Front suspension questions

[ectech]

I have a 98 4runner Sr5 214k miles and I have been looking to redo shine front end suspension components , lower and upper bj,tree's and sway bar links. most of this due to tire wear and a shake at highway speeds. before ordering my parts I went over to my mechanic and had him put it on a lift to check everything,since I remember pep boys song I needed to replace something last time I purchased tires but I have procrastinated quite a while and lost the information. My mechanic brought me under the lift,showed me everything and my bj's were rock solid without any play whatsoever. The culprit was my rack and pinion and sway bar links look bad. Originally when I was going to replace the other parts I started researching about ball joints and discovered all the horror stories on the lbj's. Now the rack and pinion is going to set me back a good bit $$ wise.my question is since my bj's seemed so solid should I necessarily replace them? Im not sure if they've been replaced before. I had a stack of service receipts that came with the 4runner but cannot find them for the life of me.

Thanks in advance

 

[fourwd1]

Maybe you should start by replacing what you know is worn/bad, then depending on the results, move on to what you suspect might need replacing.

 

[ectech]

Maybe you should start by replacing what you know is worn/bad, then depending on the results, move on to what you suspect might need replacing.

That's exactly what I plan to do but reading all this stuff about the 3rd gen lbj's has me somewhat nervous/paranoid, even though they are showing no signs of being bad