Brake & Suspension Maint: Advice Needed

[340W]

Hi guys,

Here's the summation of my maintenance quest yesterday and where I'm at now. I'm curious as to what the quorum thinks would be the best course of action.

• My brakes began shuddering about 2 months ago, so I figured it was deposits on the rotors and/or pad wear. Time for a brake job.
• I ordered new rotors and pads with the intention to install them yesterday. Got everything pulled apart, and immediately noticed the inside lower piston of the driver's side caliper was frozen stiff. Totally rusted in place and the one above it was not far off. Great.
• OK, not a huge deal. A bit more $$ than I originally intended to spend, but certainly something that has to be done to ensure safe and sound brake performance. Replacement calipers were ordered from Advance Auto and are waiting to be picked up.
• At the same time, I took notice that the upper ball joint boots on BOTH sides were torn and leaking grease. For reference, I have 5100's @ 1.75 as the only suspension modification on the truck.

Now, I'm clearly replacing all the brake components on the front end, and it's looking like I need to replace the UBJ's as well. This leads me to the following questions on which I need some input, please:

• Is replacing the UBJ's an involved job? From what I can see, it's pretty straightforward with a jaw puller.
• Do I replace the LBJ's, too? [EDIT] The LBJ's look totally fine. Boots in tact and no grease leaking anywhere.
• I have read in a few places the aftermarket/auto shop ball joints don't seem to last quite as long as genuine Toyota parts. Does it pay to get OEM for these things?
• Honestly, how much of a pain in the butt is this going to be?

I haven't spent much money at all on the truck; it's been very reliable and there's no imminent shimmy or wobble to indicate anything is failing right now. I'm certainly not in the habit of tempting fate, so I figured I'd just take care of it now before winter hits. I welcome feedback and thanks very much in advance!

 

[340W]

UPDATE: Today, I swapped out the calipers, pads, and rotors and bled everything. Couldn't be happier with the results. Brakes are quiet, powerful, and progressive. Only took around 4 hours in the garage using simple hand tools and some ingenuity.

That said, my original question is still on my mind. Both UBJ's look shot; the boots are destroyed and leaking grease. I also noticed the driver's side CV axle is leaking grease (that gray crap that gets everywhere), but the boot doesn't seem to be torn. Does it make sense to change them entirely, or can the boots be repacked and resealed?

 

[Drunner97]

I don't think it's too bad of a job to replace the ball joints. Remove the UCAs, get (rent) a balljoint press, swap in new ones, reinstall UCAs. The hardest part is probably going to be getting the UCA bolts out, those things suck. If you're going through the trouble you might as well look at new bushings too. Probably don't need them yet, but you might as well since it's all apart.

 

[340W]

Yeah, that's what I thought. Is it possible to press the UBJ's out while the control arm is still installed?

If not, those bolts look impossible to get to...

 

[fdbyrne]

The bolts are easy to get off. You can get the nut off through the wheel well and then pull the bolt from the engine compartment.

 

[Drunner97]

The bolts are easy to get off. You can get the nut off through the wheel well and then pull the bolt from the engine compartment.

Not quite. I just replaced my UCAs over the weekend and I had some issues.

The driver side hits the bottom of the battery tray, but you can loosen the bolts holding the battery in place and that will give you enough give to push it out.

The passenger side hits something, not sure what it is, but again, one bolt and you can get the clearance.

There are also the hard brake lines (I think?) that need to be moved out of the way (again 1 bolt) to get a socket in to torque things back down. Otherwise there's no way to get a socket in there.

 

[jdigitty]

Here's a How To it wasn't to bad when i did it, I just removed the battery to get some room.

Upper Control Arms replacement