Alignment Question

[JayRolla]

Seriously? I just googled it and only found a couple people who had ball joint failure on their 3rd gens. Mine have 285k miles on them right now. From what I've heard from several people in my town is that nothing ever goes wrong on these. A mechanic literally told me that in his 42 years of experience this is maybe the third one on a Toyota he's seen go bad.

I'm not making it to at all. Quick Google search. My truck is the silver picture on Google images.
https://www.google.com/search?q=low...VRtVjCh2GKAMA#tbm=isch&q=lbj+failure+4runner+

 

[IBallEngineer]

This really sucks. I've got just as many people telling me to replace them as there are telling me not to replace them. I'm pretty tight on money right now. I just don't see how they could suddenly fail. What about upper ball joints? Are those not as big of a deal?

The upper ball joints are not load bearing, as are the lowers. I know you think you are getting conflicting advice, but you really aren't. Your mechanic says he's only seen 3 failures in 42 years, but I bet he's never seen one fail at all on a 96 Chevy Caprice.

My point is not his ignorance, it's his lack of exposure. I've been working on cars since 1981, and I've never had first hand experience with LBJ failure on 3rd gens. But I KNOW they fail, and at 193K it's a high priority for me already, even though I plan to SAS my truck eventually. No one on this forum has anything to gain by telling you to change them both. They are just sharing what they've learned.

One more thing, as a shop owner if a vehicle came to my shop and one LBJ showed visible movement, I would only perform the repair if they replaced BOTH SIDES. In the automotive world there is a saying, "if one is gone, the other is going".

Do the right thing Mookie.

:thumb3:

 

[AZBub]

This really sucks. I've got just as many people telling me to replace them as there are telling me not to replace them. I'm pretty tight on money right now. I just don't see how they could suddenly fail. What about upper ball joints? Are those not as big of a deal?

I think there are more saying to do it. I resisted doing it too but I was certainly glad I did. The driver side one has a lot of play in it. My wife drives the car to work on the freeway going 70mph 5 days a week, Nothing to play with.

 

[michael33r]

I think there are more saying to do it. I resisted doing it too but I was certainly glad I did. The driver side one has a lot of play in it. My wife drives the car to work on the freeway going 70mph 5 days a week, Nothing to play with.

Well for now I'm going to obviously replace the one that has play. Sometime in the near future I'll probably do the other one. Will these really effect the alignment that much though? That would be extra money to have that done twice.

 

[JayRolla]

Well for now I'm going to obviously replace the one that has play. Sometime in the near future I'll probably do the other one. Will these really effect the alignment that much though? That would be extra money to have that done twice.

No they dont if its solid. You can do one now and the other later.

 

[Unner]

This really sucks. I've got just as many people telling me to replace them as there are telling me not to replace them. I'm pretty tight on money right now. I just don't see how they could suddenly fail. What about upper ball joints? Are those not as big of a deal?

It's a poor design from the factory. All the newer 4Runners and stuff have it set up where if the LBJ goes bad it stays connected to the control arm and can't pull out. That's not the case on the 3rd Gen. When it goes it pulls out of the control arm and you're looking at new CVs, tie rods, steering rack, wheel, tire, body damage, and other issues depending on how fast you are going when it happens.

The upper ball joints are not load bearing, as are the lowers. I know you think you are getting conflicting advice, but you really aren't. Your mechanic says he's only seen 3 failures in 42 years, but I bet he's never seen one fail at all on a 96 Chevy Caprice.

My point is not his ignorance, it's his lack of exposure. I've been working on cars since 1981, and I've never had first hand experience with LBJ failure on 3rd gens. But I KNOW they fail, and at 193K it's a high priority for me already, even though I plan to SAS my truck eventually. No one on this forum has anything to gain by telling you to change them both. They are just sharing what they've learned.

One more thing, as a shop owner if a vehicle came to my shop and one LBJ showed visible movement, I would only perform the repair if they replaced BOTH SIDES. In the automotive world there is a saying, "if one is gone, the other is going".

Do the right thing Mookie.

:thumb3:

Exactly. I know more about the 3rd gen then any mechanic would ever know just because the amount of time I spend on this forum and from working on mine. Not to sound cocky or stupid, but the members on this forum are the "3rd Gen experts" where as the mechanic probably spends way more time working on other vehicles and not specifically 3rd gens.

Make sure you only use OEM. Even the supposedly high quality aftermarket stuff is known to fail as soon as just a few thousand miles after install.

Well for now I'm going to obviously replace the one that has play. Sometime in the near future I'll probably do the other one. Will these really effect the alignment that much though? That would be extra money to have that done twice.

LBJ replacement won't affect alignment at all as long as you don't mess around with the tie rods at the same time.

 

[michael33r]

It's a poor design from the factory. All the newer 4Runners and stuff have it set up where if the LBJ goes bad it stays connected to the control arm and can't pull out. That's not the case on the 3rd Gen. When it goes it pulls out of the control arm and you're looking at new CVs, tie rods, steering rack, wheel, tire, body damage, and other issues depending on how fast you are going when it happens.



Exactly. I know more about the 3rd gen then any mechanic would ever know just because the amount of time I spend on this forum and from working on mine. Not to sound cocky or stupid, but the members on this forum are the "3rd Gen experts" where as the mechanic probably spends way more time working on other vehicles and not specifically 3rd gens.

Make sure you only use OEM. Even the supposedly high quality aftermarket stuff is known to fail as soon as just a few thousand miles after install.




LBJ replacement won't affect alignment at all as long as you don't mess around with the tie rods at the same time.

I ordered two Genuine Toyota lower ball joints. Found some for $88 on amazon.com. Dealership was charging $130 a piece.

 

[JayRolla]

I ordered two Genuine Toyota lower ball joints. Found some for $88 on amazon.com. Dealership was charging $130 a piece.

Be careful, lots of chinese parts on amazon sold as genuine OEM.

This place is good for OEM parts and price. But again the price you paid is pretty much about right.

2000 Toyota 4Runner Parts - Camelback Toyota Parts - Genuine OEM Parts - Free Shipping