Recall replaced lower ball joints

Hey all,

So I did some research into the repair history of my 1st gen tundra, and I doing out Toyota replaced my lower ball joints under a recall. Are the LBJs replaced by Toyota better than standard LBJs? I remember reading somewhere that the LBJs replaced under the recall where an improved version. That was done at 75k, and I'm now at 185, so I'm wondering if I should bother replacing them.

 

The original recall involved defectively manufactured ball joints. The surface had scratched or imperfections that would lead to premature failure. At least that’s the story. If yours were replaced, you should not have the potentially defective ones any longer. Still a wear item, and a poor design. They’ve proven hard to effectively check while on the truck. Most are replacing at 100k or so as preventative maintenance.

 

Same LBJs but you can buy them as a pair. Unfortunately the part is more expensive than buying individually.

 

Mine were replaced at 50k for the recall and I just changed them at 250k. Boots were dried up and had some micro-rips/grease oozed out and solidified. No play/excessive wobble though.

I changed the upper ball joints as well and those weren't nearly as bad. They had some grease oozed out and dried up, but still had a good amount of grease on the ball where it swivels around inside. The boots were still in good shape.

 

Oh I see. Is there are good way to inspect them? I'm about to have her up on a lift for a diff job so I can take a look.

 

Not really. Recommend 100K mile interval for OEM and O miles for aftermarket.

 

If they start oozing a lot of grease it might be of concern. They did on mine but after removal they appeared to still be good. I didn’t want to wait long enough for most of the grease to ooze out anyway.

 

Mine were replaced under recall and I put about about 150K on those. They still looked and drove fine, but it tends to be expensive if they fail.

 

Just replace them. It's really not a hard job. Breaking loose the bolt that connects to the LCA can be a bear, but it's doable with the right tools and swear words. That's the only hard bit for (and then only for some). It's not technically difficult, the parts are reasonable (only use OEM, as I am sure you already know) and it's immensely satisfying.

What is NOT satisfying is when they let go. There is a thread somewhere about those who did not believe the hype.

 

They can fail with no warning of anykind.

I knew this, but thought I was special and that I would see warning signs before it was too late. I figured all the other people that said they failed with no warning, just hadn't been checking.

Spoiler alert......I was not special and ended up skidding down the highway at 60 miles any hour like this:

 

Fixing it was not too hard.

But a LOT harder than it would have been to just replace them before one broke.

 

Just here to echo the sentiment.

just change them every 100k.

 

Every
100,000
Miles
or else

 

Throwing parts at a 20 year old truck is the worst. But timing belt and ball joint failures are "junk yard" points for these depending on how much you want to put into them.

If the boots are dry and oozing, you might just swap them. It's expensive for Toyota parts too The perfect answer escapes me on this one.

 

Timing belt maybe....if you don't roll your truck when the LBJ fails its not bad to repair. At least it wasn't for me.

I lost.

Upper, lower ball joints.

CV axle.

Speed Sensor.

Rubber brake line +hard brake line.

Really only about two hours in actual work once I had the parts.

 

When you realize how much easier it is to diagnose and fix these vehicles compared to newer vehicles, you’ll be happy you made the right choice.

 

yeah, but didn’t you replace yours with knockoffs disguised as OEMs off fleaBay though?

 

No, you must be thinking of someone else. I got OEMs straight from the stealership.

 

Good man. My mistake.

 

Im familiar with the whole recall process as I ride BMW motorcycles, and whether the part on my bikes actually failed or not, the dealer is obligated to replace (said) part at manufacturer expense. Shouldn’t Toyota be obliged to replace my lower ball joints? Even if they haven’t yet failed?

 

Cool on the beemers, I've been riding them for 30 plus years but mostly airheads and k75's. Only one with a paralever drive, a 92 Mystic. I now am riding a 2010 V7 Moto Guzzi Pretty cool so far. Simple 2 valve motor, an airhead BMW should make. Sorry for the hijack. My Mystic below.

My k75

My last airhead

Cause we all like pics. And I just dig motorcycles.

 

My brother in law rides an old R90. Very cool bike.

 

Yeah, airhead riders are a whole different subset of BMW riders, as are the GS crowd. I grew up with Japanese bikes of which I have had too many to remember, but in the day, the air cooled beemers were the top of the heap in the 70's. Simple by design as the saying goes.

 

Toyota already did a recall on the failed LBJs back in the 2000s. It's not Toyota's problem if people didn't bring their trucks in at the time to have the parts replaced. The recall was only for the trucks that possibly had the manufacturing defect. My 2003 had the work done at about 115K miles. The LBJs are also a wear item that Toyota says to replace every 100K miles, just like the timing belt and other various parts. Because they're a wear item, Toyota isn't really on the hook for parts that haven't been replaced on time.

I'm mainly a Suzuki guy, but I did own a Triumph and I got quite familiar with fighting the dealership over what I thought should be a warranty issue and what they considered normal wear.

 

Love the boxer engine, its an engineering work of art , I’ve only

Got it, my ‘05 doesn’t seem to have any issues with lbj/ ubj as far as I can tell. I’ll have them inspected in the near future. I plan to keep this Tundra for the duration.
As far as my two wheel hobby, I’m currently an oil head rider , although I’ve recently become the proud owner of a sweet low mile K1200s, whew ! She’s a rocket that handles in the twistys.

 

If you search around on here you'll find lots of people that thought their LBJs were fine until they failed. Other than the rubber boot possibly leaking, you can't see anything going on with them. Some people report the front end feeling off before they fail, others never felt anything weird before their front wheel decided to tuck itself into the fender. For an OEM part they're not that expensive, and you can grab them whenever Toyota is having a sale. If you can do valves and clutches on old BMWs, you can do the LBJs. UBJs will get noisy when they start going out and aren't as big of a problem on these trucks.

I am primarily an oil cooled GSXR guy and can't leave bikes stock. Got a shelf of spare engines in the garage, couple extra frames in the basement. I've been known to drive 3 hours to pick up a bike that I'll strip in the same day just to have extra spare parts...it's a hobby not a problem.
89 7/11(750 with an 1100 shoved in it.)

92 750 with the best factory pain job ever! Currently getting a full frame up rebuild, newer forks, lighter wheels, Ohlins shock, and a 1200cc engine with hot cams and a high compression head.

And this is how it currently sits, I need to get off my ass and start working on it again before winter gets here.

 

No. They are also wear items. There were some early ones that were defective and could/would fail early, so not make the approx 100,000 mile/10 year (or whatever it was) life cycle. Anything after that is wear and tear. Same as if they had for example installed defective tires.