Tie Rod & Lower ball joint

DannyLlama

DannyLlama

Elite Member
Sooo I have been hearing a very low base hum and I finally could check in bright day light and looks like both end rods and lower ball joints are torn!

Is that normal? I'm at 83k miles. Has anyone had luck with dealer replacing these parts post installing lift?

Driver side:

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Passenger side:

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Driver side is more severe ....

sadness..
 
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Depending on your relationship with your dealership, is what will decide your wallets fate. I have known our service manager for many years of Toyota ownership so I could pull it off. However any stranger comes in with those issues and they're gonna dodge it like a bullet.

I'd put it down to stock height and then roll up clueless if you're trying to save a buck and still under warranty.

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Is it just the boot ripped? You can replace just the boot. The balljoint is another story. I think some guys were told they have to replace the lower control arm as the ball joint is not replaceable. Hope I'm wrong. Can someone else chime in? The tierod ends are easy to replace. You just have to count how many turns it takes to come off and put the new one on the same number of turns. Post lift good luck at the dealer.
 
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Watchdogg said:
Is it just the boot ripped? You can replace just the boot. The balljoint is another story. I think some guys were told they have to replace the lower control arm as the ball joint is not replaceable. Hope I'm wrong. Can someone else chime in? The tierod ends are easy to replace. You just have to count how many turns it takes to come off and put the new one on the same number of turns. Post lift good luck at the dealer.
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How do I tell if the ball joint is damaged? Noise? Behavior?
 
You can do a rough check by lifting the tire off the ground and grabbing at 12 and 6 on the tire and rock up and down. If you feel play or hear a small knock, it's a spent LBJ.

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all those seals damaged not normal.

do they look cut ? torn ? if rotten that would be poor toyota product . other wise may have been damaged by some repair shop .
 
Yoderguy said:
You can do a rough check by lifting the tire off the ground and grabbing at 12 and 6 on the tire and rock up and down. If you feel play or hear a small knock, it's a spent LBJ.

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Just looked at mine. Looks like lower ball joint is replaceable. Lift tire off ground and try rocking it top to bottom and side to side. If it's bad you'll feel it. I think a lot of guys getting ready for their camping trip so may be hard to get information for a couple of days.
 
Like others have stated- tie rods are super easy to replace. Lower control arm a little more difficult/expensive, but still not too bad.

Thing is, if you are hearing a hum, I doubt either of these are the culprit. Loose feeling on the road? Yes. Noise- I doubt it.

Hum is usually a wheel bearing. Jack up each front wheel and spin/look for noise. You can also drive next to a concrete barrier wall with the window down at about 40 mph and the noise from a bad bearing will reflect off the wall. It will be very obvious- squeaking or buzzing. Also, if the noise gets louder while turning one way or the other while driving, it's most likely a bearing.

I've replaced 3 bearing assemblies on mine (one was my fault because I didn't replace the rear seal and it ruined the new bearing in less than a year...):sad:

My .02
 
[MENTION=147683]Yoderguy[/MENTION] Thanks, this is the e-mail i got back from my dealer after I sent him pictures "Danny cannot do anything until vehicle on premises. The extended warranty will most likely want to send and inspector." So that doesn't look like a viable option.

Problem is, I'm supposed to go out to Death Valley next week so I don't have a lot of time to spend on this.

Best option maybe to take it to a shop and have them replace tie rods and LCA bearings.

OR

Can I wait and deal with this later? Could this lead to a bigger issue on the trails?
 
Depends on what you'll be doing, mild overlanding or rough terrain/crawling type of stuff. Personally, either way, I'd want it fixed before I went anywhere besides a 10 min drive to work. Is a trip to death valley worth being ruined over a few hundred dollar repair?

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DannyLlama said:
Can I wait and deal with this later? Could this lead to a bigger issue on the trails?
Click to expand...

Man, you've obviously never owned a 3rd gen. Once those boots look like that, those LBJs are replaced, like, yesterday. Have you seen what a LBJ failure looks like?

DSCF5350.jpg~original
 
Once they bust the grease out, it's only a matter of time until it fails. Its a good preventative measure to just replace them, only with OEM parts.

I personally think that broken boots on ball joints, CVs, and tie rod ends is the kiss of death to that part.
 
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stphnman20 said:
I see you're in SoCal. Contact SpeedFreek from Tacomaworld. He used to be a Lexus/Toyota master tech. He provides his service for TW'er at his home. I'm sure he can help you out.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-bumpers-sliders-etc-i-got-ya-covered.202711/
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip.. I'm not on TW.. can you PM me his number if you have it?

Taking it to dealer tomorrow, hopefully with good outcome. Otherwise, I'm stuck with replacing LCA's. Local shops wont just replace the ball joint alone.
 
It appears your LBJ and TRE boots were broken by a sloppy lift install, so I wouldn't expect warranty coverage, though you may get lucky. The LBJ boots can be replaced pretty easily, if they haven't gone a long time being busted.
 
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