I hope they are OK, I just put 2 on my fj. Mostly because of a last minute road trip, and these were readily available. I'm 90% sure they are mevotech supreme, because of the blue dust boot.
Moog, mevotech, acdelco, etc. etc. all seem to have an economy version and a better, or at least more expensive, version. I've had an import direct cv axle in for about 30k miles without a problem and I probably abuse it more than most people. Looked exactly like the stock one, seems to work as well.

 

I replaced mine with a set from 1A Auto and they’ve been awesome. Very comparable to Moog thus far and relatively inexpensive.

 

I just bought some Moog arms... not because my OEM arms are bad, but because the %^&#$ alignment bolts have completely seized. Mevotech also seem good from my research. It wouldn't surprise me if the arms themselves are made in the same factory and different suppliers just add their own brand of bushings and ball joints. These arms are actually extremely affordable to the extent I'm not going to worry about their long term reliability. My biggest concern is the damn alignment bolts. The Toyota design is fundamentally flawed in that it will invariably seize and essentially require sacrificing a pair of arms to replace them. I started another thread on that topic (along with many others here) recently.

 

I put the Moog LCAs on a couple years back and all is well so far.

 

I replaced mine with genuine Toyota Arms. 👍🏻

 

Here’s my experience: at ~90k mi my bolts seized which ended - happily - with SPC bolts. At ~175k drivers side bushings failed and I could have replaced with OE but given my concern the balljoints were likely near end of life (and Toyota does NOT sell balljoints separately!) I bought new OE LCAs. I state my mileages because I think it’s pretty impressive for those parts to last so long and with the abuse I give them on the trail. BTW my local dealership presses in new Moog balljoints when doing the repair and they claim they’re the best of aftermarket.…but frustrated that even they cannot access OE without the entire arm.

 

Had a similar experience with my 2007. Lower control arm bushings lasted almost 200k miles. 2014 just hit 73k miles and I’ve got a clunk in the front suspension. I’ve been trying to eliminate variables and at this point I think it may be the LCA bushings. Further diagnosis this weekend.

I’m probably gonna order a set of OEM. I really like the looks of the Dirt Kings (which come with Moog ball joints). But I’ve searched the forum and haven’t been able to find much first hand feedback. At more than 2x the cost of OEM, I question the value. If I go OEM, I’ll rebuild the old ones and set them on the shelf for spares.


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I have been running the A1 Auto ones for just over 40K miles / 5 years so far. They seem to be holding up decently. I did notice the lower ball joints move VERY freely these days, but technically still in the realm of "tight" so ill keep em going!.

 

Thank you to everyone that commented. It helps having real world input.

 

@rparker017 IMO moog balljoints are likely not as stout as OE. Agree the Dirt Kings look cool, but not sure it’s worth 2x the cost!

 

Only OEM will keep you running long time. All other waste of time and money.

 

I really think that depends... if you live in the rust belt and replace your control arms with OEM arms and OEM alignment adjustment cams, you're just wasting money because you're going to have to cut those out and toss them next time you need an alignment.

I just did tie rods and adjusted my coil overs and discovered my OEM alignment bolts were seized. My LCAs were perfectly fine, but have to go in the trash now as the only way to get them out was with a reciprocating saw.

And having just replaced my OEM LCAs with Moog, I can see no difference in construction or quality of the arm, bushings or ball joint (except the Moog ball joint has a grease zerk). But what do I know. Maybe one of them will fail on me down the road, but for the price I can replace them two or three times compared to OEM (given the cost of parts here in Canada), and with the SPC cam bolts, I hopefully won't need a Sawzall to do it.

 

On my 2007 FJ I replace my lower control arms at 172000 miles. True I have to cut them and replace the cams.Time will tell if antisense will keep them lose. Myself never used other parts then OEM.
Learn from previous experiences and total loss of time and money.
For this reason I'm driving a Toyota not a Mercedes. OEM part are reasonable price and good quality.

 

Anti-seize on the cam bolts goes a long way to helping prevent them rusting in place (its been working for me so far).

 

So why didn’t they use anti seize on the factory install? It seems negligent to me.

 

No one uses liquids like that in mass production, it is just way too messy.

Industry standard is to apply all fasteners dry (except for some special applications like head bolts during engine assembly). Even locktite, when used, is applied as a dry paste to the fastener's threads during that manufacture, so the assembly to the vehicle on the assembly line is "dry".

The reason is the liquid would then get on worker's hands/gloves and then they'd accidentally spread it all over the parts, it would be a real mess.

 

No one uses liquids like that in mass production, it is just way too messy.

Industry standard is to apply all fasteners dry (except for some special applications like head bolts during engine assembly). Even locktite, when used, is applied as a dry paste to the fastener's threads during that manufacture, so the assembly to the vehicle on the assembly line is "dry".

The reason is the liquid would then get on worker's hands/gloves and then they'd accidentally spread it all over the parts, it would be a real mess.

Yeah, understood. I think they bungled the design on the cam bolts by using a metal bolt through a metal sleeve through a metal bushing on one of the most exposed parts of the vehicle, that would almost certainly need adjustment during the vehicle's lifetime. There are reports of these bolts seizing as soon as 5 years after production. There should have been a TSB or they should have used a different design that was less prone to rust welding together.

 

Just had OEM LCAs installed. Got them from a dealer in Arizona for $733 shipped. Planning on cleaning up the old ones and rebuilding them with OEM bushings and ball joints.

for anyone interested how I found them for that price, here is how I did it.

Probably could have searched more dealers for an even better price but I had an appointment I didn't want to miss.

 

I know this is an older thread, but I recently bought precision chassis, which is the same company as import direct, only for domestic and my American parts with precision chassis, I was pleasantly pleased to find out are made right here in the United States and seem to be excellent quality.
In contrast,
my Moog parts weren't made in the US, Moog has factories all over the world and so you get a mix of Taiwan and other locations.

If your import direct parts are anything like precision chasse, their domestic line, then they're probably excellent made parts right here in the United States or of something comparable.