Aftermarket front control arms

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TTO5

TTO5

10 Year 15 Year
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Oct 26, 2010
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I'm getting ready to replace my rack and want to do the ball joints too. I can get complete front control arms with ball joints for $110 each for the upper and $90 each for the lowers with ball joints. Brand is mevotech. I'm going to use a new Toyota OEM rack though. I'm also looking at an after-market power steering pressure line for $110 vs near $400 for oem. The brand for the steering hose is sunsong. Lastly i found new tie rod ends (moog) for $33 each.
I try to keep everything OEM Toyota but the difference in cost is too much.
Truck is a 2000 with 280k on it in otherwise perfect mechanical condition.
What I want to know is if you all think I'll be ok using the after market control arms and tie rods and steering hose? The truck is used 95 percent on road and rarely sees any off roading.
Thanks for all your help.
 
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I recently replaced upper and lower ball joints as well as TREs. I went with 555 joints for the ball joints and OEM for the TREs. 555 is a trusted Japanese brand and likely better quality than Moog. Pressing in new joints is a much better option than using cheap aftermarket arms. I looked at the Febest branded arms on Amazon, which are like $33 a piece. I just don't trust such a critical component to a cheap knock-off brand. I paid $120 for all 4 ball joints and then $400 to press them in at a indy shop. Toyota doesn't have a labor spec for pressing in upper joints, they only spec replacing the whole arm, so if you have your work done at a dealership be prepared for some extra labor costs. One benefit you do get with new arms is new bushings, but I'm not sure if they come on the cheap arms.

I used the OEM TREs because our club discount brought the OEM ones down to close to what the 555 ones cost (and Kurt @cruiseroutfit doesn't have them in stock just yet) I paid $58 ea. for those. Again, for your case, I'd be willing to pay an extra $40 for OEM over Moog seeing as OEM carried the truck to 280k pretty well.
 
I am sorry to say the 555 is NOT a good brand and says Japanese. I highly believe it is made in Thailand or elsewhere. I have experience and it fails even before you make few turns.
 
nissanh said:
I am sorry to say the 555 is NOT a good brand and says Japanese. I highly believe it is made in Thailand or elsewhere. I have experience and it fails even before you make few turns.
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555 is VERY Japanese and tens of thousands of Land Cruiser owners have driven hundreds of millions of miles with their tie-rod-ends and ball-joints. While they do have manufacturing outside of Japan, every single Land Cruiser application I have seen has been made in Japan and confirmed by their Japan rep. There are hundreds of 100 Series (including myself) on Mud alone running their LBJ and I'm yet to hear of a premature failure. Do tell what part you're dealing with that failed before "you make a few turns"
 
I'm mostly concerned with the quality of aftermarket control arms since the cost is so much less than factory. Going to cost about $1,600 for four control arms verses less than 500 for 4.
RockAuto list other brands of control arms such as moog and Beck arnley and Dorman
 
The reason I want to replace the whole arm is it is a ton less work. They come with the ball joints and the bushings pre installed
 
TTO5 said:
The reason I want to replace the whole arm is it is a ton less work. They come with the ball joints and the bushings pre installed
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Well what would you rather have?

OEM arms with replaced ball joint and bushings?

Or aftermarket arms with thinner wall material than OEM, aftermarket ball joint that you do not know the quality of, and possibly even shoddy welds.

Sure they both cost similar, but i will pick the option that requires more work every time because I have faith in the 555 joints and want to keep my OEM arms.
 
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Easier, faster, cheaper to replace the lower ball joints, than the entire control arm. But if you have your mind set on new budget parts, do it and report back in 20,000 miles how they are holding up. If it's a pavement princess, you'll probably fine.
 
Ok. Good enough. Keeping stock arms. Anyone have a write up on upper and lower ball joints replacement? Are moog ok? I replaced them recently on my 86 mustang gt using a borrowed tool set from autozone so I assume a similar repair?
 
As mentioned 6 times in this thread... go with the 555 brand. I think cruiser outfitters stocks as well as autozone. Just make sure your walking out of the store with the 555 mark on the part.
 
TTO5 said:
Ok. Good enough. Keeping stock arms. Anyone have a write up on upper and lower ball joints replacement? Are moog ok? I replaced them recently on my 86 mustang gt using a borrowed tool set from autozone so I assume a similar repair?
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I put a Moog in the used control arm I bought. So far so good.
 
I don't know anything about the Moog, but the Autozone/Duralast are reboxed 555 with a significant upcharge. That's only the lower joint. Just the upper joint isn't sold in the US as of yet. Cruiser Outfitters is expecting their shipment of 555 uppers and lowers any day and pricing will be very good for all 4 joints. I had kind of an emergency with replacing mine, so I got mine from Ebay Australia, all 4 for about $140. Kurt's price will be better than that, so if you can hold off for a couple weeks, I'd get them from him.
 
What tool are you all using to push/press out the ball joint and the bushings? I replaced the whole DS LCA with new OEM, but was unable to get any of the kit press fittings to correctly match the frame side bushing so was unable to replace that. Would love to just change out the bushing and ball joint on the PS other side if I can source the correct tool to do the pressing.
 
There's an SST for the lower joint and no spec for the upper from Toyota. The folks that I know that have done it at home have used a HF 20 ton stand press. Look for a write up on the lowers by cruisermon. The pics are gone, but the info is there. I only found one mention of someone pressing in their own uppers.
 
Trunk Monkey said:
I don't know anything about the Moog, but the Autozone/Duralast are reboxed 555 with a significant upcharge. That's only the lower joint. Just the upper joint isn't sold in the US as of yet. Cruiser Outfitters is expecting their shipment of 555 uppers and lowers any day and pricing will be very good for all 4 joints. I had kind of an emergency with replacing mine, so I got mine from Ebay Australia, all 4 for about $140. Kurt's price will be better than that, so if you can hold off for a couple weeks, I'd get them from him.
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I wish I could have sourced a 555...but the only one around on a shelf when I needed it was the Moog. I will also be ordering one from Cruiser Outfitters for the left side.
 
DanInDenver said:
What tool are you all using to push/press out the ball joint and the bushings? I replaced the whole DS LCA with new OEM, but was unable to get any of the kit press fittings to correctly match the frame side bushing so was unable to replace that. Would love to just change out the bushing and ball joint on the PS other side if I can source the correct tool to do the pressing.
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I used a combination of loaner ball joint kit from O'Reilly's and a BFH. Flared the end of the joint while pressing it in, then had to get a thread file on it for about 45 minutes just to get the nut on. It was a little less than enjoyable without the right tools.
 
If you really want to replace the lower control arm just go oem. You get the lower ball joint and bushing with it for around 300. Really not a bad way to go especially if you have been running aftermarket torsion bars and the bushings will need replacement somewhere down the road. Pull it apart once, do it all is the way I'd do it.
 
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