[Racefiend]

OK, lets try this again.

Ball joint on left is Autozone/Dana, Center is TRW from PST, and right is stocker:

Here it is installed on the lower control arm:

Once again, many thanks to Carlos for donating the autozone balljoint! Hope this helps anyone looking for BJs (not those BJ's

Christian

 

[Funkycheeze]

my PST measured (on the lower step)

1.741

and

1.742

the holes in the arms are 1.739 and 1.740, so the fit is nice and tight, i put a bit of red loctite in there as well

as a side note, these joints are identical to the original toyota ones in design, and are manufactured by three five (555) in japan

also the snap rings didnt have holes in the ends of them, so getting them in was a total pain in the ass

 

[Racefiend]

Just an update on this lower ball joint issue. After having good results with the dana/perfect circle joints on initial install, I became disappointed yesterday while I was doing the BBK install. It seems that the driver's side BJ no longer sits in there tight. I can grap the hub and wiggle it with a nice clanging at the ball joint. It is actually a fair amount of play. I didn't feel like taking everything apart, so I added a few tac welds to weld the BJ to the LCA. Nice and tight now. We'll see how well it holds up.

hmm...I'm going to have to rehost these pics since they no longer display

 

[FWDsux]

After fighting mine for a while, I just bought new LCA's and never looked back. Hope those tac's hold up

 

[Joseph]

Hey Christian, try photobucket. There's no problem linking with them and they have a pretty generous file size limit.

I guess I'll try those Autozone BJs, I have a very annoying steering wheel shimmy in the '84 though I haven't checked everything out yet to confirm it's the BJs.

After fighting mine for a while, I just bought new LCA's and never looked back.

Did this fix your problem? Was there alot of play in the old BJs?

 

[Junkie]

Joe,new LCA's come with new BJ's

 

[Joseph]

Joe,new LCA's come with new BJ's

Yeah I know but I was wondering if replacing the BJs/LCA fixed the problem

 

[Negative Boost]

Hey racefiend, thanks very much for all this information. I have the exact same problem with my balljoints but i never thought that they might actually of been smaller than the ones i took out!
I tack welded mine in aswell to stop them rattling around, they did make real bad noises at low speeds over driveways, etc.
That fixed it but unfortunatly only 1 week later these welds broke and i had loose ball joints again. My problem may be exagerated due to using RA65 struts in my car but im not too sure.
I'll have to look into ordering a few different ball joints and checking them all on their diameters.
Oh and here in Aussie, we cant order new LCA's. So annoying.

Cheers
Sam

 

[Racefiend]

Since I can't edit my old post, I'll just repost it with the rehosted pics.

Ball joint on left is Autozone/Dana, Center is TRW from PST, and right is stocker:

Here it is installed on the lower control arm:

Once again, many thanks to Carlos for donating the autozone balljoint! Hope this helps anyone looking for BJs (not those BJ's )

Christian

NegativeBoost: I hope those welds hold up. If not, I may just weld all the way around it You may try that too. BJ should last for a long time before you have to replace it again, so I wouldn't worry about welding it.

 

[FWDsux]

Yeah I know but I was wondering if replacing the BJs/LCA fixed the problem

Oh yes I caused the problem by replacing parts that were most likely good with new ones that sucked. I figured at the time that hey, everything else is new and I've got these new ball joints, I'll go ahead and put em in. Never again. New LCA's or good used ones if I ever have a problem in the future on another MKII. Or at least extensive measuring on possible ball joint replacements.

 

[MKIIproject]

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but has anyone installed the Auto Zone ball joints and still having good luck with them? If I shelled out the money for new LCA's I'd be paying more for those than I paid for my supra. I would like to just put in autozone ball joints but if they are still wallowing out the control arms then I'll just have to bend over and buy the toyota LCAs.


Thanks

 

[DragonLady]

Don't do it! I worked at AutoZone for over a year, and I never had any luck with the ball joints. We've even had lawsuits over people putting them in, thinking they'll work, and then down the road, they fall out, causing a near-fatal accident. We put AZ ball joints in our 92 Toyota truck, and it sat with a lot of negative camber. Looked like an elephant was sitting in the engine bay, and there was NO engine in it at the time! We even tried all 3 brands of ball joints AZ offers, and none worked! We had good luck with the NAPA ball joints. I finally stopped selling them to people. I told people straight out to go to NAPA, and don't bother. They looked at me really funny, but they always came back and asked my opinion on other parts!

If I were you, I'd go Toyota parts, or NAPA for suspension. AutoZone stuff comes in a white box that they slap their sticker on. You never know which company they got it from, and it's usually another country. They just go for the cheap stuff. The NAPA ball joints weren't that much more expensive, either. I think we paid about $32 for the bolt-in ones for the truck. Just make sure to measure really good, and don't listen to people who tell you they are different, but they work anyway! Good luck.

 

[vfinch]

I just put an order in for some Beck Arnley's from RockAuto yesterday for ball joints and both inner and outer tie rods. My buddy with an AE86 ordered some for his car and received them last week. I inspected them fairly close and noticed they are the same style as the OEM and are stamped as made in Japan.

As well, if these work out they will end up being a killer deal. Rockauto has some of their Beck Arnley stock on as "Wholesaler Closeout", which means the ball joints are $13.27 instead of $29.79. My buddy will be taking his measurements this week, as will I when I receive mine next week; I'll post the results then.

 

[Varkwso]

The PST kits still come with wrong size ball joints - one was fine the other is too small:duh:. Neither came with the snap ring.

 

[83CelWA]

I am pretty happy with my Moog ball joints. But the only place that I know you can get them at for a great price is here in the PacNW down the street from Rich.

 

[Donn29]

Gotta PN for the moogs?

 

[83CelWA]

I can check today since I am going over to Rich's and I think the shop is open late enough. I will also get pricing too.

 

[AJ]

Try Moog MOK9085 or K9085

Spicer 5051092

Beck Arnley 101-4140 if available??

 

[83CelWA]

Yeah the part # I got is the K9085 and they are $36 a piece. They have to order them from Moog since it does not look like any of the warehouses have them at the moment. It would take 2 weeks to get them in, or pay the $6 each to get them within a couple days.

 

[AJ]

Rockauto.com has them for $27.79 each...