I got a reply from the guy selling van ball joints on ebay now--he said that the brand is Sankei. Anyone heard of that brand? Price is right but not if you have to replace them 10K from now.
Thanks,
Rob
Printable View
I got a reply from the guy selling van ball joints on ebay now--he said that the brand is Sankei. Anyone heard of that brand? Price is right but not if you have to replace them 10K from now.
Thanks,
Rob
Keep in mind that the 4wd and 2wd vans use different ball joints. 4wd upper ball joints are non-replaceable (you must replace the entire upper control arm). There has been some speculation that perhaps with some machine work a ball joint from something else could be made to work here, but IMO there's just not enough material in this area for that to be safe or practical (at least for keeping things a stock height). If you're planning on lifting, then you can add material to the bottom and modify like was done HERE, but it's a big job.
FWIW, I replaced the ball joints on my 2wd van: http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...t-2-hours-(2wd). They didn't show any excessive play but I felt like it was something I should do because that van is always overloaded. It had about 135k miles on it at the time. I used Beck Arnley parts that I purchased from www.rockauto.com. Recently I checked them again (at about 150k miles) and found the RF upper joint to be completely wasted (had about 3/8" vertical play). Now I'm thinking I should have left the originals there. I still have them and may put them back if I have any more failures here. I'm monitoring the situation before I make up my mind as it could have been a fluke. Moral of this story is to leave the original equipment alone unless it's actually bad :doh:.
If you decide to proceed, make sure your old ones have actually failed and verify you're ordering 4wd parts. Genuine Toyota 4wd upper control arms (if still available) will likely run you around $250-$300 each. Tim
I agree with not touching these parts unless needed. Unfortunately I am getting the telltale symptoms of ball joint play--In 4wd I get one clunk when I turn the wheel and acellerate--doesnt matter what speed, I will still get a clunk. Seems like a binding/releasing is happening--Not the same as CV joint symptoms. In the snow a couple of days ago I went to a large area that I could diagnose (slide, jam the brakes, play) and I could get the same clunk when braking hard (locking the brakes). I will be going to LA next week where I have a good friend with a shop. I can get the van off the ground and start playing with the suspension to find the problem...in 80 degree weather. :) I am planning to do my plugged heater core then too (he has all the ac equipment). The ebay guy is selling the lowers with the correct #s for 4WD when compared to Toyota parts zone site. I will probably bite the bullet and get Toy parts unless I they are NA.
I did the beck Arnley replacement(bought them when they had that special price. I think it was just on the uppers or lowers for the price break but i bought both) on only one side upper and lower on my 86 2wd about 1,500 miles ago. Van has 183,000 and genuine were on there and probably original. When i took a pry bar to them they moved a little, so i decided to replace one side only. I will be watching and comparing the two sides. I might even put some better condition used genuine on the side I have not replaced just so i don't have any movement.
At 220,000 miles my lower right has worn out. Local shop tried a stream of replacements from the parts guys (all wrong) so we are now waiting for a part from 1st Toyota (Titus-Will) If that doesn't work anyone want to suggest another supplier?
I looked this up on the EPC and found it calls out Toyota #43330-29166 for the lower right. I entered this part number on Titus Will's website (www.1sttoyotaparts.com) and it came up as available for around $60.
I also found aftermarket ball joints on www.rockauto.com listed for 4wd vans. The right lowers are RAYBESTOS Part # 5051184 or ACDELCO Part # 45D2184. Both are in the $100 range. Lower lefts are also available for about the same price. IMO the Toyota part will most likely be of higher quality and you get a lower price to boot! Hope this helps. Good luck. Tim
Thanks Tim. Titus-Will says the part is indeed for my 89 4wd. They took my credit card info and are going to email with shipping costs to Canada. If they are right I will be happy. If the part isn't right I guess I eat it and check with your suggested supplier to see if they ship to Canada. As an aside, the two oxy sensors from the supplier you sent me to arrived mid July and were perfect and a great price! 5000km since then and no check engine light. Some hesitation when cold (TPS/fouled plugs I bet) but that's another story. Thanks again!And.......How are the finances for this website? Is it about time for us loyal users to send along some $$$ thru paypal??Cheers,Bill
First time posting here. I recently purchased a 89 4wd when going over bumps the front end has a sort of knocking sound. I was thinking it may be the ball joints. After reading it seems these are around $300 and probably not available anyway so i searched what i believe to be the part number 48067-28050 and sure enough it pulls up a part on Amazon for around $50. Can anyone confirm the fitment or that this is correct part number?
Thanks
Hi & welcome to TVT! That's very interesting that these are available on Amazon for so cheap (Toyota discount sites are selling for around $350 now). I checked the EPC and verified this is the correct part number (for left side upper). Although the ones on Amazon are using a Toyota part number, I can't help but think these must be Chinese reproductions. None the less, I couldn't resist the price and I purchased a set of them. FYI, the 4wd van uses 4 unique ball joints. 2 on the left (upper and lower) and 2 on the right (these are mirror image & non interchangeable from side to side). The lowers are just simple ball joints, but the uppers are integral with the upper control arm (if a ball joint fails you need to replace the entire upper control arm). Until you posted about the Amazon ones, I wasn't aware these were available from anywhere except Toyota (thank you). Here are the part numbers for 87 - 89 4wd Toyota Van ball joints:
Upper left control arm w/ball joint #48067-28050
Upper right control arm w/ball joint #48066-28050
Lower left ball joint #43340-29116
Lower right ball joint #43330-29166
Regarding the noise in your front end, don't just assume it's the ball joints. You'll want to get under there and check to verify before replacing.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...psc1f51493.jpg
The easy way is to take your van in for a front end alignment. If the tech knows what he's doing he'll check these before trying to align. By law they are required to check and are not allowed to align if these parts are worn beyond spec. If that's the case, they'll tell you about it. These ball joints are pretty tough, so I suspect your factory ones are still good. When the front suspension makes noise, it's usually due to dry upper control arm bushings. On the 4wd there are plugs you can pull out & install grease zerks. It's not a bad idea to get up in there from time to time with a grease gun. Tim
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...ps74150032.jpg
Awesome info tim! Thanks so much! The price is great and I felt like I'd stumbled on to something to good to be true. I'll definitely look into the other possible causes that you mention.
It may be too good to be true-On Amazon that link Tim posted says they are currently unavailable. I look forward to hearing about them from you, if/when you get them. I know at some point I will need to do this repair.
When I went there it said there were 3 available for each side. I was tempted to buy them all (actually had them all in my cart :lol:), but then reconsidered thinking it would be rude (in case rowemjr hadn't purchased yet and/or if anybody else here wanted to buy). I only ordered one set & have gotten shipping confirmation from Amazon (saying they'll be here next week). I'm guessing rowemjr and one other person purchased after me, so that would account for them all disappearing. On the Amazon listing I see the seller is Febest. We've talked about them on the forum before. They started flooding the market with automotive bushings a few years ago. I had previously checked their product reviews and found people were saying good things about them (things like "better than OEM"). I'm pretty sure I'll get what is pictured on the listing, but what confuses me is where these are coming from. Since Febest specializes in bushings, did they expand to more things or did they team-up with another aftermarket manufacturer & build from scratch? They are advertising with OEM part numbers, but I seriously doubt they're OEM (Toyota wants $350 each for these). If they are building these from scratch, then it's likely they'll restock soon. I'd recommend checking back in a few weeks. Tim
PS: I'll post some pics and my opinion of "perceived" quality when they arrive.
Man mine just started to make noise too, I'm was gonna order them right when Tim posted but got sidetracked. Tim I'm looking forward to read your review and pics of these ball joints.
Thank you
It was as I expected, they are Chinese reproductions. But could they be as good as Toyota? I guess it will take about a 20 year road test to know for sure. Potential problems could be quality and/or hardness of steel and/or dimensional accuracy. As for appearance they do look very nice. Here's some pics:
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...ps283fdfa8.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...psd3bc1152.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...ps1934c6eb.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...psfa03522d.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a23...psf5ddeec0.jpg
In case anybody else wants, I did a Google search using the part numbers on my packaging and found several of these available on other sites. It's funny how much variation in price there is. One guy on eBay is trying to sell for $500 each, yet another guy for $92 each. Range of price on the internet is about the same, I'm sure there are more places that have them for the Amazon price, but I quit looking after I found them on these two sites (first place is Febest's own site):
http://febestparts.com/RIGHT_UPPER_F...RM/0124-CM60RH
http://febestparts.com/LEFT_UPPER_FRONT_ARM/0124-CM60LH
http://www.cqout.com/item/RIGHT-UPPE...ranty/19718019
http://www.cqout.com/item/LEFT-UPPER...ranty/19717570
Nice Tim, I was reading somewhere online that the parts were manufactured in parts of Russia and Germany and then shipped to China for final assembly?? I don't know maybe I misread and understood it cause it was late at night when I was reading.
But I know Febest parts got a "C" rating out of A-E ratings. So looks like their parts are hit and miss.
I was was lookimg on Alibaba.com and they have just about all the scarce parts we can't get a hold of but then you have to pay international shipping fees and brokerage fees too. And after all that it could still be made in China. A lot of parts are still readily available overseas cause the YR2* and YR3* chassis are used in the 90's version of the van.
Do make sure you double check exactly what's making the noise. The noise I had coming from my van were worn out bushings. What I was hearing was the drive arm shaft bouncing around in the bushing every time I hit any bumps in the road. Here's a link that might help, in the thread Tim posts a link to another thread also on the matter that could help...I may have some pictures I took while I did the work.
http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/s...0448#post10448
Thanks for linking that thread rat. I hope to have time to diagnose this issue soon. I've already got replacement swaybar bushing. I'm starting there. I'll report back my findings.
Looks like Amazon has these in stock again (but only 1 of each). Looks like they reduced the price by about $6 each (how often does that happen?). Tim
Tim,
that is too funny you noticed there's only one of each left, I just purchased a set last night to have on hand.
:silvervan::redvan: Looks like we had a TVM= Toyota Van Moment last night:silvervan::redvan:
HAHAHAHA
I finally got around to replacing the sway bar bushings, and the cushions on the link bolts and after a test drive that's definitely what was making all the knocking noise. Years of grime and corrosion made these bolts a real pain and caused me to snap one of the bolts off in the lower control arm and one of the sway bar links. I spent a lot of time drilling out the broken off piece and I was going to replace the link bolt but when i called my local dealer, they quoted me over 90 bucks for the thing, and said there was only 1 left in the country out in CA. So i welded it back together hopefully it holds. I replaced all the hardware with new stainless pieces. There is still a very subtle knock but much much quieter now, plus it handles noticeably better and just has a more solid feel when driving. thanks for the help glad I didn't jump straight to the ball joint.
Just got an email today saying they were all out of the left side ball joints so I called them and question why is it still showing available on Amazon and on eBay? They said it was a mistake and they currently are all out of stock and to call back on Friday to see if the shipment comes in. I told them not a problem .
well then 1 hour later I got a email saying the package has been shipped and both items were being sent. I also got another email from the shipper and a copy of the invoice stating the parts were shipped and both ball joints were coming.
I guess I'll find out next week, I'll keep you posted.
Now it says they have 2 lefts and 1 right in stock :dizzy:.
I received only the right side arm, they said the left side was out of stock. I called and emailed the rep and he told me to check back on Friday, so I did and they told me it hadn't come in. Today I looked online and it said they had 3 available so I went ahead and ordered it and
paid extra for expedited shipping which means it'll be coming from the international warehouse.
Tim looks like you got the last pair of them:clap:
Tim have you tried out those new upper arms? I'm still on the waiting list for the left, I don't think they'll be sending anymore to North America any time soon.
No, I don't have an immediate use for them. I've been building a mini parts warehouse here that I add to whenever I see good deals. When I do a major project it helps to be well stocked :thmbup:. Tim
I got the last ones at CQout. Not to sure if I will get them though, that site seems kind of dodgy. Hopefully they arrive as described.
Really?? What a coincidence I just emailed Finest Auto on Sunday about this part and they replied that they didn't have it. If you get the left upper arm please let us know.
Thank you:thmbup:
Did you ever get these?Quote:
Originally Posted by CleverUserName
Nothing. It's been about a month. I'm guessing it's a "buy now wait till we get some in" scenario.Quote:
Originally Posted by timsrv
I think I will contact them and ask what is going on. Thanks for the reminder.
DO NOT do business with Finest auto parts in FL http://www.finestautoparts.com/Quote:
Originally Posted by timsrv
THEY SUCK. Communication was non-existent. I had to send 2 emails and called 3 times to get anywhere with these clowns. Waited a week and no credit issued after requested. Lots of lies and excuses from them. Had to do a chargeback on my CC for non receipt of goods.
CQout also banned me from their site because of the chargeback.
I hope amazon gets some more in. I
If anybody wants to sell a set of control arms send me a message.
Looks like Finest Auto Parts is trying to sell a right side on eBay for $50 (last one for sale in US?): http://www.ebay.com/itm/RIGHT-UPPER-...3D251892582381, but no lefts are to be found anywhere............unless you count Europe and Australia. Febest's European website says they're in stock, but the price is ~$113 when converted to USD........and that doesn't include shipping (assuming they would ship). Tim
I was told by Finest Auto Parts these control arms are not available. Checked by part # and description. They list items which they don't have, then ignore all communications requesting shipping # or refund. Numerous lies and excuses. Poor communication. Terrible CS.Quote:
Originally Posted by timsrv
My guess is they make money of people who buy stuff and forget about it. After 90 days no chargeback is possible, so if you forget about a purchase and then remember after 3 months your SOL. Don't have any other guesses why this place would operate this way. Read the negative feedback on EBAY. My experience is similiar.
Don't waste your time with them.
Looks like Febest Europe has taken over these Amazon listings (see the links on post #2 this thread). Price is up to $107, but they ship for free. Tim
I tried to order these and Amazon said they were unable to ship them to my location. Perhaps this is because I am in the USA and Febest is not??
Then, following febest.com links that Tim posted earlier, I found the right upper control arm for $50.88. Shipping in the USA is free. They are currently out of left upper control arms.
That's weird. When I was on there yesterday both sides were $107 and both shipped from Europe Febest w/free shipping. They had (6) lefts and (8) rights in stock. Now I see the right says only (1) left and it's from Finest auto parts for only $50 (see earlier comment from cleverusername regarding them). I wonder why they would even list Europe Febest as having these available w/free shipping if they will not ship to US. It's not like we're viewing these on Europe's Amazon. Tim
To clarify, I tried to order them on Amazon after seeing your last post, Tim. And, I wondered the same thing: "Why would these be viewable at amazon.COM when they won't ship to USA?". I sent an email to febest, via amazon, to inquire as to why they would not ship to USA. As of this moment I see 6 left-side ($107.95) and 1 right-side ($50.88) available from amazon and sold by febest.
In any case, $50.88 at febestparts.com (post #8 of this thread) is great! I hope they have nothing to do with "Finest Auto Parts". I shall report my febestparts.com customer experience here at TVT.
The one for $50 states right on the listing (upper right) "Sold by Finest Auto Parts" (says that right above the "add to cart" button). Out of curiosity I just purchased it and see another one popped back up (only 1 available and still "Sold by Finest Auto Parts"). I guess it's kind of like those "going out of business" sales that never end. If it ever comes I'll report here. If not, I'll complain to Amazon and see about getting them into trouble. :rol: Tim
PS: If it comes, I'll try and get one from Febest Europe to see if they like me better than you.
My bad. I mixed up the seller and the manufacturer.Quote:
Originally Posted by timsrv
Just got home and found this email waiting for me:
We're writing to inform you that your order from Finest Auto Parts has been canceled because the item you purchased is out of stock. Please return and place your order again at a later time. We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused...................
I find this funny, because immediately after I placed the order (for the last one) another "last one" became available. So why cancel my order? How about you put "Item currently unavailable" in the listing so people don't waste their time. Idiots :dizzy: