BALL JOINTS: Sankei 555 (Moog/Raybestos) Poor Quality/Design Flaw??? My Findings...

[austintaco]

Keep me posted. Mine are rusty too. It appears superficial though

I received this:
“ Hi,

The tie rods and ball joints we sell are made by 555 from Japan. They are OEM quality. The only difference is they come bare metal, or not painted, which is why they are cheaper than OEM. It is normal for bare metal to rust quickly in humid areas, such as Texas.

Thank you

--
Dillon Charles
Sales/Tech Representative”

I guess that means I’ll be uninstalling, painting, and reinstalling or buying OEM. I think, if this is true, they should put that in the description.

 

[Bad Luck]

Is it true OEM LBJ’s still have “555” marked on them? Pretty sure I read that somewhere. Shop I took it to was an employee of my father’s way back in the day. I insisted on OEM. And paid for that. Upon picking truck up he insisted LBJ OTRE and End links were all OEM. Truck was there over weekend so I assumed he went to Toyota dealership for parts. I told him about the importance of going OEM in these trucks and the LBJ failure thing. But I remember seeing ‘555’ stamped on them after install and him mentioning greasing somewhere before I left??? Hasn’t been a year and there’s a lot of surface rust and I’m in SF Bay Area. I provided part numbers and everything. It was last second thing, dad was bringing his Mercedes there for other work and said he’d cover my stuff too. Or else I would have ordered parts myself and done it at another time. $500 was initially my cost including labor. But of course my dad insisted on a huge tip for both cars afterwards.

Anyway if there’s something to look for to know for sure, please let a brother know! I’m lifting it soon and will be doing light off-roading and want to know. I would also have a bone to pick with this guy.

Toyota OEM ball joints don't have 555 stamped on them

 

[phattyduck]

I received this:
“ Hi,

The tie rods and ball joints we sell are made by 555 from Japan. They are OEM quality. The only difference is they come bare metal, or not painted, which is why they are cheaper than OEM. It is normal for bare metal to rust quickly in humid areas, such as Texas.

Thank you

--
Dillon Charles
Sales/Tech Representative”

I guess that means I’ll be uninstalling, painting, and reinstalling or buying OEM. I think, if this is true, they should put that in the description.

Who cares about surface rust? You should care about the internal construction of the ball joint - of which only OEM is done to OEM standards.

Sometimes you can get better options aftermarket - in this case you can't.

-Charlie

 

[3bears]

I received this:
“ Hi,

The tie rods and ball joints we sell are made by 555 from Japan. They are OEM quality. The only difference is they come bare metal, or not painted, which is why they are cheaper than OEM. It is normal for bare metal to rust quickly in humid areas, such as Texas.

Thank you

--
Dillon Charles
Sales/Tech Representative”

I guess that means I’ll be uninstalling, painting, and reinstalling or buying OEM. I think, if this is true, they should put that in the description.

"OEM quality"....you read and hear that so much even on total crap parts

 

[nissanh]

555 NEVER makes parts for TOYOTA, or better put TOYOTA will NEVER use 555 parts as those are NOT even a bit close to Toyota quality.

555 will fail in 20K miles as experienced by my friend's 03 tacoma. OEM 200K Miles (i've experienced). The difference is NOT the paint! but the Quality and material.

For the past 30 years experience with Toyota and their parts, I am yet to find an aftermarket manufacturer making a better part than any of the toyota part.

 

[thatoneguy]

OEM's are currently $159 each at my dealer. I'd rather just have total peace-of-mind than skimp on something this important....

 

[ShepRunner]

Thanks everyone for this thread. I just had mine done this week.
Be sure to buy directly from a Toyota dealer. I've had two mechanics, one VERY reputable, say that the distributor they ordered from listed the Sankei's as "OEM". They are not the same part. If you work with an independent mechanic, be sure they order DIRECTLY from a Toyota dealer. Both mechanics were surprised to hear the difference. And yes, each LBJ is in the $160-$190 range.

 

[Devbot]

Thanks everyone for this thread. I just had mine done this week.
Be sure to buy directly from a Toyota dealer. I've had two mechanics, one VERY reputable, say that the distributor they ordered from listed the Sankei's as "OEM". They are not the same part. If you work with an independent mechanic, be sure they order DIRECTLY from a Toyota dealer. Both mechanics were surprised to hear the difference. And yes, each LBJ is in the $160-$190 range.

If you get them from a stealership, yeah. They're closer to $100 everywhere else.

 

[cas5259]

I just bought OEM ball joints from a dealer for $105ea.

 

[Kanoe]

I just bought OEM ball joints from a dealer for $105ea.

Me too. Picked up a spare set at camelback Toyota in the spring for about that. Ordered online picked up at the counter.

 

[FD7683]

I know this is an old thread but for anyone seeing this, please don't run aftermarket lower ball joints from any brand and STRICTLY go with the OEM ball joint units from either a dealership or a reputable Toyota website.

 

[Boognish_Forever]

I wonder how long these would last.

 

[Skulking]

I wonder how long these would last.

Assuming the threading is the same, that's almost worth it just for the castle nut and cotter pin.

 

[spartacus]

I wonder how long these would last. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210215/22b283f[/QUOTE]

Safety of my family and others on the road way more important and not worth the couple of hundred dollars saved. Stick to oem.

 

[Boognish_Forever]

Assuming the threading is the same, that's almost worth it just for the castle nut and cotter pin.

I bet that castle nut is made out of pot metal and the cotter pin is as strong as a bread tie

 

[Boognish_Forever]

Safety of my family and others on the road way more important and not worth the couple of hundred dollars saved. Stick to oem.

These shouldn’t even be legal to sell.

 

[Devbot]

These shouldn’t even be legal to sell.

Just the way free market works. Look at guns - there are numerous companies that knowingly sell firearms which have a long history of detonating and permanently injuring it's users, yet nothing is done. Inter Ordinance is the forefront of this if you want an example.
Chances are they will continue to sell faulty and shoddy parts until the government forces them to shut down, which is much easier said than done.

 

[FD7683]

I wonder how long these would last.

Holy crap, I didn't even see the $9 price tag until now........ I bet those won't even last a year or 2.

 

[T4R2014]

I wonder how long these would last.

At least they coat it unlike 555!

 

[ShepRunner]

If you get them from a stealership, yeah. They're closer to $100 everywhere else.

That's my point - I don't believe the Sankei are in fact OEM. So if you want OEM, buy from the dealership.