LBJ Replacement - Couple questions

Aight so I went under the truck to apply some Liquid Wrench rust penetrant to my brake lines in preparation for a day off work tomorrow to swap the hoses, pads and rotors. And... I think that's grease leaking from the bottom seal of my passenger-side lower ball joint, isn't it? See the photos below:



So, here's my questions, because I both tend to stray to the side of over-caution, and also don't know these particular service items in general:

1. Is this an immediate safety thing I should replace without anymore driving, and put my 500-mile roadtrip off this weekend unless it's done? I'm a *tremendous* fan of my wheels remaining attached to my truck, control's pretty keen.
   
   
2. Do I need to replace both front LBJ's at the same time (it's a 2016 with 109k miles and I'm certain these are original.) Are there other upper ball joints that would need replacing at the same time? Those look fine, no leaks or anything.
   
   
3. This isn't a job I'll tackle myself in my driveway, I'm fine with most light service/wear items, but I've watched a YouTube video or two and can tell this is more intermediate than beginner stuff - should the shop I take it to be replacing just the balljoints or will the control arm be necessary?
   
   
4. What would you think it'd run to swap these by a good, non-dealership trusted truck-savvy shop, by an average guesstimate? Google search results are all over the place, from "$80 in parts each!" to "$900 each!" and that is a wild pricerange.

 

I would wipe the boot clean when you do the brakes and monitor. I just replaced one in my '07, boot got pinched while putting everything back together after a diff install this spring.

Mine was leaking BAD, like 10x worse than yours. I did a 4,000 mi road trip and just kept an eye on things. Replaced it làst weekend, boot was now empty of grease, joint still had grease and it was tight. You're right, it was a moderate difficulty job.

 

I think it'd be fine for a road trip as is but change when you get back. I know this is a 2.5 gen but I'd still say go OEM from a reliable source on those (not scamazon or Ebay) don't take it to an independent shop and let them put junk on it.

 

I'll try it out for free play tomorrow when I've got the wheel off the ground for the brake work, see if it moves much/if at all. Don't suppose there's a way to repack the grease or, sealed unit?

 

My local trusted shop picks OEM parts from the local dealerships, so I'm not too worried about that, but I do always make a point to ask they use OEM! I'll check things for free play tomorrow and if it's stable, I'll set the urgency to "not yet" and just keep an eye on it for further leakage. Ideally in late August I'll do tires, 6112's up front, and alignment, so it'd be nice to be able to wrap it all up at once at that time, I could see throwing in a few hundred extra for these at that time a little more conveniently.

 

That's good then. On our first gens some people have been told that the Moog units are "just as good" which is far from the truth. Less of an issue overall on your truck as the joint is flipped the other direction which keeps it from pulling apart very easily.

 

FYI, there currently is not an OEM joint solution, Toyota sells the entire lower control arm, which means alignment time and potential for cam tabs to break.

I installed a Moog part.