3rd gen LBJ alternatives

Guys I know the 3rd gens are plagued with the lower ball joint failure. Would it be even remotely possible to convert to a different design, like say a 4th gen 4Runner LBJ/lower a-arm setup? I need something that I can put 100 miles on daily and and lightly wheel. No Uniball conversions! I can weld and fabricate.

 

Just use OEM

They last a long time; the issues stem from people either neglecting theirs and not changing them every 100k miles or putting the cheap Amazon variants on

If you fabricate, you would be modeling up a whole new lower control arm; make your own

I might consider doing so, but don't have any 4th Gen 4R LBJs but I do have plans for long travel uppers and lowers I can cut out on my CNC if I needed to try and replicate a stock length setup

 

They are not "plagued" by them at all. The issue arose because of possible bad QC and there was scoring on the balls that would cause premature wear. So a recall was done.

If the recall was done, then they last 250k miles or more (20 years).

I replaced mine at 250k miles with OEM and the old ones were easy to move compared to OEM but not loose.

If you are worried, get OEM from TOYOTA and replace. It's an easy job. Tops are harder.

 

Ok thanks guys! I’ve got 202k miles on the original LBJs on my 97’ and no clunking yet but I think it’s probably time to change them as preventative maintenance. Going with OEM.