Oh boy, finally had the chance to dig into these ball joints :shakehead ....let's just say we've been riding on a wing and a prayer, literally :cwm27:

Driver's lower ball joint say in 2-3 more days could have been quite entertaining for someone in the left lane, comparing it to the new one is quite down-right SCARY!!!

Gonna go ahead and do upper's and lower's, with close to 200k on the clock, they gotta be shot too. Been driving over 200 miles per day this last week on a 2 lane back-road highway with no facilities around for 60 miles, her next year's license plate is gonna say ole' faithful.....she's gotten me home safely every night.

FYI - not an easy project!!!

Pics?

Workin on it....eventually.

Just got ourselves a new 5 mnth old puppy, new job, etc...so we're pretty busy round here - trying to adjust to a new rambunctious 31# flying torpedo.

So far, we only managed to get the driver's lower joint out - need to get new jackstands to feel comfortable going further, with the 2" lift we put on the Rodeo and having to raise the front-end quite high, we're having to use a couple 2x4's with plywood to raise them up.

It'll be resting on stands for a few days, we're gonna do the 4 joints, wheel bearings, front brake pads are goin, and we're gonna look good/hard at the steering knuckles - the front end of this baby has been thumping down on good bumps, gonna look at shocks too, I have 50k or so on this set.

From what I can tell, everything else looks ok; the upper ball joints - boots are not even cracked yet, but after seeing the lower joint visually and feeling the joint rotating as if in a spinning motion with very little force, the tops are soon to follow I presume.

I got all 4 at Advance Auto, they come with grease zerks, so that'll be nice.

Soon as I'm done with this truck, rear brakes on the Toy are shot too :popcorn:

Took a second to weigh the two out....do I stop or do I take a chance at the whole front end falling out and rolling it :cwm27:

Wow! upper ball joint was a _ _itch to get out!!! Bolt going into the steering knuckle was so rusted it was frozen - had to beat the crap out of it, jerking and jarring.

It's boot was not torn, however, it was in far worse shape then the lower ball joint on the same side; we'll be doing passanger side tomorrow.

Word of wise, if you're ordering ball joints from Advanced Auto, do NOT use the bolts for the upper ball joint that comes with the ball joint - 2 of them stripped before we could even get the nut half-way up the bolt to torque them. Talk about a PAIN to get back off; ended up using original upper ball bolts - worked just fine.

Turns out original steering knuckle's are still fine; front rotors are still fine too - can't believe the originals have lasted this long, I've never had them turned either.

Update more tomorrow as we get to the passanger side. Definitely going to need a front-end alignment.

Old ball joint w/176k miles

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa264/Feverramblin/Truck7-2007006-1.jpg

New ball joint

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa264/Feverramblin/Truck7-2007010-1.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa264/Feverramblin/Truck7-2007005-1.jpg

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa264/Feverramblin/Truck7-2007004-1.jpg

I'll get more later

front rotors are still fine too - can't believe the originals have lasted this long, I've never had them turned either.
.... sounds like everything is going to plan...even the problems seem the normal. but, consider mic-ing the rotors since you are doing all this work and since you are such a stickler on preemptive maintenance.

the rotors don't have to *show* wear and grooves and ridges to be thin. and thin is what causes brake fade from excessive heat buildup.

good luck

//bc

OUCH!! I didn't plan on rear brakes being shot too....chalk up another day's work...

Anyone else have issues with their rear brakes wearing faster then the fronts?

Just looked up paperwork for when I bought/installed the Akebono ceramic brake pads front/rear - not thrilled for the price I paid, I only got 2.5yrs & 40k out of them.

Don't have the luxury of going with dealer item brakes this time, I didn't count on the rear's literally being down to the rotors, I could of sworn they were fine 2-3 weeks ago.

Out goes another $177 for 4 sets of brake pads, they're shot on the Toyota too, front/rear as well; going to go with Checker's Resbestos brand this time and see how long they last.

Seems common on Isuzus. I've seen a few posts around about the rears wearing fast. Seems Isuzu uses more rear brake bias then most other manufacturers. My rear ones still look good but have less then 20k on them.

I kinda had the same issue when I did ball joints on mine. I planned to do all 4 joints and the wheel bearings. Quickly discovered the front rotors needed turned badly, front pads had about 1/16th inch of pad left, and outer cv boots were about to break. So had to do parts runs. A few weeks later I checked the rear pads and they were shot as well.

BIG difference after ball joint replacements! Truck stays in lane now, no wandering; tires actually feel like they're gripping! Was beginning to hate the Yok's on this truck, thinking it was the tires - didn't drive too far though, just went to Carquest for brakes.

Have the rear wheels off now, muffler is definitely on it's way out.

my 2000 eats rear brakes at the rate of 2 sets of rears for every front set. mike

sounds like everything is going to plan...even the problems seem the normal. but, consider mic-ing the rotors since you are doing all this work and since you are such a stickler on preemptive maintenance.

the rotors don't have to *show* wear and grooves and ridges to be thin. and thin is what causes brake fade from excessive heat buildup.

good luck

//bc

I'm definitely a stickler, yes. Pulled one of the rotors and took it in, guy said it wasn't worth maching them because the one that I thought was the worst, was slippery smooth. I don't have brake fading issues, in general, I just tend to pull heavy loads in or with this truck in areas that require heavy braking, thus I do tend to wear out the back brakes first - I am MUCH more ampt to put the wear on the brakes rather then down-shifting, I hate putting too much strain on this auto.

Plus, for some reason I didn't really notice this before, but the back brakes are much smaller then the fronts, it's the front that does all the work. And, after pulling off the front brakes, I actually still had quite a bit of pad left, they're just hard to see through the calipers.

I still replaced all 4 with Carquest Gold brakes, I now have MUCH better braking - I'm thinking the overall quality of the Akebono's is what the problem was. I never thought they braked all that wonderful even from the beginning.

I am caught however, as the rotors on the Toyota, one is most definitely grooved badly. This truck has to be back on the road tomorrow though, so we're trying to find someone who can machine them on a Sunday and have them done by this afternoon.

BTW - The Rodeo steers absolutely straight and true, even without a new front-end alignment.

Hello,

I am doing the same thing, cv joints, upper/lower ball joints, brakes, rotors, etc...on and on. I have not gotten the cv joints completely out yet as I have heard two different stories. One story I heard was after you get the out loose and the knuckly and joints out of the way, you simply pry the inner out of the diff area. The other story I am hearing is that it takes a ton of work to get these inner ones out. Mine are not bad on the inside but I do have over 200k on this rig, makes me wonder if I should take care of that. Any ideas on this?

Brakes: One set I tried was the cheapy ones from AutoZone. They are terrible. I have raybestos on my expedition and they are absolutely awesome!! Stops that 7500lb rig really well!! It definately pays to get the good ones. Other brands, I am not aware of, but u get what you pay for.

As far as the Tundra goes, I have heard that Toyota had some problems with their brakes in the front. According to what I have heard, the under-engineered the size of the fronts, therefore causing all of these problems with them getting too hot, thus causing warping, etc... Might be worth a look into the toyota tsb's if you can, perhaps even a recall.

I am very happy with my Rodeo. 1997 s model, just over 200k on the clock, not one major problem. It does have the infamous isuzu tick though, but after it's good and warm it goes away, does not smoke, burns a little oil, but I hear that is common for these engines. I just hope she lasts after I fix all of this other stuff!!

Any ideas on the CV joint issue I spoke of earlier in this post?

John