upper ball joint replacement.....

i have a new drivers side upper ball joint on order as i noticed the boot was a bit leaky.
Most videos show folks taking the whole spindle and the whole damn assembly out. Is that needed? Cant a guy just remove the crown nut on the UCA and maybe the tie rod end......lower the lower control arm a bit and press out the upper and put the new one in?

I do need to do the lower on this side as well but im not sure removing the whole spindle even knowing that makes sense.

 

i removed mine. It’s not much work to remove the spindle and you’ll appreciate being able to put the spindle in a vise and have the room

 

hmm....yeah i guess it didnt look too bad.....just an axle nut and extra dinking around. I was hoping to avoid it if possible.

 

In theory ya. But it's only an axle bolt, 4 bolts on lower ball joint, 2 bolts on the brake caliper, a tie rod end and the knuckle is out. Oh and an upper ball joint but obviously It's not that much more effort to not be fighting it on the truck the whole time. Do yourself the favor and just pull it

 

I will pick up my new upper ball joint from the Toyota dealer tomorrow morning. I heard my driver's side suspension squeaking and saw that the upper ball joint rubber boot was torn and leaking grease. I have a 2002 Tacoma and knew the day was coming that I would have to replace it and that day arrived.

 

They're no big deal. Just be sure to secure the caliper so it doesnt damage the brake line. If/when you smack the cv axle make sure it has a nut on it so you dont fuber the threads. When your beating the ubj out of the uca be sure the knuckle isn't resting on the lbj or lca with nowhere to go. Put a bar or something between control arms or between upper control arm and the ground or you'll bounce and never drop out of the uca. Stuff a clean rag in the wheel bearing as soon as its exposed. Loctite and torque spec everything when it goes back. Dont force anything back together and take the time to clean/inspect everything while your in there. Oh and the abs sensors like to shear off rather than come out of the knuckles so be gentle. That's all hard won advice I really wish I had gotten. Take it as you see fit. Oh, pb blast or penetrating oil everything for a solid day before you start if possible. When all else fails heat is your friend. Propane torch that bitch and beat the shot out of the parts your replacing. Shell come apart no sweat

 

yeah....thats one of the biggest worries is the ab sensor junk. My brake line probably should be replaced. THe rubber casing is split but all the cords in the inside seem tight. Cant be good though. I am worried even with line wrenches that is going snap and ill get to hate myself for another 2 weeks while i sort that out. Here in the midwest everything is corroded and horrible.

I did get my new coilovers in and that wasnt too bad at all. Maybe ill get luck on the line when it comes time.

 

Worst case scenario at least it's on the front of the truck if the line does snap. Just find another and use a hard line flaring thingamabob and one of those threaded couplers you can pick up anywhere and cut it off clean somewhere along the hard line and plug in the salvaged piece?
Ya that sucks. Our here in oregon they dont salt the roads except the main freeways. Everything else is just a skating rink. Makes for a good time on mud terrains and a welded ass end I'll tell you. Haha

 

I replaced the UBJ on my truck a couple weeks ago. I left the spindle attached and it was a PIA. I rented a ball joint press and the 4WD adapters from O'Reilly. The press was big and heavy and the receiving cups were bigger than they needed to be which led to very little room to work for pressing the old ball joints out and the new ones in. At one point, I was on the ground using my foot to push a box wrench to tighten the press. There was no room to get a socket and breaker bar, let alone an impact wrench, on the press. Had the spindle on the press been an inch or two shorter and the receiving cup an inch or two shorter it would have been a piece of cake.

Oh ... and the stupid circle clips. They were near impossible to put back on, even with c-clip pliers.

Good luck!

 

thanks. I guess i might as well attempt to pull the entire thing. The cv should slide right out if it isnt too corroded.....it just looks like a lot of messing around. Remove 3/4 of the front end drive train just to press out a ball joint. Dumb.

 

It’s really not too bad doing it on the truck. I recently did my entire suspension front and rear, and I didn’t pull the spindle. I would suggest giving it a go with the spindle on, I suspect you’ll be just fine like I was, and if not then you can go through the extra steps, but try the less intensive method first.

 

I will take off the steering knuckle and put it on a vise. Then press out the UBJ and press in a new UBJ. I found this YouTube video https://bit.ly/2XHn5wb

 

Here's a video you can use for the job. It's for a 3rd Gen 4runner but pretty much the same. Like other guys above suggested, I also subscribe to the method of removing the whole steering knuckle so you can secure it in a vice to remove and replace the UBJ. I bought special adapters for this from OTC but guys have been able to make it work by using different receiving cups and a large deep socket as a driver.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/-sY2azyLBuI

 

I followed this write up when replacing the upper ball joints on my taco

http://www.bajataco.com/tech/control_arms_03.html

 

not sure what you mean. You have to remove the bolts or you cant remove the LBJ to replace it. Are you saying if i remove the entire unit to not remove the LBJ as part of the UBJ job and do that seperately once the upper has been completed?

 

i ordered my parts online from ToyotaPartsDeal.com...to get oem parts. Decent prices but it took them 4 or 5 days just to put it in the damn mailbox...despite me emailing them and asking them to see if they could make sure it goes out next day if possible. Oh well....lets hope they ship me the right thing that i ordered i guess. Sure hope to have this damn thing done by winter by this point....