bottom ball joint

[zoc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zoc]

had a bit of a surprise the other day.
the bottom ball joint had enough of life and gave up
super thankful that it was just up the road and at low speed
rolled it back down to home one 3 wheels and a floor jack.

[zoc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zoc]

yeah i reckon i might change the lefthand side now. hahaha

[Leethal Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leethal]

Due to their age it is getting common on the 90 series, IMO only use genuine lower ball joints. Glen EP on Facebook sells genuine parts and usually has them on the shelf.
Definitely not worth using cheap aftermarket parts in this instance.

[zoc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zoc]

yeah i'm sure that toyota must have wanted these changed at xxxkms. The aftermarket one has a grease nipple unlike the one that was on it, i assume OEM. so even with my slack service schedule i think it will out last the rest of the car.

[Pauls 95 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pauls 95]

I replaced mine with Taiwanese ones at 300K but seeing all the failures lately even on 5K old Taiwanese ones I dumped them and fitted genuine ones too from Glenn. At some point I will do the upper too.

[carco Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close carco]

Have to say I'm surprised 90 owners are still coming to grief with LBJ's.
When I bought my 90, I'd done my research and did up the whole front end using aftermarket parts as recommended by the local suspension shop.
Well those bits were buggered in nothing flat and from then on it was only genuine.
At Glen's prices, it's a no brainer, genuine or leave it at home.

[zoc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zoc]

thanks for the feed back. how many Kms does toyota or the actual manufacture say for normal driving conditions?

[carco Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close carco]

Can't go by distance, too many variables.
You need to check them frequently, each service (5000k) would be the norm.
Weight has to be taken off the joint by jacking up from the LCA.
Then use a lever and see if there's any movement in the ball joint.
Toyota recommends a max wear limit of 0.5mm, you can see that's not very much.
My 555 brand were out of spec in less than 15000k. Only took a short bit of corrugated road.
My genuine replacements did the Gibb, Mitchell falls, Bungles and so on.
I only replaced them as I was selling the car and no way would I sell a vehicle with any wear in suspension components.
Remember the whole front end hangs from this ball. It's in turn bolted to the knuckle so those 4-bolts also hold the whole show up.
Always replace the bolts when you replace the LBJ.
Go to the Mighty 90's Facebook page to get all available info.
This site seems to have given up on the old 90's.

[zoc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zoc]

Thanks for that mate, i don't do facebook but will keep him in mind. i'm changing the left one today so ill check just for curiosity's sake before i change it

[carco Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close carco]

Definitely pays to check the Mighty 90's FB page.
As these cars age, there's much less input to a forum, owners have moved up to 150's etc or perhaps given Toyota away.
The Toyota Owners FB page is another but with nothing like the dedicated following of the Mighty 90's page.
A quick google search will show just how many 90's drop a LBJ.
Aftermarket joints feature heavily in these stats.
Glen has also done testing on the 4-bolts, very interesting.
I went for grade 12.9 Unbrakos as the factory stuff will stretch before reaching Toyota's specified torque. But then I have the dilemma, just how tight to go as the knuckle threads could strip long before the Unbrako snapped.

[zoc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zoc]

well there was no movement in the left hand side, very surprised. thought iwasnt checking it correctly. i took the boot off it once it was out and it looked new. the right hand side must have had a split in the boot and washed the grease out?

oh well, all good now til the next time.