tacoma ball joints/front end rebuild

I had a few days off for Thanksgiving. Jill wanted to get a Christmas tree the day after, so we drove over to the patch and picked up the tree she had a tagged a week or two before. The Tacoma has been squeaking like crazy and I knew the lower ball joints were going out. Luckily, I bought all the parts needed for replacing the entire front end when I originally bought the truck, so I had everything I needed sitting in boxes in the shop.

At first I thought I would just do the lower ball joints as it should have been a quick replacement job. As I was taking things apart, I snapped a couple bolts off in one of the knuckles on the driver's side, so things quickly turned into a full replacement. It made sense to change the upper ball joints anyway and this would allow me to remove the entire knuckle to make getting the snapped bolts out. Everything came apart easily after this and the only issue was going to be the reinstall of the upper ball joints since I didn't have a large enough press. Jill and i ended up taking a quick trip to Harbor Freight in Lenoir. They were having a sale anyway and the ball joint tool was considerably cheaper. The next day, I spent the day getting things back together and slapping some fresh paint on the new parts. I was glad I replaced the inner and outer tie rod ends. The passenger side inner was shot. I don't know how I didn't notice it in the steering. I have an upgraded Tundra brake kit that I probably should have installed, but I ended up just putting the old rotors and calipers back on, since they are still good. I'll wait for another day to do this job. At least I broke all the bolts loose in taking things apart, so it should come apart easier when I decide to do this.

I spent some time doing a "garage alignment" so I could rive to work the next day, but I'll have the professionals do a proper job very soon. I always wish I could do these jobs faster so I had more time to do things I really want to be doing, but this is what ends up happening when your cheap and your labor is cheaper. That said, it's good to be rid of the squeak and worry about ball joint failure.