Howdy,
Time to put new ball joints on a '97 Tacoma 4WD. Truck sees a lot of 2-3 ft. high water/deep mud in Mississippi so the strongest greasable ball joints available may well be a better choice than OEM Toyota parts for this application. Sankei/555 greasable lower ball joints look great but as far as I can tell the Sankei/555 upper ball joints (W0133-1629824) are not greasable. Will probably go back with OEM Toyota upper ball joints unless a high quality greasable upper ball joint, preferably made in Japan or U.S., can be found. Suggestions?

TIA,
leid

EDIT: The "MADE IN JAPAN" 555 marked greasable lower ball joints can be found in several different manufacturer's packaging: NAPA (higher grade), MOOG, Raybestos, Senkei, Beck-Arnley, probably others. The only way to verify what you are buying is open the package & look at the LBJ. The JAPAN/555 LBJ comes with a metal screw-in plug as seen in the pictures below so you will need a 6mm Zerk grease fittings in order to service this LBJ. Some websites may claim that the 555 LBJ is OEM but it differs from the original non-greasable OEM Tacoma 4WD LBJ in external appearance.

NAPA's Made In Japan/555 marked lower ball joints with straight 6mm zerks installed:










Note the downward facing grease relief port nipple at the rear of boot which allows the old/contaminated grease to exit the boot when new grease is pumped into the critical working area of the ball joint:






The almost-failed original UBJs showed EXTREME signs of water washing out the original grease in only 100K miles. Could not find a high quality greaseable upper ball joint so went back with OEM Toyota parts but used WATERPROOF grease on all ball joints, drive shaft, U-joints:



Harbor Freight steering & ball joint tools/set-up used to (L-R): separate upper control arm from ball joint, remove old ball joint, & install new ball joint:

ToyTec/Bilstein Adjustable Coil Over installed after upper & lower ball joints changed:

 

I dont think any aftermarket upper ball joint has a greasable design.

Although I like the greasable Napa/Sankei/555 design, they have a severe flaw in which the ball stud is not properly polished like the OEM design. This would lead to increased wear/tear, IMO, despite the greasability.

I made a post about my findings here:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/1325206-post1.html

 

Good info Calgary. Thanks for posting it. For applications not involving high water, I am with you that the OEM Toyota LBJs are the way to go. And if these 555 LBJs don't last for me, I will go back with OEM Toyota LBJs.

 

Just a quick follow-up to my original 5 year old post on these MADE IN JAPAN/555 marked greaseable LBJs. They were installed 5 years/25K miles ago and have seen at least 500 days in high-water/deep mud off-road conditions during that period. I just removed them for a quick check to confirm that they are still serviceable. The Toyota service manual check (SA-73/p1102) states 4-30 in/lbs torque to rotate the ball joint stud is serviceable. They required 15-20 in/lbs to rotate the ball joint stud with no vertical play at all & they are still rotating very smoothly. Bottom line, they tested out as serviceable/GTG. The only fault I found was a small pin-hole puncture in one boot which I patched with RTV after degreasing. The JAPAN/555 LBJ boots do not appear to be as tough/durable as the boots on the OEM Toyota LBJs. And I am still of the opinion that the OEM Toyota non-greaseable LBJ is the better-made part especially for rock crawling. But my biggest problem on this Tacoma by a very wide margin is water getting past the seals to destroy the metal parts/bearings. For me, the only selling point for the JAPAN/555 LBJs are that they are greaseable. And if you shop them, they should be a bit less expensive than the OEM Toyota LBJs.. Bottom line: These greaseable JAPAN/555 LBJ are working for me. I will check them on the vehicle at regular intervals and pull them off in another 5 years for another torque check of the ball joint stud. If my '97 Tacoma 4x4 & I are both still alive in another 5 years, which we definitely hope to be, I will post an update to this thread. Cheers!

EDIT: Just as an interesting comparison, the Upper Ball Joints (UBJs) were changed at the same time as the JAPAN/555 LBJs were installed. And I installed OEM Toyota UBJs because I could not find any greaseable high quality/MADE IN JAPAN UBJs. The Toyota service manual states the same 4-30 in/lbs torque requirement to rotate the ball joint stud on both the UBJs & LBJs. The torque reading on the OEM Toyota UBJs was 8-10 in/lbs. with no vertical movement. They both rotated very smoothly & there were no holes/tears in the OEM Toyota boots. GTG

 

Just wanted to do a final update on the MADE IN JAPAN/555 marked greaseable LBJs. Had to remove the LBJs to change the front wheel bearings so tested them as per the FSM. At 8 years since install, the LBJs still require 8-10 in/lbs torque to rotate the ball joint stud. But they are no longer rotating smoothly so no sense in putting them back on. Will go back with OEM TOYOTA LBJs because of their added strength/durability. I got 16 years out of the original set of OEM TOTOYA ball joints so this will probably be the last time I have to replace the LBJs on this '97 TACO in my lifetime. Cheers!

 

I could see the problem right away in your pictures. It's on the box where it says MADE IN CHINA. Problem is not unusual for parts made in the land of almost right. Either they don't fit or they are defective and don't work right or shoddy manufacture/materials and wear out to quick.
What's really bad in our country anymore is that unless we buy OEM (Toyota) nearly all the aftermarket parts are made in china including a lot of old time American brand names like Cloyes,AC Delco and Raybestos just to name a few.

 

As stated several times in my posts, the greaseable 555 LBJs I used were made in JAPAN and are so marked.

 

Sorry, Don't know how it happened but it appears my post showed up in the wrong thread. The one I thought I posted to showed a picture of a box which was stamped Made In China.