Lifted + LBJ life

[atalarico]

Dude to the wealth of knowledge here I was trying to give people a better idea.

The Dude is quite wealthy in knowledge, and appreciates that complement.

Ok, so now that we're all calmed and had a good laugh, I'm taking the middle road here. If someone people benefit from having this around, cool. Based on my own experience (posted above somewhere), I know anything suspension related on my truck has worn out a lot quicker than expected. Now that I know that, I'm less surprised when I have to replace stuff earlier than I "think" I should.

Best of luck all! :cheers:

 

[mtbtim]

I think you're looking at what im asking the wrong way. I already replaced mine and have no worries. What im really trying to do is get feedback for how long and what type of wheeling people do. I have heard some people having to replace them every 25k, and other people going much longer. If you look at every single LBJ thread here, people ALWAYS ask when to replace them. Dude to the wealth of knowledge here I was trying to give people a better idea.

There is no exact answer, we all know things. Trying to get a best practices and hoping to stop any catastrophic failures.

Roger that. Well, research on then. The most important feedback will come from people that either had failures, detected play during an inspection or saw torn boots. People like me and others who just replaced them for piece of mind won't have much value to your research because who knows how long they could have lasted us. My boots were completely intact with no detectable play. I cut one of the boots off and there was still plenty of grease inside. This is a total guess, but I think my balljoints could have lasted another 100,000 miles. But, I'm not lifted and I don't wheel hard. I'm stock and do pretty much mild wheeling at this point.

 

[diverscale]

for a FYI

The internals of my lower ball joints were like new after 200K miles, no play and plenty of grease. The ball is still shiny, the shaft is not corroded and shows no sings of stress. They would probably have been good for long, but it's not worth the risk.

But, my truck is not lifted, and most lower ball joint failures we've seen are on lifted truck, so take that as a grain of salt if your truck is lifted, but still, changing them more often than 100K miles would seem overkill as they seem to last very well (toyota OEM)

Here is a picture of the above mentioned LBJ, original on my 1998 and used on quite ugly, rough, pot-holes afflicted salty roads of quebec.

 

[absalom]

Just to add some more data to the collection.

I had noticeable play in my OEM new LBJ's after about 7k miles of hard use. Had 2.5" of front lift.

Definitely looking for a better solution for next build.

 

[mtbtim]

Just to add some more data to the collection.

I had noticeable play in my OEM new LBJ's after about 7k miles of hard use. Had 2.5" of front lift.

Definitely looking for a better solution for next build.

That's disturbing. Define hard use. Was it fast driving over rough terrain, rock crawling, or a combination of different types of off-road driving? Hell, with that knowledge, you may as well have extra LBJs in stock and bring them for every wheeling trip.

 

[absalom]

That's disturbing. Define hard use. Was it fast driving over rough terrain, rock crawling, or a combination of different types of off-road driving? Hell, with that knowledge, you may as well have extra LBJs in stock and bring them for every wheeling trip.

A lot of this:


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aRsfNGE4oMU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Tons of this:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HroYB2mfteA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


And a fair amount of this:


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iWMrRN0z2bA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[JayRolla]

That's disturbing. Define hard use. Was it fast driving over rough terrain, rock crawling, or a combination of different types of off-road driving? Hell, with that knowledge, you may as well have extra LBJs in stock and bring them for every wheeling trip.

I had an spc ubj fail in less than 10k miles. My buddy had a new oem lbj bolt sheer off also and was tq to spec. Seems wheeling hard takes is toll.

 

[mtbtim]

[MENTION=79826]absalom[/MENTION], I can see how a lot of the whoops from video #1 and #2 could cause a ton of stress on the LBJs because the suspension is compressing and extending over and over again at a fairly fast rate trying to pull the joint apart. It seems like the coil spring compressing and extending really quickly almost acts like a slide hammer pulling at the LBJ. If you were going slower, there wouldn't have been quite as much force applied to the LBJ but I guess going a lot slower wouldn't have been as much fun.

With video #3, I don't see that terrain causing as much stress because you're just picking your way up a rocky fire road at a mellow speed.

 

[Harbara]

The OEM LBJ's without a lift will last considerably longer. I did exactly what you described, replaced my originals after they had 200 something k miles on them.

 

[diverscale]

A lot of this:

By looking at those videos, I am honestly impressed that the lower ball joint being lose is your only problem after 7K miles.

 

[absalom]

By looking at those videos, I am honestly impressed that the lower ball joint being lose is your only problem after 7K miles.

A testament to just how stout these front ends are. Truly a legendary truck.

 

[kolelt]

So a bad LBJ usually has ripped boots ? Or will the wheel have play when jacked up?

 

[mtbtim]

So a bad LBJ usually has ripped boots ? Or will the wheel have play when jacked up?

Play in the joint indicates a bad balljoint. Torn boots are a good reason to replace your balljoints but not necessarily a sign your balljoints are bad. A torn boot will let the lubricating grease out and road contaminants inside so it will greatly reduce the life of the balljoint after it happens.

Here's a pretty good video showing balljoint play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62bVn7E8gyk

Here's a video [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I made when inspecting our balljoints:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rteeAOQlrKY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[4racer]

7.5k is pretty disturbing. Again, hopefully it helps people who do that type of offroading to check more frequently. I honestly think its worth the extra 10-15 min per oil change to check each and every time. I know that many times to get to most trails and everywhere I go, theres a cliff on one side or another. The last thing I would want is a failure on mountain roads.