Need some advice

viper

New Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2009
Location
Charlotte
I know this generally wouldn't fit under chit-chat but it has more to do with advice than "tech"

I have the screeching steering of lower ball joint problems on my 99 tacoma and I have a place to do the work myself and pay to have the joints pressed in. however I don't really want to have to do all that messy work...

I have heard of people greasing these joints even though they don't have zerk fittings on the ones in my tacoma... how do you go about doing this? and is it harmful since they are apparently sealed joints?

basically any of your tacoma guys that have dealt with this... did greasing them hurt anything or is it just better to change them out right?
 
given that you are already to the point of making noise, your better bet would be to just replace them, not that tough, and you can rent the tools for nothing from Autozone ( deposit returned when tool is returned )

If you are good, you can drill the ball joint cap and install a grease fitting, and grease the ball and cup, just pumping grease into the boot may or may not get grease where you want it. especially if the boot has already been compromised ( which possibly lead to the grease being washed out to begin with.....)
 
The joints on my frontier are the same, sealed from the factory. I replaced my upper ball joints about a year ago and was also puzzled as to how to get grease in them. I tried sucking grease into a straw and blowing it under the boot, but that ended up not working well at all and I swallowed a lot of grease. The best thing to do is to go to Oreily auto parts for ball joints. I bought a set from them for the same price as the ones I got from advance, but the Oreily joints come with grease zerks and a lifetime warranty.
 
you can pull ball joints with an Autozone tool? I thought 4x4 trucks had pressed in joints? or do they make a "mini-press" tool?

how much time should I expect my truck to be down to do all the work myself? and how much were those joints from O'Reilly?
 
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