Lower Ball Joints are 15 years old with 100k miles but no noticeable signs of wear. Replace?

Dealer last did them through the recall in 2007. Ive done 100k miles since mostly highway driving without much towing. Ive checked for play and sounds but they still seem solid. Should I replace them anyway?

 

Yes

 

No

 

If you are already tearing suspension apart then yes if no issues no reason to change

 

Maybe

 

Lol! You could replace the bolt, one at a time. That’s what fails in my experience….

 

Sounds like my truck. Dealer replaced at 22K, I asked my mechanic to check them at 98K, he said not dangerous but ready. And 1500 labor, with some other stuff. Did it myself, drives/fells like new, although I could not tell they were worn other than spun easier in the ball than the new ones. It’s pretty hard to see .5mm movement.

 

No.

 

Is failure of an lbj on this gen catastrophic (remaining suspension drops to the ground)?

 

YES

 

Great party conversation, though. You get to tell everyone about that one time when a bad BJ took out your suspension, and you only aim for good BJs nowadays.

 

Just did mine at 173k. I've had the truck 10 years and I've put 40k on in that time. No idea if the previous owner did them at 135k. They didn't seem bad but being unsure with the mileage....$240 is piece of mind.

 

This popped up on my FB feed one day, but I didn't want to be a member of this club:

 

which part of the part fails on these lbj?. is it the ball or the arm or the bolts?.?

 

Post #169 covers it decently.

 

A well maintained part can last a long time and need not be replaced as a preventative measure. If you inspect and maintain regularly, replace as necessary. If you do not, or cannot, and don't have anyone you can trust to do it, replacement of the LBJ's is a good preventative measure. Failure of the part causes significant damage.

 

I don't know.... could you repeat the question?

 

nice link thank you. very informative

 

In my experience, the bolts. But if you keep them properly torqued, they’d probably not fail. We heard sounds tied to tire/wheel revolutions on the days leading up, but couldn’t find the source. Afterword, we worked out that one bolt probably loosened, leading to vibration, which caused the others to loosen. At least one sheered on the trail, found in the dirt behind the truck.

 

Seems like this thread should have been a poll.

 

Naw, it’s in the first gen section. No matter how it’s posted, we’ll participate in a contentious and unorganized fashion.

 

To be fair, that's not a bolt failure, that's a bolt backing out. Perhaps a result of not being torqued properly or lack of thread locker?

 

Yep, that’s what I wrote. I don’t think it was the LBJ itself, and that hasn’t been replaced. We cannibalized seat bolts from several later gens to fix it on trail, which got me 500 miles home. Then we replaced with new OEM bolts.

 

Interesting. I originally thought the lower ball joint was actually improved upon for the recall. Now I'm not so sure.

It sounds more like something may have been done to make the bolts loosen less frequently. Maybe a slight taper on LBJ bolt hole threads?

 

The metalurgy/engineering had to be improved. Many joints had the ball pull passed the retaining lip, some people sheared the pin, some people had the mounting bolts rip out. Toyota admitted a problem with the balls, if they hadn't improved that part in the new design, we would still be hearing about problems, but it went away.

 

You also have to watch for spacer lifts that allow extra droop that can bind the Balljoints putting extra stress on them.