sloppy steering, steering wheel vibration, etc

[Bob98SR5]

...which is to say, my 4runner might not be making it to Pismo but I'll make it nonetheless.

i got ready to work on replacing my 1/2 shaft on the driver's side tonight and perform an inspection on my steering components (long overdue). typical crappy symptoms: loose "kermit the frog" style steering sloppiness, vibration/harsh feel in steering wheel when hitting any type of pothole, bump, etc, creaking, etc.

i first wanted to check the bolt tightness on the steering rack. i replaced those steering rack bushings about 1.5 yrs ago in the hopes that the steering response would tighten up. i'd say it was minimal. so tonight i took a look underneath and saw that the driver's side lower BJ has some brownish grease coming out of it. Can anyone confirm that that is the color of the lower BJ grease?

i did not do the shake the tire test to check it out tonight. but i may have to enlist the help of the mrs. to do so tomorrow. so if the tires show some wiggle, that's a good test to determine a worn BJ, right? but how do you know whether or not the upper or the lower (or both) BJ is worn?

same too with the inner and outer tie rod: how do you know which one is truly worn?

As these parts are about $500 - $600 bucks, i dont want to incorrectly identify the wrong part.

I'll be asking more "how to" questions after a little more searching and responses from above.

thanks gents,
Bob

[YotaFun]

Bob,
iirc the grease from the ball joints should be a greyish brown.
At least that's what I remember seeing in othe threads and what was spewing out of mine when I was putting the lift on.

As far as the steering rack and tie rod ends, mine was bent bad on the outters and thou could tell be the angle, when a friend and I did it on his taco his drivers side was shot to the point you could grab it and move it a good inch plus.
I changed my steering rack and he did his and we haven't had issues since well he hasn't, I think I am ready for my second rack.

Also how many miles do you have on your truck?
How much off roading have have you done since you got it?

Might be a wise idea to change the bj's anyway, to try to avoid what happen to ric...

[Seanz0rz]

lower bj's are about 80 from the dealer, uppers are about 30, each. the upper bj is a pain to get out of the steering knuckle, i made my own tool to press the new one in, and made my own tool to adapt a 3 jaw puller to get it out. lower bj's are fairly easy.

yes, the grease in them when mine were spewing was the color you described. shaking the tire should be a fairly good indication of the condition of the bj's. but a bad wheel bearing may also cause tire play in this test. to check the tie rod ends, its easy enough to pop them off and give the stud a good wiggle by hand. good ones will have some resistance, bad ones will have no resistance or play in any/all of the 3 directions. tie rod ends are easy to replace.

if you are serious about doing the balljoints, i can offer my assistance and tools to you on wednesday afternoon. i will be in walnut moving in in the morning, but give me a heads up and ill bring my press and other special tools.

[Robinhood4x4]

If one of the BJ's is bad, then the rest aren't far behind. You might as well do it all at once.

[Bob98SR5]

sean,

wow, you get way better pricing than i got on the ball joints, esp the lowers. i got quoted $100 or so. where did you get yours? also, did they sell you just the ball joint or the whole assembly with the metal bracket?

i'm more interested in doing the lower ball joints at this point and doing the uppers another time. can you briefly describe how to change the lower bjs and any special tools needed to get them off?

thanks,
bob

[Scuba]

Bob, Here's a good writeup to give you an idea.
Good Luck and cheers

http://ttora.com/forum/showthread.ph...ght=Ball+Joint

[Seanz0rz]

lowers come as a complete piece with the bracket including 4 bolt holes for the steering knuckle, and the hole for the tie rod end.

removal: remove 4 bolts that attach knuckle to bj, support the knuckle. pull cotter pin, remove castle nut. using a puller (2 or 3 jaw puller, you can rent from autozone. i believe a tie rod end remover may work i cant recall for sure), pop the tapered stud out of the lower control arm.

installation is reverse, you must torque the bolts correctly, etc.

i purchased mine from northridge toyota. i believe that is the price i paid, id have to dig up my invoice. napa wants 84 a piece for lower.

i owe ya one, so let me know if you need help.

[Bob98SR5]

sean,

that doesnt sound too bad for the lower bj removal, though popping off anything like that will probably be challenging to get right the first time.

i'm gonna give it a go but i'll have to pony up some more bucks to get some parts. sheesh!

bob

[Bob98SR5]

ok after some serious research, this is probably the best pictorial with words that describe the exact procedure I could find:

http://ttora.com/forum/showthread.ph...ght=Ball+Joint

looks like you need the right pullers and some kind of adapter for the uppers. but i'm only doing the lowers, so looks like 2 pullers (one big, one small) will be needed.

[MillerPKA]

i'd say replace all, its going to be a pain if you do one and a month later have to repeat the process. yes it may cost more money but ric's story scared the piss outta me. i'm taking my rig when i go snowboarding in a couple months and i'm redoing a lot of things. 214k i can't really afford for something to go wrong up there, might as well get the preventive maintenance out of the way. haha i just paid off my credit card i'm about to nearly max it out again with this stuff