still saved a few hundred bucks and I have greasable ball joint adjustable UCAs.

 

Mevotech or JBA

 

Thanks for all the responses, guys.

I see rockauto and partsgeek both have mevotech, but only the right and left, respectively.

I’ll give them a ring and see if that’s actually a set, or if they truly only have one or the other.

 

A good DoveTail Thread. Where is @revtune ?

https://www.tundras.com/threads/first-gen-spc-mevotech-upper-control-arms.60591/

 

What lift do you have?

 

Did you call them? Wondering if L and R are the same, maybe you just flip them?

Stupid question?

 

They are definitely not the same.

 

If that was the case they would only manufacture, market, and sell one universal part.

 

In my perusing of the Mevotech on RockAuto, I noticed a few models fit but only one model was adjustable and it cost the most. See that link above by Revtune as he took pics of his parts numbers. Go with those model numbers.

 

Curious:

Are UCAs wear items? Mine is stock - no lift, original upper ball joints which appear to be fine.

Should I be planning on replacing them when I change the uppers?

 

To answer your question, the UCA'S have bushings that do wear out, however you can replace bushings only if you really want to. The ball joint is also replaceable. Hope this helps.

 

With the 1st gen trucks now at least 15 years old it's probably a good guess that they may not be in the best of condition.

While the bushings are replaceable they can be a pain in the ass to press in and out.

Stock type replacements can be bought for under $50 so it's really not worth the hassle.

 

I have the eibach coil overs, which have settled to ~2 inches with bumper and winch.

Neither company had any real information for me, so I suppose I’m going to order one from each, ha. They’re also $50 cheaper on partsgeek (??)

 

Well, just checked partsgeek again and they have them both! I’ll report back when I receive them.
Thanks for everyone’s input!

 

To piggy back on this and beat a dead horse, are Toyota lower ball joints the only way to go on a stock truck? The price seems to be pretty flipping unreal at $200+ each….

 

I definitely would not be cheap on lower ball joints, seen many vehicles land really hard on the pavement and some were at significant speeds.

 

The only non oem lbj’s I’d entertain the idea of purchasing were some uniball offerings posted in another thread
https://www.tundras.com/threads/new-lbj-uni-ball-pre-order.89093/

but I can’t get because I’m a double cab, so it’ll be oem for me

 

Buy New Toyota Bolts, as well.

 

Dang PHM, know we kept you around for a reason other than your good looks...lol....got a link?

 

Best bet is to internet search any Toyota Parts Programme. One of my close by local Stealers is a participant and actually allows free pick up which saves $. Some members have differing results with their Stealer only allowing delivery.

In any case, you’ll figure it out. Usually shipping only adds a little when I search outside of my local with others. My local has great prices and you’ll find one. Start with Conicelli Toyota as they seem best if I was needing shipped.

 

As nice as that would be, we don't have any even remotely close to us.

 

My local dealer only SHIPS at program prices - no pickup allowed. After researching here, I got an OEM set for $85/ea shipped. At that price, it makes no sense to buy aftermarket - especially if you review some of the pics of the trucks that had catastrophic failures.

 

Ship it in from Conicelli in Jersey (Joisy).

 

PHM, you're doing a 2000-2003 seach and coming up at $88. I'm doing a 2003 search and coming in at $110 with a different PN....

 

Still better than $200 each.

 

Despite having (1) in stock, parts geek just emailed letting me know that the front left upper is out of stock. Soooo they’re shipping the upper right one, but not the upper left. I’ve searched everywhere I can online, and it seems that no one stocks the upper left uca from mevotech. Does that make any sense to anyone?