What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

why does it seem like tacoma lbj's are more prone to failure than most other cars? wheres the flaw? unless I'm mistaken and all lbj's can potentially fail so prematurely. I know the recall was some sort of manufacturing defect but even after replacing with new oem aren't they still just as prone to failing?

Im hoping to replace mine sometime before the winter, I think I'm still on the original set. Not sure if my dad had them replaced when he had it but I checked my vin and I don't have the recall. I don't even know if mine are really bad at all but this is up there on the list as one of the worst things that can happen to our trucks so I'm just scared to death lol

 

ball joints on 1st gens are being pulled apart by design. theres less surface area to be worn until the joint fails and when it does theres nothing else to hold the spindle in place.
others have the force pushing into the balljoint so you have the surface area of the entire backside of the ball. when it wears out and completely fails (youd likely never get to that point) the spindle is still held in the balljoint mount.

this was a poorly executed explanation...

 

FWIW, I don't consider the LBJ design to be a 'flaw' or really that big of a problem.

The issue at hand is neglecting to do regular maintenance, and then blaming the faliure on the neglected part. If replaced in a timely manner, with OEM parts, there is no need to worry whatsoever.

That being said, one of the issues is the way the joint is designed, it is trying to pull apart the joint. The other issue is that the acceptable range of tolerance is very minute. Any amount of noticeable play in the joint, at least by most inspection techniques, is way too much. @Dirty Pool has some good info on this using his fancy shop with very accurate measuring equipment.

 

Okay I need some damn advice on getting the spindle bolt out that goes through the uca. The bitch isn't coming out.

 

Stock UCA? Take a BFH and hit the very edge of the UCA upwards.

 

Yeah stock shit...a steel hammer and not a mallet?

 

The whole point it to jar it loose so a steel hammer is preferable in this case

 

Yep. I use to use a 4lb BFH. You won't damage you uca, they're pretty stout right there.

 

Well after soaking in PB for 20 minutes and not being a pussy with the hammer the fucker finally popped out. Thank you Brett and Zane. Fuck. Now off to the the machine shop.

 

That depends on how it fails. It looks like most ball joints fail between the tapered section and the ball joint. This is more due to fatigue cracks. If the ball joint was under compression instead of tension (flip it upside down) then cracks would happen far less frequently.

 

Finally swapped out my old rusty bumper, decided to just stay with the stock step bumper but all black

 

ahhh i see now, the lbj is consistently being forced upwards by the spindle while most are simply the other way around... Im not sure how this isn't a design flaw however, I don't see the benefit in running an lbj this way, it doesn't save money, it doesn't seem to have less of a load, it only allows for slightly more articulation if any.. so what was going through toyota engineers when they drew this up? and it wasn't just tacomas with this design, most other toyotas before ~2004 had it too including the tundras, camry's, siennas, corollas, etc, but then I looked at rangers pre 04 and even they had a good design from the start, whats the deal?? Im blowing this out of proportion i know, cuz they do last a long time, but it wouldn't have costed any more resources to just flip it right?

 

TIME TO finally get that 4Runner hood scoop project stated. 2000 4unner scoop into 1997 Tacoma hood.
SLOW AND STEADY,

 

Just re did my front end with OEM. Learned my lesson the hard way. Was hoping to never go through this, it sucked.

 

OMG... STOP

 

Wow that is probably the worst one I've seen yet. I had Moog's for 2 years and thankfully no issued, but switched to OEM right before I sold my 3rd gen 4runner (same front end) and holy crap it rode so much better. I still have my Moogs which were going to be trail spares, they have no movement at all and look awful. Never again.

 

Alright ordering oem right now....
Too risky

 

Are those oem bolts? Seem long

 

They look way to long, just did mine 3 months ago