Lower Ball Joint - Is It Really This Straightforward?

I have been researching in anticipation of doing this soon(ish).
I searched this forum and found many threads but I would like to get an idea of the degree of difficulty for this job.

This video shows the general procedure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nry13mJpTPI

Is it really just that (except do not reuse bolts and make sure only OEM parts/hardware)?

I understand it will take "a bit" longer than this video as I don't have the professional tools. For those of you who DIY-ed it - how long did it take you? Any tips/tricks/hacks, must-have tools?

 

Haven't done this particular repair, but I've used the trq videos for a number of repairs and they've always been great. Quick and to the point.

 

Takes about an hour per side I would say, including getting out the tools. Second one is faster than the first as you've figured out stuff. So first one may take over an hour, second one less. If you are used to this stuff, it's probably a bit faster.

ETA -
Must have tools - Breaker bar, torque wrench. Jack stands

Makes stuff much easier - Something to separate ball joint from tie rod and LCA. You can rent these for free. Oh, and a paint pen to mark your bolts after applying correct torque.

Nice to have - impact wrench to REMOVE wheels and nuts

One more edit - if things are stuck on there, it might take a little while to separate them, and that can add to the time, but the fundementals are very straightforward.

 

On the passenger side, first time, about 35-45 minutes. Once I got to the driver side, about 25 minutes. Every time since, I can knock it out in about 15-20 mins. First side is always the learning curve.

Big things to know, beyond safety stuff to follow, is to leave the 4 bolts installed on the LBJ until you pop the tie rod arm free, and pop the LBJ out of the lower control arm. THEN remove the bolts. Having the LBJ connected to the knuckle and the LCA will help you stabilize the tie rod to pop it off. Having the LBJ still connected to the knuckle will help you pop it out of the LCA.

Pickle fork worked great to separate the tie rod for me, you just need to be careful not to damage its rubber boot. Others claim one of those reverse-tweezer looking tools works great.

Pitman arm puller worked fabulously well to pop the LBJ out of the LCA.

All the tools I mentioned, you should be able to loan/rent from your local auto parts store, or buy for less than $50 out the door at Harbor Freight.

Have some blue Loctite on hand to apply to the bolts.

 

I think the torque on the bolts shown should be 59 ft-lbs not 48.

 

In the video the guy just whacks everything with a hammer - can I just do that? lol

 

Most of the time yes. If in the rust belt, maybe not, although that LCA looked pretty crusty.

 

I'm usually a little nervous when attempting something so "vital" to safety, but, yeah...It's not too bad.

 

Yaaas. If you’ve got a lift, power tools and a BFH.

 

I've done dozens upon dozens of pitman/idler arms, upper/lower balljoints.

That "smack the outer edge of the hole to shock it" trick has worked about 1 in 10 times. Probably less, like 1 in 20. I don't think it's worth the damage to the paint and/or the hammer marks on your stuff.

tl;dr - Dont' expect it to work. Buy the pullers.

 

I'm not a pickle fork/big hammer fan. They work great for a lot of people.

I own the OTC Front End Kit, and it's come in handy enough times I've lost count. I prefer this type "press", that pries the joint apart, rather than whacking things with hammers.

But yeah, it's a pretty straightforward job. For me, the only "difficulty" in jobs like this is that I'm always a little wary popping joints. It's easy to do "bolt off, bolt on" stuff. Having to pop joints apart is always a little nerve racking for me. But I've done it enough now, I'm pretty used to it. It can be intimidating if you're new to wrenching, though.

 

Yup, sometimes you'll get lucky and a few hard smacks and it'll pop out, but plan on having to use the pullers. Also you never know what you're going to be dealing with until you start pulling it apart. How much rust is there, how long since they were done, etc. My passenger side was a bitch, tie rod popped right out with some hammering, LBJ destroyed a cheap puller from O'reilly's. Ordered better pullers and pickle forks for the drivers side and it came apart with just the tweezer style puller on the tie rod and LBJ. Expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised when they come apart easily. I was reluctant to do mine for a while, and I'm no stranger to wrenching, now that I've done them once, I wouldn't hesitate to do them again or help someone else with them.

I followed that video when I did mine. A few things, double check your torque specs in the factory service manual, the ones they use are for a specific year, if you don't have the same year, they're going to be wrong. That video is also heavily edited. They left out some serious pounding on those things with a heavy hammer to knock them loose. Not too bad when the truck is on a lift, but not that fun when you're laying on the ground with the truck on jack stands.

 

FYI @whiggy, this is what a lot of members have had success with on the tie rod ends. $17 at HF. Some claim it works with UBJ also, and potentially LBJ (though I fail to understand in my pea brain how it could work with LBJ)

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Thank you everyone for the helpful comments! This is exactly the kind of info I was hoping to get. I really appreciate it!

 

I didn’t take any pics, that wasn’t the hard part.

Unscrew castle nut so it is unscrewed barely past flush (gives more surface area, different than if you are just going to beat the bolt with a hammer)

Hammer the separator fork part between the LCA and LBJ to get the other tool arm under the castle nut (it’s close to being too small here, I was 2/2 but there is way more margin on the UBJ and tie rod)

Tighten separator which pushes up on LBJ and away from LCA. Wear eye pro and do not put your face anywhere near this. I have had other cars so tight that it finally went off and the tool flew across the garage.

My 20 year old LBJs were stuck pretty good so I ended up tensioning the separator and hitting the LCA with a torch and then a hammer. Sounded like a shotgun when it finally let go. You could just use an impact until something breaks but it might be the tool so I just tightened the old fashioned way.

I get that there are a million ways to do it. This is just one. I beat the LBJ on a different vehicle so bad that I completely ruined the threads and bolt and was concerned that I was painting myself into a corner if I couldn’t get it out. So I was trying to less damage. Also I dislike the “wow, that control arm has really been hit with a hammer” look.

pic for proof.

 

To separate the joint on the non broken side of my truck, I removed the tire, removed the castle nut, then jacked up the spindle a couple of inches with a second jack, then placed a 2' long, 1" diameter metal bar ontop of the lower arm, as close to the ball joint as I could get, and then gave it one blow with 4'lb mini sledge, popped it off no problem.

With this method, you have the weight of the truck working with you, you just have to give it a shock to pop the joint free.

Only jack up the spindle a couple inches, you don't want to jack it up so much, you lift the frame off your primary jack/jackstand.

 

Yes, it's that simple. I use an inexpensive press tool (around $15) to remove the tie rod and ball joint, instead of the hammer method. I keep the nuts on the end so the ball joint or tie rod don't pop out on me.

 

Rent the tool from your local parts store. Maybe the hammer will work, maybe it won't. But you don't want to find out that is doesn't when you are halfway through the job. Doesn't cost anything to be prepared but a little time and a refundable deposit on your credit card.

The tweezer looking thing in post #13 was great for the tie rods. It did NOT work for the LCA. The mouth of the thing was not wide enough. You want one of those thing that look a bit like the Recognizers from Tron. That's what worked for me.

 

I have had zero luck in my life with any of the parts store tools. The where all a joke and bent without popping the joints.

 

I have another question - when a LBJ goes out are there always warning signs or can it be fine (no play, no leak, etc.) one day and fail the next? I guess in case of the bolt sheer maybe?

 

Yeah, I can imagine that the tools I am getting from my Auto Parts store have a much easier time with my climate than yours! No rust to worry about

 

Not always, and that's the issue.

And even if they always did 'give a sign' that they were on the way out, seeing how easy it is to replace them, I'd imagine that anyone not conscientious enough to replace them is not going to be conscientious enough to properly check them anyway.

 

Sometimes people say they feel weird, or there’s play in the front wheels when lifted off the ground, but usually they fail with no notice.

 

The overwhelming majority of LBJ failures I've seen have come reported as 'no warning'.

Some people complained about hearing clunks/pops/noises prior. The most often observed symptom is difficulty or sloppy steering, but that still only accounts for a tiny amount. The overwhelming majority are sudden, catastrophic, and unexpected failure - no observed warning.

We even had one person who was in at the mechanic, who told him they were good, no play, then one failed on the ride home.

Toyota's idea of unacceptable play is less than 1mm of movement (I think 0.8mm is what was stated on here prior?), you think you can detect that? (not w/o gauges)

 

From what I read - once replaced they should be good for up to ~90K miles or x? years (assuming no abuse and no rust); is that correct?

 

If using OEM, with new bolts. that's the rule of thumb. Whichvever comes first.

 

All ball joints are wear items, upper or lower. On our trucks, the the LBJ-under design, the lower is under far more stress. If using OEM, you’re totally fine up to 100k-125k miles. If added stress of lifting and other things you should adjust timeline accordingly, and note some bolts are designated by toyota as single-use-only for LBJ. If aftermarket LBJ, we’ve had reports of them failing in as little as 3k-5k miles after install.