tie rods and ball joints

[drtyjerz47]

i have a 99 limited v6 4x4

i wanted to slowly start piecing together a lift but decided i would rather put money towards replacing my inner and outer tie rods and upper and lower ball joints..... timing belt still needs to be done to.

as far as these go, my runner currently has 144k. i bought it with no maintenance records.
are the tie rods and ball joints something you don't want to replace unless they go bad? or something you should just do ... like just cuz to avoid future problems.

also i have read if your timing belt rips it won't damage your engine at all, you'll just have to replace it and make sure everything is in timing, is this true? so literally nothing will go wrong?


final question, what would be a good place to buy these parts (tie rods/ ball joints/ timing belt/water pump) is there any where were it won't cost an arm, a leg and my children's college fund??

 

[JBurt]

I wouldn't say literally nothing would go wrong if your timing belt goes, but it is not an interference engine so your valves and pistons would be okay. you'd be stranded on the side of the road somewhere though.

if your ball joints fail...well just google it. I bought AutoZone ones with the lifetime warranty, but that was a year ago asks they need to get replaced. I'm only going oem for ball joints. to much riding on those.

I got my inner and outer you're rod ends at napa. they seen okay. good luck. you can change all that stuff yourself in a driveway if you want to save some money. camelback Toyota is a good place too get oem parts online for a copious price

 

[pattycakes77]

Iowa huh? Me too. When i went to replace my LBJs they were fused to my tie rods which were fused to my inner tie rods. Rust and all, no threads to even turn the nut free. So i had to cut the tie rods off and replace everything brand new on both sides. Was more expensive but its nice knowing its all new down there. I went oem everything but they don't include a new lock nut for the inner tie rods fyi.

 

[jhumphrey]

i have a 99 limited v6 4x4

i wanted to slowly start piecing together a lift but decided i would rather put money towards replacing my inner and outer tie rods and upper and lower ball joints..... timing belt still needs to be done to.

as far as these go, my runner currently has 144k. i bought it with no maintenance records.
are the tie rods and ball joints something you don't want to replace unless they go bad? or something you should just do ... like just cuz to avoid future problems.

also i have read if your timing belt rips it won't damage your engine at all, you'll just have to replace it and make sure everything is in timing, is this true? so literally nothing will go wrong?


final question, what would be a good place to buy these parts (tie rods/ ball joints/ timing belt/water pump) is there any where were it won't cost an arm, a leg and my children's college fund??

Timing belt / water pump is supposed to be done every 100k. Big job or expensive, but worth it. I have a few k more on mine before it's due. I'm planning to let toyota do it to save me the time. That's not the cheap route ($585 total in my area), but the easy one.

For LBJ and outer tierods, only use OEM. you can get them reasonably from Camelback Toyota. They sale parts online and seem to be the best price.

For inner tierods, it seems to be a toss up between Napa's "gold" (premium) or OEM. I chose napa because the OEM price was insane to me. I haven't had an issue. Upper ball joints shouldn't need replacing (don't wear out as fast as lowers), which is good if you're doing the job yourself.

I did my inner, outer, and LBJ's in just a couple of hours in my driveway. It's actually much easier than I thought. Be sure to order the replacement bolts for the LBJ's (there's 8 of them). Torque it all to specs.

Good luck!

 

[Gerdo]

ONLY use OE (Toyota) tie rods and balljoints!

 

[drtyjerz47]

Iowa huh? Me too. When i went to replace my LBJs they were fused to my tie rods which were fused to my inner tie rods. Rust and all, no threads to even turn the nut free. So i had to cut the tie rods off and replace everything brand new on both sides. Was more expensive but its nice knowing its all new down there. I went oem everything but they don't include a new lock nut for the inner tie rods fyi.

where at in iowa?

 

[PitbullRescuer]

Definitely OEM for the LBJ's. OTRE's I'd go OEM also, I'm told Camelback Toyota sells the OTRE's cheaper than Napa. As for the ITRE's, non OEM is fine. Check your steering rack for leaks though, if it's leaking, just get a new rack which includes new ITRE's. Like others have said, it's not a bad DIY job.

As for the Timing Belt & Waterpump, check out AirCabinMan on eBay. Sells a really nice all OEM kit for a reasonable price.

And Kudos to you for being smart enough to do maintenance before you lift it. That truck will last you a life time if you keep that mentality.

 

[drtyjerz47]

Definitely OEM for the LBJ's. OTRE's I'd go OEM also, I'm told Camelback Toyota sells the OTRE's cheaper than Napa. As for the ITRE's, non OEM is fine. Check your steering rack for leaks though, if it's leaking, just get a new rack which includes new ITRE's. Like others have said, it's not a bad DIY job.

As for the Timing Belt & Waterpump, check out AirCabinMan on eBay. Sells a really nice all OEM kit for a reasonable price.

And Kudos to you for being smart enough to do maintenance before you lift it. That truck will last you a life time if you keep that mentality.

thanks for the advice and tips

 

[JayRolla]

Dont wait on the ball joints, unless you want this to happen like happened to me!!!!

 

[Kanoe]

And Don't Forget..

Toyota of Dallas Parts. I have used them 3 times.

Even with shipping to Canada it comes out to less than half of the local dealer pricing.