ball joints (4WD)

[Carbonized]

Someone had experience with FEBEST upper arm?
.

Guess what?

fibest2jpg.jpg

Febest is German, yet they manufacture in China, and if you read the whole thread you'll find that whether from Crapazon or Fleabay or any independent they all come from China. The OEM are NLA from Japan too. If you order from Lakeland, Rockauto, or other online store they place the order to Japan , then they are told the part is NLA and cancel your order in an Email a week later. You have just wasted a week and they have made interest on your( as well as hundred others) money for that period of time.

The Febest is not a bad part, but when placed side by side with the Toyota you could question the quality and sturdiness.

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The OEM is a lot beefier. After installing the Febests I started cleaning the OEM, just for giggles, What I found under the rust and dirt was some amazing pieces of casting. I flushed out the old crusted grease from the ball joint, and bearings by pumping WD 40 and laquer thinner through all the grease fittings (3). At this point, everything moved freely and smoothly no play, no squeak. I replaced as many bushings I could still find, re-greased and now I have the most expensive spare upper arms on the planet!



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My point is if you can get your hand on a OEM set and don't mind getting down and dirty, you can get yourself the $220.00 original Toyota upper arms.

[JDM VANMAN]

That’s amazing!! I’ll fly down to you with my parts and be your apprentice!!

JDM

[filterway]

My point is if you can get your hand on a OEM set and don't mind getting down and dirty, you can get yourself the $220.00 original Toyota upper arms.

Ok thanks for your comment. I will probably go with OEM if i can :-)

[Carbonized]

I know it' a bit far but maybe someone could pick for you https://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/...to-pick-appart

[spacelegovan]

great info here....any posts anywhere on doing just the lower ball joint on an 88 anywhere ?

[Carbonized]

We touched on the Lowers on page 6 of this thread, they are now a "salvage yard exclusives". I had to find two arms from two different yards and give them the same treatment as my OEM uppers.

Nasty!!!!
DS2.jpg

Under the crust... not so bad
DS15.jpg

The after the nail gun and finished with all new bushings and hardware (still available!)
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If you want to rebuild the Ball joints only, it's easier than the uppers as you can take them off the arm and work on a bench.

At one point in it's life, this was called grease .Wonder why the funny noises and this feeling that something is binding /grinding?

BJ15.jpg

This was a bit tedious because there is no grease fitting to inject solvant and cleaner, and that cake was pretty "solid" at places.

To be continued....

[Carbonized]

….continued.

With patience, multiple soaks in laquer thinner, a dental pick, a tooth brush, compressed air.....

BJ5.jpg


Some very lite pitting but no play, no slack, even bone dry

BJ3.jpg



. So paint, repack grease, and...

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New castle nut and cotter pin and good for service

BJ11.jpg

[LightBlueToy]

What did you do for the the balljoint when you refurbished your upper control arms?

[Carbonized]

As explained in post 121, flushed the old grease with laquer thinner and WD 40. Then when repacking I started without the boot and discarded the first blobs of grease coming out, just in case. The OEM uppers have a grease fitting on top of the ball join witch make that job easier . You can remove that fitting and use a rubber tipped blow gun (compressed air) to force-flush the cleaners through the joint.

Now that is Clean!

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[Burntboot]

Carbon - That is incredible work, I am in awe once again.

Would you please consider sharing your methods on how you:

A) re&re the boots without damage
B) re&re the spring clips
C) Make those boots look like they are brand new.

I suspect some sort of magic wand might be involved?

[LightBlueToy]

I see see, my bad for missing that earlier post. I guess I was just thinking that the balljoints would be too worn unless they previously had a short/easy service life. I don't think I could have cleaned out and regreased the ball joints on my UCA's. Or am I missing yet another piece of the puzzle, wouldn't surprise me if I was. Just trying to learn.

edit: just reread and you stated "no play, no squeak" so I guess there's my answer.

[Carbonized]

Burntboot
HA HA! Here is My magic Wand:

The secret is in the red handle: it's faster .
IMG_0427.jpg

Ok starting with B, I developed this technic after fighting the wrong way over a couple of boots. After trying to unwind the spring clip over the fat part of the billow, Thus stretching the spring over its limit and risking to tear the rubber (witch I did once witch prompted me to use my head and think hard ) .Holding the ball joint into a vice, with the treaded end upward I now use my magic wand to grab the lower tip of the spring, pull it out of the rubber groove and force it over and under the edge of the boot . I then slide the magic wand further up and around the spring, chasing it out of the rubber groove and in the metal channel underneath it.
After the 1st lap or so I start to gently pull upward on the boot to help it stretch out of the channel.
After 2 and1/2 lap the spring clip should be resting loose where the groove of the boot used to be, and the boot free to slide up and out..
Re install is pretty much the reverse with help of a needle nose plyer and a flat screw driver to force the rubber boot groove over the metal ridge into its channel while the Magic wand wind the spring back into the rubber groove.
The magic wand by the way is called a mechanic pick.
The answer to A is simply that all the boots I had to deal with where in an amazingly good shape, no cracks, no dry rot, still very flexible. My guess is that on top of being of superior rubber quality, they are kept in a relatively cool and dark environment. UVs and high heat exposure are the worst enemies of rubber so is repeated high stress. Also it may be that the rubber is kept "conditioned" by the petroleum based grease inside?
Answer to C: See A + dish soap and water, nothing else. Amazing!

By the way, the boot I managed to tear into, I fixed it using an adhesive/sealer : Sikaflex-295 UV, force some in the cut with a pin, one dab on the inside, one dab on the outside, good to go!

[timsrv]

We touched on the Lowers on page 6 of this thread, they are now a "salvage yard exclusives". I had to find two arms from two different yards and give them the same treatment as my OEM uppers.....

I think spacelegovan is only after the lower ball joints. If so, you should still be able to get them:

Lower left ball joint #43340-29116

Lower right ball joint #43330-29166

I also checked aftermarket on rockauto.com and see they still have some there as well (although their supply looked very limited). Not sure if you can order AM through Napa or other parts stores, but wouldn't be surprised if you could. Tim

[Carbonized]

Toyotapartsdeal also claims to have the OEM upper arms and we all know the reality. At least call first to confirm, toyotaparstdeal or toyotapartsoverstock answer the phone, Rockauto no so much I found. I found myself many time waiting for a part just to receive an Email days latter informing me that the part is NLA.
If they tell you that YOU have to place your order and pay for it first, so they can place the order with Japan just to know if the part exist, you pretty much know what will happen. At least it has been my experience.
Also make sure to always insist about the 4WD (YR3), some parts are still available for the 2WD but have been NLA for years for the 4WD .Some Part# have changed over the years and it can get confusing at times.
Now if Tim says they are available he usually does his home work pretty well!

[JDM VANMAN]

I got them on toyotapartsdeal-

Page 4, posts 64-70 in this thread check it out

JDM

[cpginkpt]

update - Amazon showed 7 RH upper in stock so I order yesterday and got the dreaded "not available" email today.

Amazon still says 6 in stock.

ALSO - I found Tim's "do it in 2 hrs" post but that is for a 2wd version and does not need a full control arm replace required by the 4wd version.

So the question is - do I really need to remove all the seat, radiator etc per the manual to get that RH control arm out or is there a shortcut?

[Carbonized]

On the 4WD, no you cannot do it without removing the radiator. The ball joint is part of the arm. If you need to replace it, you need to remove the arm. The forward bolt of the arm is forward of the radiator and under some A.C. lines: No access. If by any chance you just need a deep cleaning of the joint, it can be done without removing the arm. If you haven't done so already, disconnect the upright from the joint and try moving it by hand. If it's hard to move ( stiff) you may be lucky. Check under the boot and it might just need a clean and repack. If its super loose and you can rattle it: you ran out of luck. Start wrenching.

[boberth]

Hey I'm newbie to the Toyota Van community, but is it possible to replace just the Ball Joint boots? Both of my joints are in great shape but one of my boots had a large puncture. I tore the boot off in order to get size measurements and now I am struggling to find replacement boots. Do you guys have any leads? Currently looks like my only alternative is to replace he whole upper front arm off amazon, which I'd rather avoid.
Thanks in advance.

[Maxisback]

I've just discovered I have to replace upper ball joints , Ive read this thread , any recent updates on availability , or does anyone have a set (upper control arms) to part with ?

[bikerjosh]

I have a brand new set of UCA for a 4wd van made by febest. Bought them for my van for it’s future but am going to be putting the van up for sale shortly so willing to sell. PM for details. Thanks Josh