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

That sucks. Totally fixable though. Good thing it was low speed.
It does look like @Digiratus said, one or possibly two bolts backed out all the way and you sheared the remaining two. Looks like rust on the inner threads where the lbj bolted up.

 

Yeah fixable for sure, just sucks.

Quote from my dad, "Moogs are better, way tougher."

 

The struggle is real, all parts pictured are dumpster material.

Think that rotor has been shaved a few times?

 

This is not a ball joint issue. This is a maintenance issue, or lack there of. Check the torque specs on the 4 bolts regularly and this will not happen.

 

Or put a dab of thick paint (tell tail) across the bolt/bracket so you can tell if any loosening is going on at a glance. And of course thread locker at the install.

 

A glob will make it easier to see. If the crack between the bolt head and mounting surface is filled with dry paint, you will see a visible crack in the paint glob if the bolt loosens. This is also handy for marking alignment cams.

 

It would likely be fine. I only say "thick" because the first paint I put on was too thin. It merely "colored" the bolt/bracket. It would have been harder to tell if the bolt had actually moved.
The stuff in the pic is actually JB weld epoxy. If the bolt moves the resultant cracking/chipping will be easily seen.

 

Shit what? I should go through and check every bolt once a week?

 

Maybe start with the tiny ones that hold your wheels and suspension together. LBJ, lug nuts, the others that have cottar pins are likely not going anywhere and have been torqued more. Use Loctite this time when you reassemble.

 

Buy new ball joints OEM, new bolts torque to spec and leave it alone. Some people are just paranoid so much so they'll Eric the Car Guy it and weld the bitch in. I think replacing these bolts is a must every time the joints are changed

 

I'm not doing the work, just dropped it off at a Trusted shop. Will make sure everything's OEM when the works done.

 

I'd do that before, almost 100% guarantee they won't use OEM especially if they know you're usually short on funds.

 

There closed for the weekend, have to go talk to them Monday morning.

 

In not that paranoid. Every oil change is when i check mine, since im under there anyways.

 

Every 5vz should have one. The truck will breathe so much better and will have a nice deep growl upon start up, plus your a/c will be Arctic-spec.

 

In case you thought the frame rust on our trucks were bad...

 

opps!!!

 

Shitty..

This.

Use Locktite when you fix it. Shouldn't have any problems after that.

No..no no no no nooooo.

 

I told him to google it.

 

From local Dealer