You have to buy the whole upper control arm $320 a pop!

Ughhh. No noise from them and have proper motion however the boot is very much cracked and dry rotted. Not leaking yet. These are “non serviceable” joints and concerned that using a needle to inject grease will cause the boot to call it a day.

My angles on the stock arms are fine as I am only lifted 2” in the front with nicely upgraded Coilovers. So it sees a bit of off-roading and heavy use and aligns just fine.
I don’t trust aftermarket OEM replacement joints for this application.
Looks like I am going to suck it up and upgrade to JBA arms Which are a hair cheaper than OEM but are way better in many ways. Not that it is a bad thing. Just don’t fully have the need to justify the $600 cost when I was hoping to be under $150 just swapping joints.

This control arm situation is not new. Not new at all. Volvo only sold the 200-series control arm assembly since about 1985 until the series ended. Other manufacturers are similar. So, please don't single out Toyota.

The reason is the liability for improper installation, with resultant car crashes. The issue is the lawyers, not the OEMs.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4MUL8R, May 16, 2023 05:38 AM

^^^Actually Volvo does sell the Ball Joints separately from the Control Arms (Applies to all P2 Chassis). They also sell the Control Arm Bushings separately, but it's just plain stupid to R&R Control Arm Bushings when you can just replace the whole Control Arm with them already installed/pressed in.

This is hardly limited to Toyota. Lots of upper control arms, and some lowers as well, have a non-serviceable, integral ball joint.

Also, if control arms are side-specific, don't swap them. I run into this when people bring a vehicle to me for an alignment and the caster angle is outrageously off on one or both sides.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
This control arm situation is not new. Not new at all. Volvo has only sold the assembly since about 1985. Other manufacturers are similar. So, please don't single out Toyota.

The reason is the liability for improper installation, with resultant car crashes. The issue is the lawyers, not the OEMs.

Only done Ford and Chevy ball joints prior and not ran into such a thing.
Seems strange in the reasoning as I can give you a laundry list of parts that when installed improperly will cause a crash yet they have no qualms selling to me.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
This is hardly limited to Toyota. Lots of upper control arms, and some lowers as well, have a non-serviceable, integral ball joint.

Have come across many “non—serviceable” joints but nothing a little needle injector can’t solve.

Haven’t come across a fully integral joint yet. Even this Toyota joint is not fully integral. It can be pressed out and I can buy a number of replacement joints. Just don’t trust them enough to use them and would like to just replace the joint.

I'd like to know more about this 'little needle injector' you speak of...

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
I'd like to know more about this 'little needle injector' you speak of...

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
I'd like to know more about this 'little needle injector' you speak of...

You pierce the boot and pump in grease until it fills up. Eventually the grease will work its way into the ball and socket proper. The little pinhole left won't hurt anything

My Eff Juan Fiddy is the same, you have to replace the whole upper control arm, good thing though is all the bushings are replaced.

Reminds me, need to change out the lower control arm bushings..

I have ICON upper control arms on my lifted 4Runner. They’ve got grease fittings and the joint is replaceable.

Suggest research further after market uppers. 2" lift and you use for offroad; I would suspect maybe you are at the limits of OEM? good resource here:

https://www.tundras.com/

quote:

Originally posted by Speedbird:
Suggest research further after market uppers. 2" lift and you use for offroad; I would suspect maybe you are at the limits of OEM? good resource here:

https://www.tundras.com/

I have researched them 6 ways from Sunday.
Already know that JBAs are the best. My 2” level/lift is still plenty within spec for the factory arms.
They are the same arms that come on the TRDPros that come from the factory at the same height.

At this stage in the game I’ll probably just end up with new arms but don’t really want to spend the cash for the little my uses will get out of them.

Thinking some of the ball joints are designed to be crimped into the control arm as opposed to press fitment into a machined hole. This is still cheaper to make than the old Chrysler ball joints that were screwed into a threaded hole in the control arm. They were a lot easier to change if you had the sockets for 'em.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
...So, please don't single out Toyota.

They can do no wrong?

I’m running JBA on my lifted Grand Cherokee for about 6 years and they’ve been great. And also rebuildable.