Check Out My Lower Ball... Joints

In a prior post about my engine oil, a few of you stand up individuals pointed out that my LBJs look weird or off or loose somehow.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/darkest-engine-oil-ive-seen.91728/#post-2312245

Here are some better pics. Please tell me if they look OK or if the Toyota dealership fucked up.

Passenger side:


Driver side:

 

I was one of the ones who thought it didn't look right. It was clearly just a bad pic, sorry, that looks perfectly fine.

 

They look like they’re leaking with the wet spot on the LCA.

 

The ball joints are fine. Like Tilly said, I think the glare from the other images created the illusion that a bolt was backing out or not in all the way. The oily residue is probably old residue that wasn't thoroughly cleaned off.

 

Thanks everyone. You guys rock.

 

Told ya I admit when everybody was chiming in I thought maybe they are on computers and have a better view. Glad its all good.

 

My question is, why install new ball joints and not use new hardware? Not that it’ll be an issue, but new bolts would’ve made the job look prettier.

 

I agree. If you had this done, why not get new bolts? It’s not fun when one backs out causing the others to vibrate, then snap, leading to failure of the entire assembly….

 

I'm still waiting for the day that I hear this from my wife.

 

Are you speaking from experience? That sounds very specific.

 

Yes.

I was out with experienced mechanics so it got fixed on the trail and I made it home. But in addition to the LBJ break itself, the fender was damaged. And I get wind in the cab now— the truck landed on the wheel/tire and either cracked or bent the firewall in such a way that the cab isn’t sealed as before. It was a pretty significant collision truck vs. itself.

We subsequently replaced all the bolts on both sides. The truck had ~215k miles and all were probably original. My truck is long travel and I drive (and land) it hard, but most agree the LBJ are the weakest point on our first gens. I now think they oughta be replaced as maintenance at high mileage, but I especially can’t see changing some components but reusing the fasteners—- those have the most stress on the smallest area IMO. I can’t remember how much $ for new bolts for both sides, but I know it was < $50 . I can’t imagine not swapping in new when everything else got replaced.

At this point, it’d be an easy driveway repair for the OP— swap ‘em out one a time, get each to torque specs.

 

I'm not sure that they reused the bolts. The bottom joint end is just as rusty as the 4 bolts, and the tops of the bolts look new. Maybe its just rusty already

 

I'll give the bolts a good hard look. I got this done at my local stealership on recall so I didn't pay a dime, and hence would not be surprised if they didn't bother changing out my fasteners.

This is the first car I've owned to with intent to work on it myself like this. I know a lot of you guys say this but... The parts buying just doesn't stop huh?