Alternatives to OEM Balljoints for front LCA?
 

So it seems that Subaru and Toyota both no longer offer the option to buy the front lca balljoints individually (have to buy the entire arm).

This has me scrambling as my OEM ones are not in good shape to reuse and I need some NON-EXTENDED balljoints to put into the racerx front arms I have on the way.

Are there any alternatives to the oem balljoints or am I going to have to hit up the junkyard to find some used OEM ones?

Is your car lowered? If so, why not go with an extended bj?

Ha..ha... Extended BJ.

Car is lowered, problem is I'll be using the RacerX Front LCAs which has correction built into the arm and (afaik) are not to be used with extended balljoints.

Ah, I was not aware of that. You need a friend that works in parts, likely there is a crossover part that is the same. Do your very best to find the # of the BJ that was previously offered and post it up on the forum

Here's the Toyota part # SU00300358
(http://toyotapartsestore.com/2013-sc...00300358-item/)

Subaru part number is 20206CA000 (listed as discontinued, comes with arm)

Strange thing is, my local Toyota dealer managed to find some of them last thursday (1 in Vancouver and 7 in California) and had ordered them. Got a phone call today saying oh no they actually don't and you have to buy the entire arm. :iono:

Local Subaru dealer said is a non-serviceable part, got to buy the entire arm straight up.

Also ordered from an online Subaru OEM parts dealer, said they were available, got the email today that the part is discontinued.

I had a list of the people on this forum that mentioned that they work for either Scion or Subaru but I can't &%*^%*$ find it for the life of me. I was just going to PM them and see if it was listed for any other applications. Anyone reading this know anyone?

From post #4 - http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?p=773584

Might be somewhat useful?

Thanks for the help!

Friend who is a mechanic at a local shop managed to find some aftermarket oem ones that should work (mind you, double oem cost haha).

Just waiting for him to send me the brand/part #'s and I'll post them here to hopefully help anyone in the future find these.

Every parts guy I've talked to at Toyota/Subaru (and a friend working at Toyota) have confirmed they will not sell/provide the balljoints on their own anymore.

Hi! Any update on the aftermarket ball joints that you used? Have the same problem with the RacerX front arms here :(

Racer X makes a re-grease-able replacement for the OEM ball joint:

http://racerxfabrication.com/frs-brz...er-ball-joints

It might seem pricey for a ball joint, but it also seems like it'll last a lot longer than the OEM one. I have these on my Racer X LCAs, and am happy with them so far.

The balljoints my friend had originally thought he found were wrong. I ended up getting the racer-x front chromalloy lcas.

I also picked up a set of the mentioned Racer X ball joints for when the ones that came with my racer-x flca go. Pretty much the only option unless someone can correct me.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought their chromoly LCAs used extended ball joints for roll-center correction? I know their aluminum LCA, which is what I have, has its ball joint cup angled up from the rest of the arm for roll center correction.

You may want to check with Jeff to make sure that their OEM-sized ball joint will preserve the roll center correction on your chromoly LCAs.

According to the site:
*Not for use with extended ball joints.
http://racerxfabrication.com/frs-brz...r-control-arms

Interesting. I'm pretty sure that, for a while, they were offering a rod-end with extended stud ball joint option on their chromoly LCAs, as in this pic below from an old member classified.

Their tie rod end still comes with a rod end and extended stud ball joint, for bump steer correction. I wonder why they got rid of the roll center correction option for the chromoly LCA.

In any case, I'm glad that you got a back up for your OEM ball joints.

I thought that they would last longer than the factory ones, especially keeping them greased up with the Zirc fitting, but my racer X ball joints only lasted 12k miles. Half of that was track use, but still - I was under the impression that they would last significantly longer than the 10K miles I got from the stockers...

What symptoms are they having, or did they have, before they went? Did you use them in the OEM LCAs?

I've had mine in Racer-X's aluminum LCAs for ~1.5 years and ~12k - 14k miles; a combination of DD, a lot of auto-x's and a couple of track days. In the past few months, I've noticed that I can cause a little vertical play in them, when the car's on jackstands, that I don't remember them having before. I'm not sure though -- they might have always been like that. When driving, there doesn't seem to be any unwanted movement -- no dynamic alignment changes due to them.

I'm keeping a close eye on them and plan to send them back to Racer-X for inspection/replacement when the auto-x season is over.

Did yours give out catastrophically? Or did they just develop such noticeable play that you had to replace them?

Sorry to hear that yours only lasted 12k miles. I was hoping that these would be a long-lasting replacement for the OEM ones, since they seem to be one of the few, if not the only, available alternatives.

I had MoonFace extened ball joint , they remove camber and pull the wheel hub closer to the wheel wall , change ride height too ...After some suspension setup dail in again , they feel great but worn less than 10000km and just barely a year , 10+ track day + a dozen autoX + a few drift .


Because I think that might be a quality issue , I try Buddy Club this time . After install , although they look similar size to MoonFace , it actually longer . Rasie my heigh , further remove camber , pull wheel hub even closer , reset ride heigh drop it further and alignment a few time and finally get the car perform like it was ... Another issue was fund , the LCA rubbing on rotor .


I would say this now , go for oem length like racer X ball joint . Extended ball joint create all kind of issue for a little to nothing gain in performance . Not worth it .

The above picture , LCA rubbing mark on the rotor ...


I will try drop the front further , or just grind LCA a bit to get it sort . I never do a extended ball joint again for the trouble it cause .

Did you ever figure out a solution to the extended ball joints?