Ball joint failure

yesterday evening my upper left driver side ball joint gave out when I hit a pot hole and the entire spindle came off. the truck slid on the Lower control arm for about 20 feet. I'm just curious if any one else out there has had this happen to them and can give me an idea of how much the cost to repair it was? my biggest fear is my insurance agency determining the truck as a total loss.

 

Yikes! Bet you need some new underwear after that! Glad you seem to be okay.

More than likely it was your lower balljoint that failed (first), not the upper. Those are a known weak point, and there was even a recall on them.

There is a TON of information on lower balljoints, I suggest searching around for lower ball joint failures to give you an idea.

But depending on how much was damaged, you'd be looking at all new balljoints, lower control arm, spindle, CV, brake lines, coilover, etc... Then there's any potential body work/repairs. I mean, really, just about everything on the front suspension/steering. If you got all new stuff, that's easily a couple grand.

Definitely replace BOTH sides of your ball joints.

Don't cheap out on the ball joints, OEM is "best" but also most expensive. For 2/3 the cost 555s are great too. The rest you might get lucky and find take-offs from a wrecking yard to save you some cash.

 

i'm curious what the mileage on your truck is?

good thing you were probably not going highway speed

 

Pics if you’re able. Thanks

 

As far as repair cost, it depends how many things were damaged when the failure happened. It sounds like it may have been on the bad side.

My Lower ball joint failed in a parking lot once and did no real damage, it was an aftermarket low quality part in there. It was replaced with a moog that lasted many years and didn't fail.

I check out the Napa Chassis Parts Lower ball joints for $92 ...they are made in Japan and come with grade 10 bolts with a 17mm head rather than the stock grade 8 bolts with 14mm head, and they are greasable and have lifetime warranty so you can swap them out when they get worn. I know that OEMs are probably best, but I'm exploring the options. Moogs might be hit and miss since they have many sources. 555 or Sankei is supposedly an oem supplier, also made in Japan these appear to be a decent option.

I have seen the Mevotech terrain tough uppers, but I couldn't find lowers anywhere.

 

I had that happen on a 70 Chevy Pickup one time, kinda scary.

 

Slightly off topic but what’s the approximate life span on ball joints for our 1st gens? Google said 70k-150k but that wasn’t specifically for these trucks lol. Let’s say for someone that mostly city drives, might hit a trail few times a year and don’t drive too harsh.

 

That depends on if you've had them replaced under the recall before. If you haven't, the lifespan is zero, and you should get new ones asap. If you aren't sure, replace them asap, anyway.

It's honestly not about the mileage, but 90k is probably typical for a street driven truck. THe thing you should be doing is inspecting your ball joints regularly, like at every oil change for example. If the boot is torn, and grease is leaking, replace them. If you can feel any slop in them, replace them.

Even the overly expensive OEM ball joints are only $120ish each. In the grand scheme, that's peanuts compared to having to deal with what the OP here is dealing with.

Lower BJs are pretty easy to replace. It can be done in an hour, or less. All you need, besides a couple wrenches and a jack, is a pitman arm puller, and best if you have a torque wrench. The 4 bolts that hold the BJ to the spindle only need 59ft-lbs of torque.

 

Ya I watched a video for the lowers and it looked pretty simple. I believe I replaced those around 50k ago. However my UBJ boots are both torn and have been for a few years but every time a shop notices they’ve said that they’re still tight though so I shouldn’t be worried. This was before I started to become more educated about BJs so I never thought much of it. Planning on getting a full OME setup in August so I’ll probably do them then at the latest.

 

On my 90% street & highway driven 4x4 original LBJ lasted 320k miles before I replaced them, thy still had zero slop no grease leaking. I just thought that 20+ years old rubber boot developed a surface cracks that eventually would go through. I replaced them with OEM and never looked back. But of course regular inspection is a key. I mean inspection, not "maintenance" or "replacing". I suspect that with the age and the amount of driving this set of LBJ will last me a lifetime.

 

Ball joint lifespan depends on so many variables. The kind of driving and road conditions, climate, load/towing, tire and wheel size, alignment, condition of other suspension components causing wear from play, and maybe even variances in manufacturing.

Some of the OEM ball joints were send out with rough surfaces on the polished parts and caused abrasive wear that eventually caused failures. This was really prevalent on Sequioas.

It would be nice if some aftermarket company would produce a super duper heavy duty lower ball joint from quality materials. I know the Napa Chassis Parts units come with grade 12 bolts with 17mm head instead of 14mm although they are not flange bolts, these could probably withstand a little more torque than 59 ft. lbs. and they are greasable. It's too bad the OEM ones are not greasable.

 

That's great. You and one other guy here (and maybe some others) can talk about how many hundreds of thousands of miles you got out of your lower ball joints, but that anecdote doesn't mean that ball joints are 1) designed to last that long, and 2) is typical for them to last that long.

With how relatively cheap and easy they are to replace, and what can, and DOES happen to people who don't replace them at an appropriate interval, I'd say it's a no brainer to just go ahead and replace them. It doesn't do anyone any good to brag about your LBJs lasting that long.

Hopefully you plan to replace them at slightly shorter intervals than every 320k from now on...

 

Yeah, the problem is that the design spec on these things is so small, you need this special service tool to check for slop, and I highly doubt most Toyota dealers even have it. The amount is small enough that if you can notice any slop from sticking a crow bar in there and wiggling it (which is basically the typical method, lol), they are way out of spec anyway. There's no "your BJs are 5 thou out, so you should think about replacing them soon." It's either they're tight, or they're loose. Any measurable slop and they should be replaced.

These BJs, because of a design flaw, are under tension (the shock is constantly trying to pull them apart), so if/when they fail, they do so catastrophically. The newer designs you can basically just run into the ground until you notice them get sloppy, and just replace them. But that's a seriously bad idea with this design.

The main thing is just keeping an eye on them, as you seem to be doing. I have a whole diatribe on LBJs if you care to read it in my build thread (link in my sig).

 

I once saw a youtube video of a bunch of different Toyota LBJs cut open to reveal the innards. It was still hard to say what was best after that, but probably OEM since they seem to last the longest. In the video, the host said that 555 Sankei Japan were used as OEM sometimes, they can be found for $70 but were constructed differently than the ones he got from the dealer.

 

Yeah, there's a similar comparison on this forum, too. 555 does apparently make the OEM, but that doesn't necessarily mean the ones branded as 555 are the same. I think I remember hearing that the Moogs were made by 555 too, but again, that doesn't mean they're the same.

That said, I'm running 555's on mine right now. Hell, I ran Moogs for 6 or 7 years before I switched. I wouldn't go cheaper than Moogs for any reason, though. Those $45 ball joint tie rod kits you see on Amazon scare the shit out of me.

 

Yes I this happen to me while driving at approximately 30-40 mph. It was very scary. My truck was towed to my house and out on a block for about a week until I got it fixed. I didn’t know much about trucks back then, but I think I got lucky bc I only needed to replace the ball joints. You need to assess the damage and replace all suspension components that were affected.

 

almost 150k on mine @ 3 days and 23 years, they seem good condition still, but idk
no lift, all stock suspension, probably could do with some new parts sooner or later!

 

Just a friendly reminder that if we are talking about that 99 4x4 in your avatar, they have a lot of value. The 4x4 1st gens are super awesome, and in my opinion it’s worth fixing.

 

Some can go forever, some not so much. Mine started clunking/popping at 93k. Had a local dealer match McGeorge Online prices for 2 LBJ's and 8 bolts, and then paid a local shop $250 to install and align the truck. No more noise, and I feel happier knowing their new.

Funny thing is that the 555 alternative at Napa was more expensive then what I paid for my OEM ball joints after the price matching.

 

In the video the one labeled as 555 differed from the Toyota oem one. Some of the Moog ones do come out of the box labeled as 555, but sometimes not. Upon reseaching a bit, some of the Moogs are generic Chinese components. I think some of the Delco Professional LBJs are 555 also. If you shop around you can get 555 for like $70 ea. Napa charges $160 for them.