Replace ball joints or entire control arms?

I am working on the steering and need to replace the ball joints. I am wondering if it is just better to replace the entire control arm, at least for the upper.

For the LBJ I am going with the 555 LBJ

Same for the UBJ.

If I replaced the upper control arm I would probably do something a little cheaper. But it seems like you can get the UCA with the UBJ already in it and then for almost the same amount of labor I get new UCA/bushings/UBJ

Are cheaper aftermarket ones ok or should I just stay stock and replace the UBJ with the 555

Thank you

 

UCA’s have a lot of quality options for replacement and those will include balljoints. If you are thinking of doing more with your suspension they’re probably a worth while investment.

As far as lower balljoints, it has been discussed here on many threads and the usual conclusion is that one should stick to OEM original Toyota parts for the lower balljoints. Failure can lead to serious incidents, and has been documented here more than enough to convince me to spend a few extra bucks for the Toyota lower balljoints. Feel free to search around on the forum here for topics on the lower balljoints and you can come to your own conclusion, but I found the majority of users recommend OEM original Toyota parts.

Also, 555 seems to have been debunked a bit, I would not assume it is on par with OEM. I found in my reading that even parts made by the same manufacturers as original Toyota parts typically are of lesser quality than an actual OEM original Toyota part.

 

OP it comes down to where the truck lives warm sunny winters or lots of winter chemicals means lots of rust to fight

Depends on the condition if they are rotted

Since it looks like your paying to have them installed

Might want to have new cam hardware just in case so your not waiting for it to come in.

I just changed the ball joints

 

Truck is a CA/CO truck. To my untrained eye they look pretty good for 17 yrs. A little rust but not bad.

I am doing all of the work (fingers crossed)

I just went with the ball joints this time around to keep cost down hopefully

 

I'm actually changing the lower ball joints on my 03 pre runner tomorrow. Do you guys happen to have the torque specs? I looked online and got a few different specs

 

Just replace your upper ball joints.

 

The UBJ would have to be pressed into the steering knuckle before it could be bolted to the upper control arm. So, if it does come with a new upper control arm, you would need to take it out of the new upper control arm and press it into the steering knuckle first, then bolt it to the upper control arm. This wouldn't save you a bit of labor compared to buying a new UBJ and installing it...

 

When I replaced my UCA's the ball joints were shot. I was planning on lifting the truck and decided that new UCA's were the best option. I have Camburgs Uniball UCA's, and they are bulletproof. I'm on my second set of spherical bearings after over 100k miles on the UCA's. They are sooooo easy to swap and I don't even have to take the UCA off the truck. I simply disconnect the UCA from the spindle, remove the retainer, press out the old, press in the new replace retainer and reconnect. Takes me maybe 30 minutes a side. If you want to mod your truck, just do it right the first time.

EDIT: What StephenP says. Go OEM with ball joints and again, upgrade your UCA's. It's worth it.

 

Abeyancer thank you for posting that!!! It make my life so much easier

 

Hows it going
I went through the same thoughts, grabbed built right for 60 more than oem. I feel it was worth it.

 

I decided to just go with OEM ball joints for now. Both upper and lower. My UCAs look good as far as I can tell. I am not doing any wheeling or putting a lift on. If I was then that would be another story.