LCA Ball Joint Replacement on 2007+ 2nd and 3rd Gen Tundra

Yeah, those would scare me as well. We will see how these Beck Arnley's do on mine. If they were easier to replace, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but that bottom bracket thing is a mutha. I actually gave up on mine and scheduled it to be done at a local shop this Friday. I just don't have the time to mess with it right now.

 

just hit the sweet spot with a bfh! or air hammer if you got one.

 

Can't get a decent angle on it unless I pull the whole control arm out. I was giving her everything I had with it on the truck. I managed to get a puller on it with an impact wrench, but the puller kept slipping because I couldn't get it to latch on straight because of the design of the bracket. I also beat the hell out of it with a hammer, tried a pickle fork. I posted on here and it sounded like the LCA was going to have to come out. It was nearing the end of the day Sunday and I knew I didn't have time that evening to get both LCA's dropped. I have no time to work on it for the next couple of weeks, so I just threw in the towel and am taking it in to a local shop I trust on Friday.

 

i feel ya. hate when that shit happens.

 

Me too. I hate it when I get bested by a machine. I was in a fairly foul mood Sunday night.

 

Most part stores should rent out ball joint presses, that’s my plan when I do it. But not for a few months. I just got everything back together. Had a differential bearing go bad and both cv axles, not fun. I can’t afford shop labor rates right now.

 

I own a ball joint press. You can't get a ball joint press on it when the lower control arm bracket is on it. That is the issue. That stupid bracket is pressed onto the ball joint also. You may have better luck with another technique, but the way I saw it (and heard from other members on this board), you would have to take the LCA off to get to it. My plan, if I would have had time to do it, was to remove the LCA, then take the whole assembly to a press and press out the ball joint with the bracket still attached. Then, use the vise/pound with a hammer technique that TexasTundra mentioned earlier to get the bracket off of the ball joint.

Here is a picture of the bracket on the truck. It will give you an idea of the issue:

 

I just put a 3/1 LRT level kit about a month ago and my lower BJ's were fine. I added 33x12.5x20 tires just 2 weeks ago and yesterday I noticed that both lowers are seeping. Not sure if it happened before or after the tires were added. I don't have any pulling or popping, but I do here a annoying squeak at lower speeds on uneven roads. Any advise on what I should do at this point? Change them now or wait and see if they get worse?

 

I would just keep an eye on them for a while. Mine started seeping at about 50,000 miles. I started getting a popping sound at around 65,000 miles. Had the LBJ's replaced at 68,000 miles and the popping is gone. Your squeak could be something else. My UCA's make noise occasionally, letting me know I need to grease the bushings again.

 

Definitely keep an eye on em! Replaced mine recently no more pop. My originals had a good amount of play.

 

Anyone have luck pressing their lower ball joints with a 12 ton press? I just tried once tonight and it did not budge at all.

I will give it another try in the morning, otherwise I will take it to Toyota to press out.

 

12 ton couldn't pop that shit out!?!?
Did you forget to pull off the c-clip?

 

Yea I took the clip off. It was awkward holding the LCA and using the press, I got pissed off and decided to try again tomorrow morning.

 

Thats crazy. I can imagine the positioning of the LCA will be awkward. are you using a socket to press it out? and a socket to drop it in from the other side(top side)

 

I am using a ball joint spacer to receive it and using the press directly on the bottom (flat side) of the ball joint to press it out.

Maybe I’ll use a socket/spacer to push it out as well. I thought direct pressure in the middle would be best.

 

I managed to get them pressed out with a little bit of heat and a snipe on the bottle press handle. Honestly was pretty scary when the ball joint shot out lol.

 

Glad you were able to get em out! I’ll take note, so hopefully when I get around to doing it, it will be a breeze, but we all know how that usually ends up. Thanks

 

I know this post is old but be careful about using non Toyota lower ball joints. Research tundra lower ball joint failures.

 

I finally got around to replacing mine last weekend, and wanted to share with everyone so it may be of some help.

I went with the Beck Arnley

$38 101-7653 Ball Joint

101-7653, ordered both from eBay for $110 shipped.

A ball joint press kit is a absolute must, I rented one for 48 hours from O’Reilly for ~$155.

A few days prior to starting the repair, spraying a penetrating catalyst near the ball joint can sometimes help break any bonds.

Once you get everything taken apart and the spindle removed, you’ll have the lower ball joint bracket still attached to the ball joint (refer to post #67 by atomic city tundra). Take 2 hammers and whack both sides evenly, and it WILL pop off (took me about 20 good swings).

With the bracket off, you can now use your method of pressing the joint out. Make sure you remove the circlip, of course. My weapon of choice was a breaker bar with a 3’ cheater attachment. It takes a ungodly amount of force to finally hear it start popping it’s way out.

Once it’s out, I recommend taking some scotchbrite to the housing, and applying grease so it makes inserting the new joint a little easier.

When pressing the new joint in, make sure you orient it the correct way, so the cotter pin will slide in parallel to the wheel. I mistakenly didn’t align mine, too late to go back now that it’s in.

Using the O’Reilly press kit, the C-clamp isn’t actually big enough to fit all the press components between. I made it work without to cap on the bottom on the press tube, it’s a PITA, but it will work with some dexterity.

After putting the circlip back on the ball joint, re-install everything the same way it came apart. It helps to do one side at a time, so you have a point of reference if you’re unsure how something goes back together; taking pictures isn’t a bad idea either.

it took me about 4 hours per side, even having a fair amount of knowledge with repairs. But be prepared if you hit a couple snags for it to take a whole weekend.

Also, this repair did fix my “popping” sound when backing up and turning. But a lot of things can cause that noise, mine just so happened to be resolved by this repair.

If I can help anyone by clarifying, or answering questions that this post didn’t cover; please let me know. I was dubious going into this repair without full knowledge of what I might encounter.

 

LKQ has low mile (20-30k) LCAs for about $100 each. I just bought two, I'll update once I get them.

 

Gonna necro this thread

How are the beck arnleys holding up for everyone? I ordered some and I was wondering if they were greaseable or sealed? Thanks guys!

@TexasTundra27

 

At this point I can’t even remember when I installed my last set, but they’re holding up good and I have zero regrets

 

I appreciate the feedback! Do you remember of they had grease zerks or not?

 

Sorry forgot that part of the original question. No they do not, but even with all the abuse I throw at them, they aren’t showing any signs of leaks.

 

That's awesome to hear! Should be installing them in a few weeks