Lifted 3rd gen ball joint/cv problems

Jake Gray

New member
So I've been having a problem recently of going through ball joints. I ended up replacing the LBJ's and the UBJ's with Detroit Axle parts to start with when my OEM parts got out of spec. The lowers failed when I was going pretty slow (after only 15k) so no harm done; this is when I put in the MOOG parts on the bottom because I figured the D.A. parts were just cheap. The uppers have lasted around 25k and I noticed this weekend that the boots are bad so I'll have to replace them. Anyone know if there is a way to decrease the angle on the ball joints with between a 3 and 4" lift in the front? Or are these parts really just bad quality. I assume this is why the boots broke. Maybe some sort of extended ball joint or something? Just don't want to be putting in new ones every 25k.

On a separate note, same vehicle keeps shredding cv boots even with a 1" diff drop kit....any suggestions? There is room to drop the diff another few centimeters before it hits the cross member but I doubt the angle will change all that much. Found a site that boasts about long-travel cv axle boots that I might give a try, https://www.offroadsolutions.com/products/high-angle-inner-cv-boot/ anyone have a theory about if this would work?
 

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Is the pic of the axles with the truck as it normally sits? The angle is way too steep. You could try the boot stretch method. Right now, because the flaps on the CV boot are so close together, they rub on each other and cause heat. Also, what boots are you putting on these? You can get the OEM reboot kit which uses the factory Hytrel thermoplastic. It's a much stronger material than the neoprene/silicone used by any aftermarket boot kit.

I'm not a fan of diff drops because the driveshaft from the transfer case to the front diff does not have a double cardan joint and so it was never designed for any offset (constantly) other than straight and causes extra stresses. However in your case with this much lift it's pretty much a necessary compromise.
 
Make sure to only use OEM lower ball joints, all other LBJs will fail around 25k miles.
I'm not sure why people haven't heard that OEM is really the only way to go with ball joints on the 4Runner (and 1st gen Taco/Tundra too). OEM's last a few hundred thousand street miles and probably 100k with lots of offloading.

As for CV's - lifting over 3" is killing your down travel and your CVs...

-Charlie
 

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