[hrod79]

So I will start this out by saying I was attempting to change out a LCA front bushing that was needing to be replaced. I was getting a knock with hard braking and changing from reverse to drive or vise versa. Found the issue was a bad front bushing on the LCA. Not a afraid to tackle items like this I decided to change the LCA rear bushing and Lower Ball joints at that same time. All press in and out with proper equipment. Toyota only recommends a complete LCA to make the repair and I will say does not offer all parts for this repair. My Lower Ball joint wasn't bad, neither did the Rear bushing however I was going to tear it apart and figured with 150k miles it was about time to do everything.

So I sourced some parts
Lower Front bushing = Febest - TAB-516
Lower Rear Bushing = Toyota 48655-60050
Ball Joint = Moog K500017

Well there is a procedure to remove the bushings available on youtube. I was only able to get 1 of the 4 out. didn't have a hot enough torch to make it happen. So I had a mechanic friend take care of getting the bushings out. He was able to take old ones out and press in the new ones in. Everything turned out great. Then he pressed out the OE ball joints and replaced them with MOOG. Turns out the Moog did not work. The Shaft of the ball joint was the right size however was short. Meaning the retaining clip could not be placed. They were 1mm too short and the ring for the retaining clip to be placed did not come out the opposite end far enough to be placed. I E-mailed Moog and got no reply.
Step 2 try another brand ball joint
We tried Oreilly auto Import Direct - BJ06050 which when we received them were the same length shaft as the Moog. My mechanic tried one other supplier, I believe AC/Delco and No dice. Same length.
Step 3. Order complete LCA from Rock Auto.
MOOG RK622834 and RK622835
I ordered Moog LCA listed for 5th Gen. Looked perfect when I received them. however when I attempted to install I didn't get far. Bushings were incorrect. The thru hole on the bushings were too small for my factory Cam bolts. It was clear that the arms I received were not for a 5th gen. I decided to have the already purchased Bushing installed in the new arms which did not work because the diameter of the front and rear bushings were larger than the MOOG arms would accept. Another clue these were for another vehicle and I'm guessing a 07-09 FJC. Contacted Rockauto and returned the arms.
Step 4. Found Ball joint through Febest. Set up an order for 2. I figured i would give this one last go. After reading some reviews on IH8Mud I decided to cancel the order
Step 5. Ordered Factory LCA from Toyota.
Which Worked!!

So because I did hours of searching and finding little info in this Forum about this I am writing to advise others.
There is NO aftermarket support for Lower Ball joints for the 5th Gen 4Runner.
So If your joints are still good don't try and replace them. Do the boots if it is the only thing you need. Once you press them Out they will gum up when you press them back in and stiffen up making the joint fail quickly.

Rock auto also lists LCA - MEVOtech (reviews were garbage) and SKP which states they fit 2003-2017. I know there is no way this is accurate and didn't want to risk the wait to find out they didn't work.

My truck was down for 30days mostly due to holiday delays with shipping.

So there is the Info. do with it what you will community.

[Jetboy]

Thanks for sharing. I wonder if the Moog parts for the GX460 are the same and/or if there was some odd difference between model years that's not well known. It's surprising that Moog wouldn't have manufactured them correctly since there are something like 2 million 150 series vehicles out there around the world.

[Seattle206]

Good to know as the 5th gens have begun aging. These DIY tutorials are beneficial resources.

[boyguan]

Originally Posted by hrod79

So I will start this out by saying I was attempting to change out a LCA front bushing that was needing to be replaced. I was getting a knock with hard braking and changing from reverse to drive or vise versa. Found the issue was a bad front bushing on the LCA. Not a afraid to tackle items like this I decided to change the LCA rear bushing and Lower Ball joints at that same time. All press in and out with proper equipment. Toyota only recommends a complete LCA to make the repair and I will say does not offer all parts for this repair. My Lower Ball joint wasn't bad, neither did the Rear bushing however I was going to tear it apart and figured with 150k miles it was about time to do everything.

So I sourced some parts
Lower Front bushing = Febest - TAB-516
Lower Rear Bushing = Toyota 48655-60050
Ball Joint = Moog K500017

Well there is a procedure to remove the bushings available on youtube. I was only able to get 1 of the 4 out. didn't have a hot enough torch to make it happen. So I had a mechanic friend take care of getting the bushings out. He was able to take old ones out and press in the new ones in. Everything turned out great. Then he pressed out the OE ball joints and replaced them with MOOG. Turns out the Moog did not work. The Shaft of the ball joint was the right size however was short. Meaning the retaining clip could not be placed. They were 1mm too short and the ring for the retaining clip to be placed did not come out the opposite end far enough to be placed. I E-mailed Moog and got no reply.
Step 2 try another brand ball joint
We tried Oreilly auto Import Direct - BJ06050 which when we received them were the same length shaft as the Moog. My mechanic tried one other supplier, I believe AC/Delco and No dice. Same length.
Step 3. Order complete LCA from Rock Auto.
MOOG RK622834 and RK622835
I ordered Moog LCA listed for 5th Gen. Looked perfect when I received them. however when I attempted to install I didn't get far. Bushings were incorrect. The thru hole on the bushings were too small for my factory Cam bolts. It was clear that the arms I received were not for a 5th gen. I decided to have the already purchased Bushing installed in the new arms which did not work because the diameter of the front and rear bushings were larger than the MOOG arms would accept. Another clue these were for another vehicle and I'm guessing a 07-09 FJC. Contacted Rockauto and returned the arms.
Step 4. Found Ball joint through Febest. Set up an order for 2. I figured i would give this one last go. After reading some reviews on IH8Mud I decided to cancel the order
Step 5. Ordered Factory LCA from Toyota.
Which Worked!!

So because I did hours of searching and finding little info in this Forum about this I am writing to advise others.
There is NO aftermarket support for Lower Ball joints for the 5th Gen 4Runner.
So If your joints are still good don't try and replace them. Do the boots if it is the only thing you need. Once you press them Out they will gum up when you press them back in and stiffen up making the joint fail quickly.

Rock auto also lists LCA - MEVOtech (reviews were garbage) and SKP which states they fit 2003-2017. I know there is no way this is accurate and didn't want to risk the wait to find out they didn't work.

My truck was down for 30days mostly due to holiday delays with shipping.

So there is the Info. do with it what you will community.

How much would you have saved to replace all the parts individually (ball joint, front and rear bushing)?

How much is a correct after market arm?

How much is an OEM arm?

After working in the service department for many years, i find it never cheap to just replace the bushing as your doing more than just one usually. If it is a part that is frequently broken or in need of replacement, more aftermarket manufacturers will pop up.

Glad it worked out in the end. OEM is usually always a win. I found out the hard way on my dad's LCA for the sienna.

[lmturne1]

Originally Posted by hrod79

So I will start this out by saying I was attempting to change out a LCA front bushing that was needing to be replaced. I was getting a knock with hard braking and changing from reverse to drive or vise versa. Found the issue was a bad front bushing on the LCA. Not a afraid to tackle items like this I decided to change the LCA rear bushing and Lower Ball joints at that same time. All press in and out with proper equipment. Toyota only recommends a complete LCA to make the repair and I will say does not offer all parts for this repair. My Lower Ball joint wasn't bad, neither did the Rear bushing however I was going to tear it apart and figured with 150k miles it was about time to do everything.

So I sourced some parts
Lower Front bushing = Febest - TAB-516
Lower Rear Bushing = Toyota 48655-60050
Ball Joint = Moog K500017

Well there is a procedure to remove the bushings available on youtube. I was only able to get 1 of the 4 out. didn't have a hot enough torch to make it happen. So I had a mechanic friend take care of getting the bushings out. He was able to take old ones out and press in the new ones in. Everything turned out great. Then he pressed out the OE ball joints and replaced them with MOOG. Turns out the Moog did not work. The Shaft of the ball joint was the right size however was short. Meaning the retaining clip could not be placed. They were 1mm too short and the ring for the retaining clip to be placed did not come out the opposite end far enough to be placed. I E-mailed Moog and got no reply.
Step 2 try another brand ball joint
We tried Oreilly auto Import Direct - BJ06050 which when we received them were the same length shaft as the Moog. My mechanic tried one other supplier, I believe AC/Delco and No dice. Same length.
Step 3. Order complete LCA from Rock Auto.
MOOG RK622834 and RK622835
I ordered Moog LCA listed for 5th Gen. Looked perfect when I received them. however when I attempted to install I didn't get far. Bushings were incorrect. The thru hole on the bushings were too small for my factory Cam bolts. It was clear that the arms I received were not for a 5th gen. I decided to have the already purchased Bushing installed in the new arms which did not work because the diameter of the front and rear bushings were larger than the MOOG arms would accept. Another clue these were for another vehicle and I'm guessing a 07-09 FJC. Contacted Rockauto and returned the arms.
Step 4. Found Ball joint through Febest. Set up an order for 2. I figured i would give this one last go. After reading some reviews on IH8Mud I decided to cancel the order
Step 5. Ordered Factory LCA from Toyota.
Which Worked!!

So because I did hours of searching and finding little info in this Forum about this I am writing to advise others.
There is NO aftermarket support for Lower Ball joints for the 5th Gen 4Runner.
So If your joints are still good don't try and replace them. Do the boots if it is the only thing you need. Once you press them Out they will gum up when you press them back in and stiffen up making the joint fail quickly.

Rock auto also lists LCA - MEVOtech (reviews were garbage) and SKP which states they fit 2003-2017. I know there is no way this is accurate and didn't want to risk the wait to find out they didn't work.

My truck was down for 30days mostly due to holiday delays with shipping.

So there is the Info. do with it what you will community.

Sorry to hear about your troubles. For future reference, Toyota offers UCA's assembled with bushings & the ball joint installed. Or you can order bushings or anything else, except the ball joint, for the UCA's.

Back to your original topic, if you concluded that the bushings were bad and the ball joint was good, why not order two more bushings and have them pressed in. Did I miss something?

I personally use Partsouq.com and paste my VIN in the search box. The parts schematics are straight from Toyota and much more detailed than you will find on any dealers site.

[nb rob]

sorry to hear about your bad experience.

I've read more than once on this forum that the lower control arms are cheap, and include the LCA and bushings. Sure enough, they're $260 for OEM at my favorite toyota parts place

I guess there should be no hesitation as to which way to go when the LBJ needs service. Or my awful looking bushings finally give up the fight.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Lots of value in your post.

[hrod79]

Originally Posted by boyguan

How much would you have saved to replace all the parts individually (ball joint, front and rear bushing)?

How much is a correct after market arm?

How much is an OEM arm?

After working in the service department for many years, i find it never cheap to just replace the bushing as your doing more than just one usually. If it is a part that is frequently broken or in need of replacement, more aftermarket manufacturers will pop up.

Glad it worked out in the end. OEM is usually always a win. I found out the hard way on my dad's LCA for the sienna.

I spent $93 for initial parts. (Febest, Toyota, MOOG)
Moog aftermarket arm was $113 plus shipping,
Toyota arm is $360 at the dealer, $260 +$15 shipping from Toyota online retailer. so had initial attempt worked I would have saved $300 total.

[hrod79]

Originally Posted by lmturne1

Sorry to hear about your troubles. For future reference, Toyota offers UCA's assembled with bushings & the ball joint installed. Or you can order bushings or anything else, except the ball joint, for the UCA's.

Back to your original topic, if you concluded that the bushings were bad and the ball joint was good, why not order two more bushings and have them pressed in. Did I miss something?

I personally use Partsouq.com and paste my VIN in the search box. The parts schematics are straight from Toyota and much more detailed than you will find on any dealers site.

I did consider toyota parts at the start. but as stated I figured I could tackle this at home. with 150k miles I figured it would be a good move to just do the ball joints also. Moog is greasable and I like the idea of being able to grease the joint.

[boyguan]

Originally Posted by hrod79

I did consider toyota parts at the start. but as stated I figured I could tackle this at home. with 150k miles I figured it would be a good move to just do the ball joints also. Moog is greasable and I like the idea of being able to grease the joint.

OEM bushings are the way to go unless its a "upgrade" to urethane. I do like aftermarket ball joints to be able to re-greased.

Admire you to be the explorer and let everyone know what you have learned. Hopefully this thread helps out others. I would figure in another year or two they should have more abundance of aftermarket complete replacements.

[Chubbypanda]

Im about going to need to replace mine soon.

Can you send link where you found the LCA for $260?

Originally Posted by hrod79

I spent $93 for initial parts. (Febest, Toyota, MOOG)
Moog aftermarket arm was $113 plus shipping,
Toyota arm is $360 at the dealer, $260 +$15 shipping from Toyota online retailer. so had initial attempt worked I would have saved $300 total.

[Argyle Edison]

I'm just curious, why not mill down flange 1mm so you could get the snap ring on?

[Chubbypanda]

Parts to rebuild is not worth the effort since MOOG LCA
is a bit more and it seems the toyota OEM arm is a bit mire than twice the cost of MOOG arm.

Originally Posted by hrod79

I spent $93 for initial parts. (Febest, Toyota, MOOG)
Moog aftermarket arm was $113 plus shipping,
Toyota arm is $360 at the dealer, $260 +$15 shipping from Toyota online retailer. so had initial attempt worked I would have saved $300 total.

Originally Posted by Argyle Edison

I'm just curious, why not mill down flange 1mm so you could get the snap ring on?

[nerfkhat]

Oh gawd i went through this last week! I bought my moog control arm from summitracing. I agree looks very good. I called summit and told them that the oem camber bolts dont fit. So he said moog upgraded the control arms but didnt know the difference so he sent me that model. When it arrived it looked the same except they upgraded the ball joints to greasable units. but still oem camber bolts didnt fit again! So i decided maybe change the camber bolts and saw moog makes some. I think they do this on purpose to get you to buy their bolts. So i bought the set, bolt fits the front bushing but not the rear!! It doesnt look like they sell a rear set of bolts. So i decided to return everything. I pulled my control arm off probably 4x! I was super pissed. Im just going to go oem route and press in new ones.

[rdruss]

It is simply amazing that a "reputable" company like Moog can be so screwed up on such a popular model vehicle! They need to go down.
Should be some good aftermarket LCA out there for 5th gen from someone, although they will be x2 compared to OEM.

[DesertCanyons]

Total Chaos makes a replacement LCA for Toyota 4Runners. I think they also make an extended travel, longer LCA that widens the front track. It's a more involved process to widen the track and involves other handling issues, according to posts I've read here by others who have done it.
TOTAL CHAOS FABRICATION