Looking online I found lower ball joint assembly kits, for $80 a side ($160 for a set) for NAPA autoparts $160 a good deal?
I'm getting ready to put my Light Racing UCAs on and wanted to take care of the LBJs as well.
thanks Josh

Check out Amazon for Moog ball joints, I think I paid like $110 shipped for both.

I don't think it is a good deal because the non-Toyota LBJ will most likely fail.

If you do a search for LBJ or ball joint on this forum you will find several threads of people who installed after-market LBJs only to have them fail within 1 year. There is a thread where one guy installed MOOG LBJs and they failed 2 months later.


Only use Toyota LBJs.

I'm in the process of doing my LBJs as well (tonight actually, hopefully). From all the research I gathered, it would be better to go with OEM parts bc some of the aftermarket ones failed within months. In fact, if you go to toyotapartsales.com, they are 77.40 per side....so I don't see any reason to risk and get a store branded aftermarket set when you can get OEM for the same price.
I was going to order from the dealer I posted above, but I didn't have time to wait on the shipping due to an upcoming trip, so I called my local dealership to see if they could get close to what it would have been for parts shipped from the above dealer. They were able to get really close to the same price AND had the parts for me the following day. I also ordered new bolts for mine since there's been a couple failures due to bolts shearing off as well. Good luck!

I've read a few reviews that said the "NAPA" brand LBJs were as good as OEM, and they include all new bolts etc.
Josh

ONLY USE TOYOTA OE LBJs.
All others are known to wear out with way less miles. I have a friend that owns an auto parts store and I bought "the best that I could get". They wore our with about 20k-30k miles. I have replaced them with Toyota OE. They do cost more but if you loose a LBJ you could total your rig... Or worse!

This is a no brainer! just spend the extra $ and go with Toyota part. I don't think there is really "that big" of a difference anyways - perhaps 20% ?

If your LBJs fail because you didn't use Toyota, many terrible things can occur.
* Your rig might be totaled and if you are moving > 20MPH
* You might swerve off the road wildly killing someone else or yourself.


Sounds dramatic but if you read the threads there is at least one where the MOOG LBJ failed @ 3 months and he swerved into a light pole. Luckily he lived.

USE TOYOTA PARTS

Ok, point taken. Ordering from Toyota, thanks for the insight. I have read the threads about LBJ failure, yep scary stuff.
thanks again-Josh

I have the Napas on my rig. Too new to have any real reviews but they seem solid. I got the Napa premiums not the economies. I will only use Napa or OEM parts on my truck. I have read pretty bad reviews about some of the Moog parts...no personal experience with them though.

My Moog LBJs were crap! They lasted about 2 months before the rubber boots were completely dried out and cracked all over. I replaced them after less than a year and they were truly shot. The ball inside one of them had way too much play and the other was almost totally siezed up.

I replaced them with Napas (because of the lifetime warranty) and they seem to be holding up very well after about 5 or 6 months. I figure I'll just replace them every 2 or 3 years for free if needed. Napa also gives a 10% AAA discount. BUT... I do agree that OEMs are the best, but they still kinda suck.

I just figure I wheel enough to destroy ANY brand LBJs quicker than normal, so I might as well get some with a lifetime warranty - the OEMs aren't all that either IMO. Don't forget, the majority of failures (at least that I've seen) have been on OEM LBJs. So to me it's less of a quality issue an more of a time issue. The OEMs will go a little longer I think.

Ditto

I also went with NAPA because of the lifetime warranty, and the fact that OEM parts are stupidly overpriced in Canada. $265 for OEM LBJ, or $135 for NAPA lifetime LBJ. Easy decision.

Just a question failed LBJ is it due to modify trunk(lift) only or regular 4runner as well. I'm just curious because my 4runner has the original LBJ with 194000 and i just check my LBJ and it's all good. I have no lift on my 4runner, never tow anything no heavy front end, should I be concern as well and replace my LBJ too.

The majority of the failures seem to be on lifted trucks with heavy bumpers, skids, etc.. But, it can still happen to a stock truck. Because it can be such a disaster when they fail and even deadly, I would definitely replace them if I was you.

A few guys from ttora and I were talking about it yesterday and one of the guys said he was pretty sure the factory recommended change interval for the LBJs is 100K. I don't have any hard evidence of this, but it came from a trusted source and 100K sounds about right to me.

how exactly would the 'lifetime warranty' work here? will they give you a new part every 4 years if you remove the LBJ and walk it in?

Or do you have to wait until the LBJ fails and then take the failed part into Napa?