Another one bites the dust

[goodoldboy]

Again another lower ball joint failure on a 90 .Luckily no one was hurt.It let go with with very little warning - a bit of vagueness in the steering & then it went.As you can see from the photos it was on a lane at low speed - the previous weekend i was hacking up the motorway at a steady 85......i then spent 2 hours waiting for the breakdown wagon & an hour & a half lashing it back together so we could load it.

 

[AndyCook]

Very nasty. I replaced them on my collie before I went to Morocco with genuine Toyota ones, just to be sure


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[Shayne]

Jeez you haven't had much luck with your 90 have you , i really must get my ball joints done if anything is gonna kill my truck then that will be it i can imagine rolling sideways down the road at speed and there would be nothing left to fix then .

Did you ever get to the bottom over your power loss issues , is was you wasn't it ?

 

[goodoldboy]

it was a cold starting issue Shayne - eventually tracked it down to a dry joint in the fuse/relay box. this apart the only problems have been stuff wearing out & two snapped anti roll bars - not bad for a car wit 190000 miles & 17 years...my mechanic really rates the LC but is shocked at the amount of rust having never worked on a UK car before

 

[Shayne]

Yikes electrics are evil glad you found it in the end and as you say better for the ball joint to go where and when it did than at speed so a blessing in disguise maybe glad everyone is ok

 

[Shayne]

I'm gonna order some ball joints circa 30 each from roughtrax - what does mrT charge for genuine parts ?

 

[Gary Stockton]

I didn't think that Mr T sold the ball joint on it's own?? They don't for the 120 - wanted the whole control arm to be bought which is why I used RoughTrax ones which were perfect

 

[Shayne]

Cheers Gary that saves me waiting to order

 

[Beau]

Could have been worse, glad no one was hurt!

Does anyone know if you're able of checking the ball joint to see if it's on it's way out?

 

[Shayne]

Bob Murphy had one go Beau and some say he dismantles and reassembles nuclear reactors instead of doing crosswords while having a tea break .

 

[Beau]

Yeah, I think his was the first I heard of the failure. I think this thread is now the third I've heard of. For what it cost, it's probably worth changing them I guess! Best be safe, than sorry!

 

[goodoldboy]

Could have been worse, glad no one was hurt!

Does anyone know if you're able of checking the ball joint to see if it's on it's way out?

The toyota workshop manual suggests that you measure the vertical play with a dial indicator , mounting the magnetic base on the caliper - more than 0.5mm (20 thou ) & its scrap.it also suggests checking rotational resistance with a torque wrench 0.1 -2.5 nm .the problem with all this is that if its seized you cant tell.one thing that i find puzzling is that it failed on road & not on my "driveway" a rough track that needs low box to negotiate .

 

[Shayne]

It was my understanding that they don't come apart due to wear as such but actually shear off without warning ?

 

[AndyCook]

The 90 series ones can be bought independently from the wishbone. From dealer they are around £100 each. Try our friendly Toyota parts supplier Simon. I wouldn't buy aftermarket part given the fact that genuine ones can fail with wear and tear, would cheaper one last as long ?


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[BobMurphy]

Bob Murphy had one go Beau and some say he dismantles and reassembles nuclear reactors instead of doing crosswords while having a tea break .

I had heard of a couple of failures before mine went - when it started to tighten-up I was pretty sure what it was.

Its not a good design with the joint being under constant extreme tension, the 100 and 120-series have a much better design as the 'nose' of the lower wishbone pokes into a 'stirrup' on the bottom of the Steering Knuckle with the balljoint underneath - where it is in constant compression.

Does anyone know if the '120' wishbone and steering knuckle will fit a '90' (a plot is forming ).

Glad it failed on a quiet track, Beau .

Bob.

 

[Beau]

I had heard of a couple of failures before mine went - when it started to tighten-up I was pretty sure what it was.

Its not a good design with the joint being under constant extreme tension, the 100 and 120-series have a much better design as the 'nose' of the lower wishbone pokes into a 'stirrup' on the bottom of the Steering Knuckle with the balljoint underneath - where it is in constant compression.

Does anyone know if the '120' wishbone and steering knuckle will fit a '90' (a plot is forming ).

Glad it failed on a quiet track, Beau .

Bob.

Wasn't mine that failed Bob, I was just inquiring about replacement options... It would be good to have a solid replacement though.

 

[BobMurphy]

Wasn't mine that failed Bob, I was just inquiring about replacement options... It would be good to have a solid replacement though.

DOH .

I lost the plot there, should have gone back to the beginning !

Bob.