Shifter won't budge into any gears...

Did not get a chance to examine the area too much before getting towed, looks like I'll have to look at that when I see the truck again. Well I'm grateful to GOD it didn't happen on the freeway or when I was out wheelin. Do these little things here and there start to happen as the truck gets older? And higher mileage (175k+). Starting to think of.........selling.......... I don't really have the resources to upkeep the way I should.

 

Gotcha. I'm looking into getting some General Grabbers next. Maybe I'll opt for 33's or 34's if they have them

 

It'd be great to hear from him if he gets a chance.

 

Lol! My LBJ failed exactly the same way. It broke all the way when the tow truck driver was unloading it from the rollback.

I was in downtown San Francisco doing groceries when it crapped out. Luckily I just left the parking lot.

One of the bolts were missing, and it caused the others to fail. It was improper torque.

 

Oh man yea good for me also that it was just on the side of my street. He had to slide the truck on wooden blocks up the ramp. So for you, it broke partially in the parking lot and then only completely broke off after he got it off the tow truck? Gnarly, could've broke as you were driving!

 

Time for all new ball joints, tie rods, a-arm bushings and struts. Or you can replace as they fail for a lot more time and cause a lot more heartache and pain.

Easy, quick way is to buy full set of upper and lower a-arms, already put together with bushings and ball joints. Add the other parts to the mix and supply beer to your local TW friends to help install. AutoZone has 20% off online...

No point in selling, anything with 120-180k is going to be close to, or overdue for said repairs

 

Yeah it broke all the way where the LCA was separated from the steering knuckle as he tried to drive it off the truck. In that picture three bolts are still holding the wheel. We had to get it off with a jack and slowly roll it off.

 

Nice thanks for the advice

 

Do you have any recommendations where to get a kit for all of that? I have a Fabtech lift and I may have to get specific parts from them.. Here's what I think I need https://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/1995-5-2004-toyota-tacoma-4x4-lower-ball-joints-made-in-japan.html

 

OEM on lower ball joints.

 

@ericp95

https://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/1995-5-2004-toyota-tacoma-4x4-lower-ball-joints-made-in-japan.html

This looks like a good place to source nice, potentially OEM quality lower ball joints and all 4 tie-rod ends. Make sure your steering rack isn’t leaking and boots are okay before buying the tie-rods, otherwise you should just buy a rebuilt steering rack and it’ll come with them. You’d still need the upper ball joints, a-arm/control arm bushings and coil overs/struts. I doubt there’s a kit anywhere that will include it all. But, again to make this install as cheap and easy labor wise, I recommend getting fully assembled control arms. Those bushings and ball joints will likely need a press to remove and install.

Your budget, end goals for the truck and the length of time you plan on keeping it, should steer you to either OEM, mid-range auto part store replacements, or lift-related nice upgrades that may be similar in price to OEM.

 

SAWEET going to look for those at the junkers tomorrow. Thank you again

 

Dude, on point, excellent wordage right there.. especially the, "Your budget, end goals for the truck and the length of time you plan on keeping it, should steer you to either OEM, mid-range auto part store replacements, or lift-related nice upgrades that may be similar in price to OEM".

I'm not in any way an off-road maintenance or Toyota expert so I know a lot of these issues are happening because of my lack of checking everything or even knowing what to check to prevent things like this. But, I'm trying to roll with it.. learning a lot in the process. After all these repairs, it only makes sense to keep the truck for at least a year two enjoy them right?

I really do appreciate everyones help and am thankful there hasn't been not one person who has told me to get lost and figure it out myself. Anyway, almost midnight here.. I'll keep rolling tomorrow, keep working at it until it works out.

 

Lots of threads like this, wrong gen Tacoma, but good links to websites you can use to source stuff.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/non-oem-replacement-lower-control-arms.394442/

Sourcing used OEM suspension parts for 1st gen at a junker would be a bandaid fix, if it even fixes. They’re all old at this point.

@mechanicjon is recommending new OEM lower ball joints

 

True true.... I could check O'reilly or Autozone, see what they got.

 

Definitely would not trust aftermarket lbj's, they do not last or work as long as oem. I was searching for a thread I found at one point of someone who cut aftermarket and oem ones in half (maybe someone can find it for me). The difference is aftermarket ones have zrk fittings on them to be greased and the oem ones are not. Aftermarket ones are also sometimes not even full balls on the inside. Oem are much stronger and last a lot longer than the aftermarket options. Most oem last at least 150k miles if not more anyway so just replace once and have it be right the first time.

 

My guys telling me the LBJ was fine but it’s actually the bottom bolt that broke off of the knuckle.

What’s done is done, I already bought it and they have a lifetime warranty so if it’s all right.

 

if your current ball joints are OEM, I would STRONGLY recommend keeping those and not using the napa ones. Or do what that other guy said in the other thread about keeping them as spares.
Especially if you actually use your truck offroad.

 

I'll see, the main reason I went for the Moogs from Napa is because of availability.. I needed to get these parts to my guy today so he could fix it and start working on installing the transmission.

 

good question..i bought an "upgraded" clutch disk ,pressure plate and flywheel from them and was shocked to see the flywheel had massive marks on the face of it like someone stabbed it with a 20 pound ice pick over and over.
I sent back the flywheel for a LCE one and kept the rest..They took like 5 weeks to refund my money tiil one day we called and they said oops forgot...But they refunded the dough to the credit card that minute so i guess thats ok.