I picked this up a couple months ago.. 106k very clean..did detailed search to make sure the mileage was correct and found nothing shady ..dealer records were consistent.. stoked to get to building.
Finally got one
- Thread starter Lineman1
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Thanks .. I don’t have a garage at the moment but I may keep it in storage.. doing the Lbj’s in next couple of days.. I’m doing research on the smoothest ride lift. I had a 99 limited with a locker in 2003 and loved it. I sold it wish I knew better back then. I think this one will be awesome when I get to doing what I want It’s an 02 sport I was hoping to find one like my 99 but got tired of looking for a clean one.
pluton
Senior Member
The lower ball joints are considered critical, uppers less so. The LBJs can fail without obvious warning and cause expensive collateral damage---you've seen the photos. The uppers apparently do not/cannot do that kind of damage if/when they fail. I replaced the lowers(plus bolts) when I got my 4Runner at 120K miles. The upper boots developed holes and started leaking about a year later, and I replaced the uppers at that time.
Whatever you do... consensus on forum is use toyota factory parts from dealer,,,especially the lower ball joint.... its critical...too many pics of downed balljoint ones...I got mine from local toyota dealer with online parts pretty cheap....I don't even trust toyota oem factory parts from ebay or amazon... I like it from dealer online,,its little more then ebay or amazon but I know that its the real toyota part..
coworker has a toyota tacoma and same thing, balljoint broke and on the ground out by the work gate exit...lol... He had it towed to closes garage and they fixed him up with cheap and fast job...yup,,they used cheap aftermarket balljoints.... come a year later,,,and his balljoint broke again and it was the same one that was repaired...
But the biggest kicker is....coworker went back to same repair shop for same job and same cost... coworker is cheap and won't pay for dealer parts cost and basically doesn't research or anything prepared....Just closes shop does it good enough for him.... lol...and he is not open to good advice, set in his ways.
Endlessblockades
Senior Member
Bueno!
Kanoe
New member
FYI- toyota sells a reboot kit for the uppers that includes new grease and the nut as well. Pretty cheap if you are in there for any reason. 43324-39015
beklemmung
New member
I just went back and forth about replacing my UBJs or rebooting them, and decided to go with the latter. I watched Tim's video and, while I know it's only 1 example, his opinion was that the UBJs on that truck probably didn't need to be replaced. Both of my boots are torn but the tears are fairly small and there's still quite a bit of grease. Since I still have a little less than 200k miles and the truck has barely been offroad, I'm assuming the UBJs are likely fine and that only new boots are needed.
AgentKooper
New member
Nice, good find!