Tool Research for Upper Ball Joint Replacement
- Thread starter mtbtim
- Start date
mtbtim
Elite Member
Toyota dealers charge a lot for their time. I think you might be shocked what a Toyota dealership would bill for this. If I were going to pay for the job, I'd try to find an independent shop with good reviews that charges a more reasonable hourly rate. The hourly rate for my local Toyota dealer is $200/hour.
Good point on that. I'd have to take a look around, I'm more than capable of doing the work but I don't have another vehicle than my 4runner so problems tend to become burdensome quick. I suppose I could try and source some knuckles from a junk yard and do the work before hand and swap them in.
mtbtim
Elite Member
Get yourself a little beater commuter car so you have a back up. Then there's no stress when wrenching on your 3rd Gen because you still have transportation if something goes wrong.
Jungoes
Member
Thanks for the video Tim.
I'm delaying the UBJ as I tried doing this with the spindle on and it was impossible without cutting the top off. Just not enough room to get the clamp on for pressing. I cancelled the install .
I'm making a press so I can tackle the front bearings ( when I start to detect any hum) and do the UBJ while the spindle is out. Inspected the UBJ and they have lots of life left.
I'm delaying the UBJ as I tried doing this with the spindle on and it was impossible without cutting the top off. Just not enough room to get the clamp on for pressing. I cancelled the install .
I'm making a press so I can tackle the front bearings ( when I start to detect any hum) and do the UBJ while the spindle is out. Inspected the UBJ and they have lots of life left.
Angrywelder
New member
As I mentioned to you before, I just finished completely rebuilding everything on my newly acquired 98 including the upper ball joints. Mine is a one owner with all of the service paper work since new - including every oil change at 5000 miles and receipts for when the wipers were replaced. The Runner has 250 thousand miles on it with original upper ball joints and one bottom ball joint replacement. I did mine mainly because I had refreshed everything on the truck but when I took them off they were still tight and the boots were still intact. I don't think the uppers wear as much as everyone claims but that also probably depends on how the vehicle is treated.
After watching your video I wanted to send you a link to Amazon for "Safety Wire Pliers". I used then when racing motorcycles. AMA requires any bolt with fluid behind it to be safety wire locked along with a few other critical bolts. The pliers are designed to put that factory twist in ball joint boot wire. I have the OTC 4795 Safety Wire Twist Pliers and can't say anything bad about them.
After watching your video I wanted to send you a link to Amazon for "Safety Wire Pliers". I used then when racing motorcycles. AMA requires any bolt with fluid behind it to be safety wire locked along with a few other critical bolts. The pliers are designed to put that factory twist in ball joint boot wire. I have the OTC 4795 Safety Wire Twist Pliers and can't say anything bad about them.
Angrywelder
New member
I just converted my non-locker 98 model to factory E-locker by rebuilding the center and converting the factory non-locker housing. If you have any questions feel free to hit me up.
mtbtim
Elite Member
Interesting tool. I'm going to give this tool some thought. It was pretty simple to twist the wires with a couple needle nose pliers and then clip off the end with a pair of dikes.
mtbtim
Elite Member
I saw you messaged me regarding this question. A deep socket is not going to work because it's not tall enough. I tried slipping a 28mm deep impact socket over a used upper balljoint and the balljoint spindle bottoms out inside the socket before the open end of the socket comes in contact with the base of the balljoint.
It would sorta appear to me that the guy in post #37 found some sockets to press in, but I'm not so sure about pressing it out (if they were sockets). My control arms ran out of adjustment for caster with my lift so I need to pull out these new ball joints and would rather not destroy them by cutting them. A 40 dollar press out tool seems costly and at that point I'll just cut them like before.
upper ball joint HElP ME!
I have a few ideas of what might work and if I get something to work I'll post back. Gotta love how Toyota left off some important information of what they used in the FSM to press it out.
A quick test with a 1" inch socket drive appears to allow enough room for the ball joint spindle, its certainly possible a 3/4" would work as well. Seems like if you have a 27mm / (1-1/16") 3/4" drive socket you should be able to get something to fit over and press.
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turbodudey2
New member
Yeah, I posted the pictures over in that other thread back in 2015 using my press and sockets to remove/install the UBJs.
For removing the old ball joint, a 3/4" deep socket worked. Just pressing against the arbor plates.
Like so:
Then some large 3/4" drive 1 5/8" & 1 7/16" deep sockets for pressing a new one in:
mtbtim
Elite Member
Yeah, I posted the pictures over in that other thread back in 2015 using my press and sockets to remove/install the UBJs.
For removing the old ball joint, a 3/4" deep socket worked. Just pressing against the arbor plates.
Like so:
Then some large 3/4" drive 1 5/8" & 1 7/16" deep sockets for pressing a new one in:
Well there you go. You can do it with some sockets provided you have these sockets already in your tool arsenal. I personally don't own SAE sockets that big. [MENTION=146513]APhelps[/MENTION], if you have to go out and purchase these large SAE sockets for the job, well, you're still going to be out some money but probably not as much as buying the OTC adapters. With press work, there's generally multiple ways to Macgyver it and get the job done.
mtbtim
Elite Member
The FSM always shows their SSTs (Special Service Tools) and then you have to figure out how to do it with the tools that are available on the market or that you can put together yourself because you're never going to lay your hands on the actual Toyota SST unless you want to drop some serious coin or you work at a dealership that has one. Toyota FSM aren't perfect but I have found them generally very helpful when researching jobs.
Yep, it would appear that is the case.
Harborfreight sells some metric 3/4 sockets and up to 1" (non deep):
8 Pc 3/4 in. Drive Metric Impact Deep Socket Set
8 Pc 3/4 in. Drive Metric Impact Socket Set
Seems like you'd spend just as much (if not a bit more) if you buy one of these kits but the big plus is you've got some sockets for other jobs if necessary. Just wanted to hopefully compile some information in a thread for other users down the road.
Absolutely. Those tools are ridiculously expensive. I've managed to make a few tools over the years but it would have been helpful if they made mention of what sockets they used (so the mechanic could know he needs what sockets!)
weekendclimber
New member
Here's my suggestion if you want to use a socket: Cut that stud off with a dremel.
msh03046
New member
I used this press method for getting my UBJ's. I was able to do it with the press sleeve kit that you have Tim (I bought the same one). Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of it all rigged up on the press :/. I am trying to get pics as I work on my truck, but for some reason I didn't get any of this setup.
Of course the press method isn't any good for folks that don't want the hassle of taking the knuckles off the truck to swap the UBJ's...
Of course the press method isn't any good for folks that don't want the hassle of taking the knuckles off the truck to swap the UBJ's...
