Lower Ball Joint Removal and Installation

[diverscale]

How many miles of recommended need to replace ball joints?

I have 206,000 in the 4Runner.

I have around the same mileage as you, and I decided to replace them. I'd recommend replacing them as they are 95% sure to be the original. It's a 2-3 hours job and not so expensive if you get the part on the web (genuine toyota cost me around 340 canadian dollars shipped). It is vastly considered to be a maintenance item.

I also replaced my radiator and clutch fan as preventive maintenance. If your radiator is original, you should think about replacing it.

 

[Stshuao]

Are yours painted? I got the sames ones you got, Premium Chassis from Napa, and they were covered in rust within a week.

 

[SAYWHAT]

Replaced both at about 260000 miles. Do not know if they had been previously replaced but were in very good condition, no play or tears in boots and well lubed. Torqued the four bolts on each at 59 ft.lbs.. Such a shame that Toyota engineered a LBJ set up like this!

 

[cmtul]

This is going to come in handy next week. Now just to order the new parts.

 

[rtameris]

Great writeup. Really clear pictures.

 

[bikeman22]

My LBJs and the LBJ bolts were delivered today. I've decided to get the OEM Toyota to be on the safe side. I have 250,000+ miles on my rig and this will be the first time I'm replacing them.

 

[infamousRNR]

This is going to come in handy next week. Now just to order the new parts.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bfLivtEnX9qk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ZionXIX]

Watched the video by mtbtim and tried to do this today. I only got the left side done so far. Ran into a snag with the OTRE. When I replaced the castle nut, i couldnt torque it down. The ball joint just spins but the castle nut is at the perfect height for the cotter pin. As it stands there is a 1/8" gap between the castle nut and the LBJ. I dont feel any play in the tie rod ball joint. Can I just use washers to fill in the gap? I double checked the part numbers for both LBJ's. I guess I could put some pressure on the joint with a C clamp to reduce the spinning.

Thoughts?

 

[mtbtim]

Put the tire on and lower the truck to put weight onto the wheel. I'm sure you'll be able to torque it down with the weight of the truck on it.

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[phattyduck]

Put the tire on and lower the truck to put weight onto the wheel. I'm sure you'll be able to torque it down with the weight of the truck on it.

It doesn't seem like weight on the suspension would help the tie rod much? He'll probably want to clean the threads if he has a way (tap/die) and also try to hold the tie rod down into the hole to try to keep it from spinning.

Sounds like the castle nut is slightly distorted from the removal process or there is some corrosion there...

-Charlie

 

[mtbtim]

Woops, I thought he was talking about the LBJ. I agree that the threads are messed up either on the castle nut or the spindle itself. You can probably find an affordable tap and die set at Harbor Freight or maybe on Amazon. Just make sure the set has large enough taps and dies for this application. I would not just put a washer in there.

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[TheDurk]

I'll almost guarantee it's the nut and that retapping is not going to help enough to do the job. The metal is probably just gone from 100k miles of vibrating down the road. My experience is that Toyota makes their nuts much softer than the threaded parts they go on. Save your money on the tap and die and try just getting a new nut first. It's p/n 90171-14042 available for $3 and change at your friendly stealer and probably for much less at a parts store. It's M14 but I don't know the thread. Get the finest thread they have in M14 and that's probably it.

EDIT: I checked for you. Thread is 1.5

 

[BoomSticks]

Tim was still on the right track. Lower the truck so the suspension is loaded, and turn the wheel all the way to one side.

That should lock or tighten the the taper on the ball end so you can torque it down.

 

[JayRolla]

The OTRE is tapered. If you tap the bottom of the OTRE end it should snug it up enough for the bolt to tighten. Like stated just cleaning the threads with wire brush or die set will help also. But I never had much of an issue just tapping with a hammer on the bottom.

 

[TheDurk]

Tim was still on the right track. Lower the truck so the suspension is loaded, and turn the wheel all the way to one side.

That should lock or tighten the ball so you can torque it down.

I doubt that ball is spinning. I just removed my OTREs doing my frame swap and my nuts were badly corroded. The cotters broke off on the outside of the nuts so they were still holding the nuts. I got them off with a 24" Rigid pipe wrench and a cheater pipe and pushing hard with five feet of moment-arm. The ball didn't spin at all and there was zero weight on it against massive torque. I just powered right through the cotters. My take: that ball don't spin. It's the threads.

I don't think it's that the taper is not into the arm, either, as he said he has 1/8" clear, but the nut won't go down. It's the threads.

 

[Yoder68]

Put the tire on and lower the truck to put weight onto the wheel. I'm sure you'll be able to torque it down with the weight of the truck on it.

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If you torque the big lbj castle nut with the truck hanging off the lbj, do you actually get the nut torqued properly? When I did mine, I put a jack under the lca and gently pushed the lca onto the lbj stud, then torqued it.

I wondered if the ball stud was just going to just rotate when I torqued the nut, but it didn't!

Am I all mixed up?

Also here is Dirty Pool sermon on oem lbjs:


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/check-your-ball-joints.374853/page-2#post-10284167

 

[ZionXIX]

I doubt that ball is spinning. I just removed my OTREs doing my frame swap and my nuts were badly corroded. The cotters broke off on the outside of the nuts so they were still holding the nuts. I got them off with a 24" Rigid pipe wrench and a cheater pipe and pushing hard with five feet of moment-arm. The ball didn't spin at all and there was zero weight on it against massive torque. I just powered right through the cotters. My take: that ball don't spin. It's the threads.

I don't think it's that the taper is not into the arm, either, as he said he has 1/8" clear, but the nut won't go down. It's the threads.

So heres the thing......My OTRE was "under" the LBJ....I think that is the incorrect way to install it. I was just putting it back the way I found it. Are the OTRE's suppose to go into the top of the LBJ? Its definitely "spinning" when i try to turn it after a certain point. Do you think the shaft has broken away from the ball?

 

[JayRolla]

So heres the thing......My OTRE was "under" the LBJ....I think that is the incorrect way to install it. I was just putting it back the way I found it. Are the OTRE's suppose to go into the top of the LBJ? Its definitely "spinning" when i try to turn it after a certain point. Do you think the shaft has broken away from the ball?

The tie rod installs from bottom. Nut on top. It's normal for it to spin. You need to hammer it up so the LBJ bites into the tapered otre stud. Then it should tighten and tq.

 

[ZionXIX]

The tie rod installs from bottom. Nut on top. It's normal for it to spin. You need to hammer it up so the LBJ bites into the tapered otre stud. Then it should tighten and tq.

It felt like I was able to freely push it all the way up to the tie rod boot

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[JayRolla]

It felt like I was able to freely push it all the way up to the tie rod boot

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Yes it will hit the boot, the taper starts right above the boot below the threads. Hammer it up, or but a jack under it to add pressure. It will tighten.