One of my front lower ball joints is torn, the rubber part, and some fluid/grease has leaked/is leaking. I assume it will need to be replaced at some point.

Yes I tried search, mostly 3rd gen stuff, and 1 thread on replacing just the ball joints which mainly says how much of a pain it is.

My plan is to just replace the entire LCA on both sides. This site has the set with ball joints for $171 shipped.
2007 Toyota 4Runner Front Lower Control Arm with Ball Joint Pair at 1A Auto.com
I know buying just ball joints would be cheaper for parts, but would require purchasing a special tool (tie puller?), which would make the total cost almost the same, and possibly require more work, so why not just get new LCA's.

It's been almost a year already and I haven't noticed any ill effect from driving like this.

With all that said, what is the harm of driving with the torn ball joint for the time being until replacement? When it gets to the point of "failure" what exactly could/would happen? I'd think not, but would failure of the ball joint harm any other parts? Thanks everyone

Ball joint failure would look something like this after it gets bad enough...

Complete vall joint failure. You have no idea what's going on underneath the boot.

I replaced both my LCA's with OEM due to frozen alignment cams and an indication the boots were going.

Any major issues with frozen alignment cams? With the rust I have I'd expect a little bit of a fight.

Any info/advice you could shed on the LCA removal and install would be appreciated. It seems pretty straight forward, but I know how jobs can turn unexpectedly difficult after they're started

I ended up cutting one of two that were frozen i ordered ahead of time from toyota just in case i had to cut both of them i didnt want to be stranded its my daily. And for the lower ball joint removel just go to autozone to rent the tool they will give your miney back once you return it

I went with the Moog control arms. Side by side with the OEM part, you can't tell a difference. I'm not saying they are the same, but if I found out they were made in the same factory it wouldn't surprise me.

Expect to have to cut one or both of the control arms off. It's the only way they will come off. Get some really long, high-quality sawzall blades. It's hardened steel and really puts up a fight.

You'll also need an alignment afterwards regardless of how well you match-mark things.

I fell into the broken boot trap...needed an axel and thought why not just get that ball joint while I have it apart! MISTAKE !

After almost an entire weekend, and a couple of last tires before giving up..I made it work but mostly because the alternative didnt look much easier....that LCA looks tough too...

I would love to know where does that one long bolt have room to be removed ?

I have never seen a picture like that with a 4th gen LBJ failure since our LBJs are in compression (e.g. the weight of the vehicle presses the ball further into the cup). I believe Toyota made this change in response to this type of catastrophic failure.

I have done both the LBJ replacement in OEM LCAs (as mentioned earlier, auto parts stores - in my case Advance Auto Parts - will rent you the ball joint press kit; make sure you get the larger set) and the LCA replacement. The LBJ replacement was much easier because my alignment cams were frozen and I had to cut them off with a sawzall. However, if your alignment cams are frozen then LCA replacement is really your only choice. I think I also needed to borrow a tie rod puller from Advance so I could swing the hub out of the way to make room for the sawzall.

I had a shop do the work. They had to be cut out with a plasma torch. The air chisel did nothing to free the frozen bushing. I got OEM arms for $270/piece on Amazon. I don't like replacing part ls with non-oem.

Can anyone confirm the cam bolt parts needed for this? I ordered the SPC replacement ones and I feel like they are different than the ones circled in red in this picture. The part marked with the Blue X is what I'm unsure of.

Attached Images

 

You may want to call Energy Suspension and ask them what that item is for, that diagram doesn't look the same as the diagram for OEM does, if you look at the diagram at the link below you will see what I'm saying.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the diagram with the cam bolt.

Front Suspension for 2004 Toyota 4Runner | Toyota Parts

So the kit that I got from SPC looks like the Mevotech kit in this link at Rock Auto. Notice that some of the other kits on Rock Auto show sleeves (assuming greasable), but the one I have does not. Without a sleeve there is a lot of play in the UCA where the bolt slides into the arm. So I'm not sure what I'm missing. But Rock Auto, Wheeler's, Amazon, etc all show the camber kit that I have as being compatible.

2004 TOYOTA 4RUNNER 4.7L V8 Alignment Caster / Camber Cam Bolt Kit | RockAuto

Here's my kit - non-greasable:


And here's a greasable kit, also compatible:

Why is it so hard to push the lower ball joints out (with the rented ball joint press)? I’ve never done them on my 4Rs but assume I will need to someday. But I’ve gone them on my F150 and it wasn’t too hard. I’d rather do just the ball joints than the whole LCA when the time comes...

this is a pita job. i did it last year and only changed the lca bushings after cutting it out. replacing the bushing was also a pita. now the uca bushings went out, lca bj, and cv axle. had to cut out uca too, lca took 2 seconds to take out since i put anti-seize all over cam bolts. so i dont ever have to do this again im replacing everything. new cv axle with seals, quick strut, upper and lower control arms, sway bar link, daystar leveling spacer. in spring i will do the passenger side.

tip: buy a carbide sawzall blade or 20 regular blades

prolly cause to get access to press out the bj the lca will have to come out or knuckle assembly which both could be a pita especially if your in a salty state. knuckle would probably be easier since lca bolts will prolly be seized

your in texas so prolly a 1000 times easier