I will not use or recommend Sankei 555 for anything. Still with OEM for LBJ's, and nothing else.

Mike

My 555s lasted about 20k miles.

stick with OEM as others have said. i know people's financial situations are all different, but it's not like we're talking thousands or even hundreds of dollars difference here. i bought OEM through Camelback and with 8 new flange bolts (like a buck a piece) too it was $210+ shipped. did them myself in the garage and all said it took maybe 2-3 hours total.

My local stealership matches on line price, I look for lowest price online take it to them have yet to be gouged locally, Parts guys work off commission.

Facts:
OEM lasts more then 150K miles: I and many at T4R experienced
Aftermarket Orielly lasted 20K miles: My neighbor experienced with his tacoma 1st Gen.

Most aftermarket parts are made by 555 and renamed the product.

Avoid 555 as much as you can. Those are garbage.

When I did the LBJ's 5-6 years ago, both were like $156!

I bought 555 LBJ's, inner and outer tie rod ends from LROR and will see how they are. The ones I took out were original 21 year old components w/ 222k on them and they were not worn out.

If the 555 stuff I got doesn't hold up I will definitely get Toyota next time.

That's almost as much as the local stealership wanted for one here... I bought my 98 last March with just over 190,000 for just over $5,000... I have 217,000 on it now and have no record of when or if they were ever changed. I've got a close to 600 mile trip coming up in a couple weeks and for piece of mind I want them done before I go... they should be here on Friday and hope to install them on Saturday..

'Nuf said.

New bolts it is!

Thanks.

Got the new OEM LBJ's installed yesterday in the sweltering heat and brutal humidity. If I had to guess these were the factory originals. They were still pretty tight but extremely rusted. I envy you folks who don't live in the rust belt states. After watching Timmy the Toolman's awesome step by step video on youtube I figured this was a job I'd tackle myself. I had started spraying the bolts and castle nuts on Monday and hit them again three times during the week. Glad I did. the cotter pins were rusted solid and could not be removed so I had to snap them off using a breaker bar to get the nuts off. Thankfully the tie rod ends had two holes drilled for the cotter pins so I was able to just drill through the stuck rusted ones to install the new pins after torquing down to spec. I used my buddies garage to do the job and planned on using his air impact gun to break everything free but just as I was going to break the lug nuts free before jacking up my truck I discovered the trigger on his gun was broken. Ran out to Harbor Freight and bought one, put some oil in it and after just loosening a couple lug nuts a seal blew out in the gun. I ended up completing the job with breaker bars and hand tools.

Congrats on successfully NOT busting those 4 bolts securing the LBR to spindle!! Another north-easterner here, lower Hudson Valley.
Bought OEM LBJ, Inner/outer tie rod ends & front/rear springs about a month ago from Conicelli Toyota.
Picked up front/rear KYB shocks as well.
Been spraying all hardware with Kroil for the past 2-3 weeks. Changed out front springs and shocks yesterday. Still soaking those 4 bolts for the LBJ’s as no way do I want to snap them in the knuckle.
Impact guns are tempting but thinking not a wise idea with rusty hardware.
A hazard of living in the northeast for sure!

I did snap a 1/2 in extension trying to break free the castle nut on one ball joint. The 4 LBJ mounting bolts actually came out pretty easy. I was surprised there was zero rust on the threads of the bolts. I used a loaner puller set from Advance Auto to separate the tie rod ends and ball joints...

Advance Auto Parts - Down for Maintenance

made that step super easy with no damage to the tie rod ends.

555's are actually OEM quality for the ITRE, OTRE, and upper ball joints. It's a sealed polished ball design in a teflon retainer seat.

It's just the lower ball joint that needs to be OEM because the 555 version is a greaseable metal on metal design.

Everything I got looked like the original stuff I took out (21 years old, 222k and not worn out) including the lower ball joints which don't have grease fittings.
I gotta say, I've been fixing cars professionally for a long time and I honestly haven't had to replace very many 4Runner or Taco front end parts. LBA's once in a while, OTRE's here and there and rarely UBJ's and ITRE's. I haven't had a lot of problems with Moog or NAPA premium stuff, but don't know how any of it holds up to real wheeling as I live 55 miles from Boston and southern Maine is ruined for offroading.

You bought a new 555 lower ball joint that was similar to what you took out? Can you take a picture? The 555 is often rebranded by Napa, Moog, and others. But it clearly was an inferior design with a greasable fitting and a metal on metal design. You could tell it was metal on metal because it doesn't have the same smooth movement as the OEM design which is a polished ball in a teflon liner.