CdaleR4000si
New member
I got over 160,000 out of my originals and over 200,000 out of the replacements (OEM). Coming up on 40,000 on the current ones (also OEM).
96-02 toyota 4runner front lower ball joint uniball spherical bearing conversion
- Thread starter mickeyt
- Start date
I got over 160,000 out of my originals and over 200,000 out of the replacements (OEM). Coming up on 40,000 on the current ones (also OEM).
1985taylor1925
Senior Member
Have you had an actual failure? Mine had the original lowers at 162000 when I bought the truck. I probably changed them at 175000 after learning about the failures. I have no idea how the truck was driven before I bought it. But most of the true failures have been on lifted trucks.
Curious if the variation in longevity has to do with hard-core crawlin'/wheelin' vs plain ol' highway miles?
thecole1098
New member
Most definitely. The extra stress of a lifted truck with bigger tires and putting it through hard terrain will certainly limit the life of anything on a truck, let alone the ball joints.
1985taylor1925
Senior Member
Yes the abuse of off road driving and bigger tires, but I think the big factor is the angle on the lbjs. In the years I’ve been on the forum most of the failures I’ve seen occurred while driving around a corner on pavement at slow speeds, and some of them had low miles on them. That’s not a high stress scenario. It seems the angle is what causes the problems even more so than harsh driving
phattyduck
Elite Member
My 4Runner had over 270k miles on the stock ball joints... though, that's 2WD at stock height on the small 15" wheel package. Probably had 10k of off road miles in that time (maintained and unmaintained dirt roads). There wasn't any noticeable play in them when I removed them, but they were able to be moved more easily than the new OEM ones.
-Charlie
HiluxSurf SSR-G
Senior Member
has anyone attempted to come up with a revised design of the LCA/LBJ in such a way that the joint becomes similar to those of the 4th gens? That way, the issue of catastrophic failure is eliminated
How much different are the LBJ on the newer gens ? What really amazes me. Is how fabrication companies have not stepped up and designed/tested a uniball LBJ
tx_shooter
New member
I came as close to failure as I care to get when my passenger side LBJ had enough slack in it that I could rattle it around before removing it. Since then I have always checked my LBJs when changing my brake pads and prefer to replace them around 50k miles. The reason I do this is because I drive between 40-50k miles a year for work and expo trips. Proper maintenance is cheaper than repairs or a ruined trip.
T4R2014
Elite Member
I've seen numerous 300k mile+ trucks beat to shit with accident history still running stock ball joints. They didn't look pretty, but they didn't fail either. They don't like lifts.
Makes sense to me.
Yeah. Looks like it's pressed in. And one side is slightly larger in diameter. So it sits on the LBJ arm. Would be nice to get the seller on here. And share photos of everything.
linkedtamiya
New member
Open for questions
linkedtamiya
New member
hey man im here...
share some photos, reviews and comments on how its fabricated.
Yoter
New member
There are many questions already raised in this thread, could you maybe read through the thread and answer them?
If its not welded in, how is it held together?
What kind of testing have you done with them?
What is your fabrication background/do you make them yourself or contract them out?
