Great write up! Thank you for the very detailed pictures and specifications. You did a very good job!

Yes they do.

Tag so I can find it later.

Thanks for the great write up!

I attempted doing my lower balljoints today. Had the drivers side lifted, tie rod removed, and LBJ castle nut removed and was on my third LBJ mount bolt. I was using a two foot breaker bar and snapped the head of the nut off with the first tug.

For the record I had not used any PB blaster because I have little to no rust under my vehicle and assumed I would not need it. All bolts came off easy, and the third one did too I guess...

Long story short
>Use PB Blaster and prep the bolts especially if the bolts are old.
>And be a little more graceful when breaking the nut lose because those 14mm bolts are not bulletproof by any means.

Very frustrating day because I had to take it to a shop to see if they can get the bolt out. The reverse drill bits I had at the house wernt cutting it..

what was your ultimate resolution for this issue?

The shop had some sharper reverse drill bits and were able to get it out. They finished the install for me. Prior to the install of my new lower balljoints I had a loud clunking sound coming from the front end. Turns out I only had 3 lower mounting bolts holding my driverside lower balljoint on (there is supposed to be 4).....
So im gonna take a wild guess in saying it had probably weakened the mounting bolts all together. Im lucky I didn't have any bigger problems than a head breaking off, when I could have very easily been in a ditch upside down.

yes, very fortunate indeed!

That looks like the lift time warranty ball joint NAPA sells, I bought their 1 year warranty one and it only last 2 months and was worse than the one I replaced. I upgraded it to the lifetime one, hope it lasts longer and is built better... wonder sometimes if the only difference is the cost and how long they warranty them.

Anyone have any luck with other brands?

Getting ready to switch out my LBJ's and I'm curious too about whether or not I should just spend the extra coin on some Original Toyota parts or go with aftermarket stuff. Also I would like to know what size tie rod end puller you need need to get the job done?

Moog's is a great OEM LBJ brand !! I also bought Moogs adjustable Stabalizer Bar end Links !!

I wouldn't waste my time on a puller for tie rods, little leverage and a shock to the dog ear with a hammer and it'll pop right out.

One word of advice because i just did mine the other week and noticed a loud, harsh popping sound at full wheel lock. Grease the steering stops that are on the LBJs and it will help prevent that from happening or scaring the crap out of you and making you think you did something wrong .

My tie rod end puller is exactly the same size as a great big hammer. Unthread the castle nut, flip it over and thread it back on a couple turns, and smack the crap out of it. If you don't care about saving it as a trail spare, you don't have to bother with flipping the castle nut.

If it's stubborn, get the propane torch and heat it until it's smoking, then smack it again.

OK, I need a little help.

I can't seem to find an easy way to get the OTRE and the ball joint to separate. I've been using a NAPA rented puller and a 5 lb sledge hammer. I use the puller to add some force and then whack at it, I think this time it took 20 blows, it's frustrating. But does anybody have a link or a part number to a puller that will fit our trucks? I now have 2 different pullers but both won't fit and I'm sick of going to NAPA and renting one that doesn't really work.

I've had to take my lbj's apart twice now, since I snapped a head (1 of the 4) and can't get it out. I put everything back together because I ran out of time the last time. I did the same thing today, but I didn't finish because it got too cold. This time I got a map gas torch (ts8000 is pretty sick) but I was too scared to heat it up too much, stuff was starting to burn. I placed some roxul insulation, I had, behind it (but the torch got that stuff to melt). I tried to melt candle wax into it. I kroiled it for days/weeks. No luck. So I put everything back together. I think I'm either going to try to reverse drill it out or take it somewhere. I'm running out of time before it gets really cold.

So anybody know of a puller that'll work? I can tell you that this won't work

OEM 27022 Tie Rod/Pitman Arm Puller

OEM 27022 Tie Rod/Pitman Arm Puller - Amazon.com

The inner diameter isn't wide enough. I'd grind it out if I had a way to grind it out.

I used the Napa tie rod puller to separate the OTRE from the ball joint without any issues, fit perfectly.

NAPA AUTO PARTS

The Napa Pitman arm puller worked great to separate the ball joint from the lower control arm. It is slightly wider than the tie rod puller.

NAPA AUTO PARTS