Questions about Ball Joints

what's going on here? have no idea what I'm talking about... hence why I'm here for help. Looks like its the ball joint but was told that its a part of the upper control... it was a quick exchange and the guy didn't tell me exactly what part I needed. Any help appreciated!

 

Yes that's your upper ball joint underneath that leaky boot. Technically you can separate the ball joint from the upper control arm and just replace the ball joint, but stock upper arms are cheap and it's far easier to just get new arms with the ball joint included and install those.

 

As a bonus, with new upper control arms you get new upper control arm bushings with them. If the bushings are going bad on yours (if they're original its safe to assume they are) then a whole upper arm refresh is probably in order.

Don't forget about the lower ball joints too, those suckers are more likely to fail. When they do, they tend to cause all kinds of damage.

 

Are you guys buying the OEM control arms with the ball joints or aftermarket? I never would have though a new control arm with the balljoint would be close to just the balljoint alone.

 

For upper arms that are stock I would just get a pair of Moogs, the uppers aren't as critical as the lowers are with the temperamental LBJs these trucks have. OE style Moog uppers are cheap and should perform just fine for a stock truck.

Plus, you can usually grab someone's OEM take-offs for cheap or for free even. Hell I had to throw mine away because no one wanted them, they only had 30k on them too at the time.

 

ucas dont come with the balljoints as theyre mounted in the spindle on first gens.

 

Uh....

UCAs don't come with ball joints already installed. That doesn't make sense because you have to press the ball joint into the spindle first, THEN install the UCA onto the BJ.

@Noah Cole go rent yourself a ball joint press, the C lamp looking one. You can get those for free at most autoparts stores.

Then loosen the castle nut on top and pound it with a hammer. That usually knocks the BJ free from the UCA. if not, you may have to resort to a 3 arm puller and some bailing wire to pop it free.

Then remove the C-clip retainer holding the BJ to the spindle and use the rented tool (or buy one, what evs) to press the BJ out from the spindle and press the new one in, and re-install the clip. Place the BJ shaft back in the UCA and tighten the castle nut to the specified torque (you can also rent a torque wrench if you don't have one). install the cotter pin and you're done.

 

when replacing the lower ball joints, you'll hear many opinions about using OEM Toyota lower ball joints. don't be cheap when buying the lowers, use only Toyota parts. they're more expensive but will last longer. For the uppers, I's suggest 555 branded ball joints.

 

got it dialed, appreciate the tips everyone!