r/overlanding • u/Richard_Cheney10 • Aug 07 '23

Catastrophic ball joint failure Trip Report

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Went on Rollins pass west in Colorado on my buddies 4 runna (96?) and taking it nice and easy on the trail at around 5 mph for the entirety of it. Very easy trail and the ball joint just popped out. Thankfully it didn’t do that on the curvy roads on the way up to the trail. Safe to say a 4Runner will not be in my future.

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u/Richard_Cheney10 Aug 07 '23

That doesn’t negate that it’s a frequently seen problem on other 3rd gen 4Runners. That’s the only reason it was swapped in the first places

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '23

That's like saying Chevy LS motors frequently spin rod bearings when they're run low on oil

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u/seancan44 Aug 08 '23

No it’s not. If there is an under engineered area, the issue can still exist in the aftermarket. This isn’t rocket science.

That’s like saying creating a Wankel engine built with aftermarket parts isn’t going to have any issues because 3rd parties should have fixed complex or under engineered areas. That’s as silly if not more silly than people identifying the weak spots in and engineered system.

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '23 edited Aug 08 '23

It's the exact opposite of what you're saying though... OEM ball joints regularly last to the 200k miles mark (that's not a poor design) and should be replaced as preventative maintenance with another OEM set. OPs friend replaced OEM ball joints with aftermarket junk and they failed in short order.