Rtrax/Milners/Blueprint ADT

[malxwal]

Yes, but although the one that failed on me was Milners supplied, I will go on the assumption that a ball joint that costs in the region of £35 is not the same as one that costs about £80 (Blueprint ADL) or the genuine Toyota part at about £120.
RT did tell me who they source their balljoints from, but I'll just go Toyota genuine with what I now see as a safety critical item.

[TonyN]

To be fair (and this is where sods law will appear in few days...) I've only know of 3 3rd Gen ball joint failures in all these years, including yours, and I'd fitted at least 10 roughtrax ball joints in this time and as far as i know these have never been a problem.

[malxwal]

I can accept I've been very unlucky, there's no way Toyota 4x4s get their reputation for being tough if this sort of thing occurred regularly, and the same would go for aftermarket parts reliability. Also Roughtrax are very helpful and make the effort to supply quality stuff at reasonable prices, often genuine Toyota at less than dealer price.
My Surf has had a fair bit of abuse over the 6 months since the balljoints were fitted, and I suppose it only takes one good pothole to knacker one. If there was any manufacturing defect in that particular balljoint it may just have been pushed over the edge by recent road conditions and offroad work.
RT have now answered my question on the sources of the balljoints they supply, and whilst there sources are most likely of reasonable quality, they did explain that there is no way they could supply Toyota or aftermarket "matching quality" parts at their prices.
Doubt this sort of thing would happen if you were just using it for towing a caravan etc.

[JUDWAK]

once bitten eh mate?
iam now the same realy funny were i get parts from
i personaly will save up and pay more at tpyota than buy any after market part
but that because of a few things breaking and me getting no were
with toyota if anything breaks i have got from them
its replaced free of charge
i only buy bits from them
toyota done fix my car
but they asure me that if anything go's wrong with any part i get from them (most parts have 5 years cover) its replaced
and the part is sent back to toyota for testing
to make part stronger for the furture
tiz way i go toyota
they may not even be the best for parts
i would not know
but after have problems with after market parts
its a thing i dont like to use now
once bitten

[Apache]

I wonder how many of these failed ball joints have been down to either:-

a) nasty quality chinese aftermarket tat.
b) damaged boot / no grease leading to seizure.
c) ham fisted fitting ("pressed in you say? Nah, a big hammer will get it in" type mullering)

[JUDWAK]

it very well could be
i have had nothing like that fail on me ever
but i use grease and lots of

[malxwal]

I'm sure there are premature failures due to bad fitting practices. I'm fortunate to have a 40 ton press and about a half ton of various dollys and old bearing housings. I also served my time under a right b*****d...my old man !