Ball joint leaking

Got this 2017 taco drivers side ball joint is leaking a little grease should this be concerning? And how hard is it to change the ball joint?

 

I wouldn't let a ball joint go too long without having it looked at. It sucks when your tire is no longer attached to your vehicle at 70 mph.

 

Needs to be replaced before it causes a serious failure. Also not exactly cheap as my understanding is that you have to replace the entire lower control arm. Why Toyota did not make this serviceable such as the gens before is beyond me.

 

I have a similar repair in my very near future - I'm not sure about 3rd gen, but the 2nd gen are press-in and can be changed without LCA replacement.

I have no idea where you're at, but I'll be tackling mine either this weekend or next, you're welcome to hang out and see it done if you're in the Portland, OR metro area

 

I'm sure I'll get a lot of flak for this. But I think it's normal. Mine are the same. If u disagree, look at your lower ball joints.

 

It won't have a catastrophic failure due to it's design. Run it until there's slop in it. There's still a lot more life in it.

 

It looks like the boot is in decent condition - I would agree to some extent that it'll probably be fine; but a $50 part, a days worth of labor, and whatever the cost of alignment is in their area

each to their own

 

If you're just pressing the ball joint, u don't need an alignment. There's no spring/ wire holding the boot on, it's bound to seep when it gets hot. I bet that ball joint has tons and tons of life left.

 

Normal wear and tear. Contrary to popular belief a ball joint doesn’t arbitrarily fail because grease leaked or a boot torn. Ball joints all eventually fail and all require some level of inspection. At most your ball joints will simply wear faster. You can do a simple test during your normal tire rotation or routine maintenance to ensure they are ok. A ball joint will be bad when you have a small amount of play in them.

 

Mine certainly has play; ChrisFix has a fantastic video regarding ball joints:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04DJ1R5cSy4

here's a cut of his video showing the inner workings; it's the thin layer of plastic between both pieces of metal that result in "failure"

that's why leaking grease is deemed a "sign of failure" because that's the lubricant leaking out

but yeah, they're relatively cheap to replace, just a bit of borrowed tools, time and some profanity

EDIT: I hope this helps OP!

 

Wipe some RTV around the leak and let it dry for an hour then re grease it

 

If we replaced everything that leaked humanity would be doomed. The op's balljoint looks okay from the picture and I wouldn't replace it due to the leak alone.

 

Only 1st gens had the easily replaceable lower ball joints. But it came at the expense of having lower ball joints that were much more prone to catastrophic failure. 2nd/3rd gens are more difficult to replace without doing the whole arm, but are a much better/safe design overall.

1st gen design, the ball joint is constantly under stress that wants to pull it apart. So once they start showing any sign of play they are a huge liability. Toyota reversed the design with 2nd/3rd gens LBJs so the same forces are keeping the joint together instead. A catastrophic failure is much less likely

I wouldn't be so concerned with a leaky boot unless the boot itself gets really torn up and starts letting a bunch of dirt inside.

 

The ball joint is fine if there's no play.
Not uncommon to see grease seep. The only concern I'd have with a boot is if it's torn to the point that it's letting dirt/grit into the joint which will put it at risk of premature failure.

 

It was standard in the days of zerks. Old grease has to go somewhere. With these service free versions, the joint and boot are pre-packed. Either the boot has been damaged, or excess has escaped. Proper inspection (as others noted above) will identify the state of the joint. Continue to monitor as part of your regular maintenance.

 

Interesting. I do not know why I thought 2nd gens had the same replaceable ball joints. However what you stated does make sense. My wife's old Equinox has a similar set up and they were garbage and wore quick.

 

2017 here. Noticed this back when people were saying the holes on the LCA's made a whistling sound. Back then I saw it on only one ball joint at roughly 10,000mi. I'm at 50,000mi now and still no problems but both leak. I just keep an eye on it and check them when I rotate my tires.

 

This is what mine looks like. Passager and driver side. Notice after I put an 2in lift with 285 75 17. Toyota quote $385.60 for replacement OEM whole LCA. They don’t sale the ball joint separately. Got a mechanic to look it and he said it was fine so I am going to wait a little longer before replacing. It's an 2017 off road at 97k miles.

 

It's annoying that Toyota doesnt even sell oem ball joints for 3rd gens.

What's the best aftermarket ball joint for these trucks? Something that will last as long as oem? (so definitely not Moog or similar)

 

A lot of manufacturers don't. Moog are great.