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

With all this LBJ talk on here I got worried and decided to check mine. Turns out they look great. Look almost brand new! As for the tie rod arm boots, thats a different story. Thoughts? Dangerous to drive? Need replaced immediately? I can actually pull a good portion of the boot apart where its cracked away from itself with my finger. Driver side is cracked but not nearly as bad.

LBJ pic


Tie rod arm boot pic

 

LBJ is seeping a lot of grease...also not an OEM if that matters to you. its a Moog

Id replace the tie rod. Not unsafe to drive. But eventually it'll be impossible to align.

 

For those of you that have done spindle gussets, did you overlap the metal like this?


Or make it meet up to the metal like this?


Overlapping makes more sense to me but makes a fairly large gap at the bottom?

Oh and pressed these out today.

 

As a fabricator, the fist pic makes an easier weld on both sides. As for strength, if you are a decent welder, either will make those spindles very strong.

 

just remember please to heat the spindle with a torch before welding

 

No kidding. Just rolled over 140K (139,980 of those are commuter miles) and I'm getting paranoid about some of the suspension and steering bits. Had an alignment done last year after getting new shocks installed. I was told they look good. Still paranoid though.

 

Just looked at all my records from jack furriers. Totally forgot they swaped out the LBJ's out about a year ago. (Horrible memory) Theres no signs of ware or tears in either. Maybe grease from the previous ones?? Whats an OEM look like compared to a moog?

 

Black and doesn't have the greese zert at all.

Probably seeping grease from having too much. The plus side is you can just pump in more anytime you want.

 

I'm about to roll over 129,000 myself. Alignment was done a couple months back when I had the OME suspension installed. Didnt mention anything about the tie rods though. *sigh*

 

Thank you both.

Also what are people's opinions on removing the dust shield? I got all the bolts loose except one rounded. I just bent the shield over but would love to remove it since it really doesn't do much and I always get shit caught in it.

 

But arent the moogs unsafe? Seems like a lot of people are saying to stick with OEM? Or is it cause people arent paying attention and changing them when the need arises?

 

I need info on this. Why.

 

its more for brake dust then..dust dust haha

you'll get brack pad dust on shit but..whatever.

 

I do want to know about the dust shields. I've had more trouble with those things over the years than i care to remember. Ive always wondered if they are more trouble than they are worth.

 

The Moogs joint itself..is not up to par as the OEM ones. So they just don't last as long. Change them out often enough and they will work.

Because its Cast steel not forged. And its huge and thick steel and you're welding a thin piece of metal to a thick one.

If you don't do that, you make the spindle brittle and that is what causes a lot of spindles to break after they have been gusseted.

 

Well..can take one off and leave one on. Compare the two sides 10k later.

 

Because you are welding to cast steel, right @Blackdawg? And yeah idgaf about brake dust lol

Edit nvm you beat me lol

 

I think you are mistaken. They are not cast iron.

 

uhh...yea they are...

 

I thought 1st Gen spindles were cast and 2nd Gens were forged.