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

I like that's it's one machined piece and not a cut up factory joint with a uniball cup welded it.

I'll be curious to see if anyone makes the leap.

 

Someone will, people said no one would spend the dough on stock length solos for our trucks and plenty have committed to that already.

 

Dang $1k

 

OK update POST
after a week or so I went and re-torqued the bolts on the rear leafs and shocks, and I have one u-bolt that needs replaced. one nut just spins
the rest are guuuuud
pic is just to show "stock" 31s and my 235/80/17.



I am very happy with these cheap highway tyres.

 

Put the tailgate back on.

 

But billet tho

 

I like it. Billet is nice.

But same issues as any uniball in the lbj. Not gonna last long. But also not prices for the average Joe either so yeah. You'd be replacing them almost yearly I'd bet.

And still has the 4 dinky bolts holding it on.

Still not bad. Cool to see.

 

What is billet and why is it better?

The whole marketing "aerospace grade aluminum billet" Ohhh ahhh that means it's special. but actually says nothing.

It's one of my pet peeves.

 

This appears to be billet steel, as in one piece of material milled to design spec rather than a weldment which introduces its own challenges regarding strength and changes in metallurgy from heat and possibly materials if they didn't stay consistent with one material spec for the whole part. They've produced the strongest version of their part by milling it out of a single piece, though the cost is higher because that will be more operations in a CNC and material waste is higher since the original stock needs to be as large as the item in three dimensions as a cuboid.

 

They should almost give you the part, because you'll essentially be on a subscription for the uniball. It'd be like buying a printer and ink. Wonder how much the replacement ball costs - I couldn't find specs on it to price it, but the UCA balls are $200...same price as OEM LBJs, and probably a similar lifespan.

Kidding, but only kinda.

 

yeah they are just 1'' ones. So yeah lik $100 a piece at least AND you'll be replacing them a lot sooner than any UCA uniballs since it'll be getting dunked all the time.

 

I think you're actually spot on, but the bonus here is the failure mode is eliminated. It's not designed to be a cost saving part in any other respect. It's just supposed to save you having to replace a wheel, steering rack, steering rack mounts, spindle, and various body panels and brake lines all at once. That said, you and I both know you can find the spherical bearings from other suppliers.

 

well that's assuming it prevents failure in that way. Neglect can still cause that to fail haha

 

I asked the question in that thread about which brand and fit spec uniball it comes with and I was ignored.

FWIW, 1" F1 spec FKs are about $60 each.

 

You would know

 

exactly haha


and like i said, still doesn't prevent the 4 bolts from falling out. Which is what happened to me twice. And countless others.

 

Maybe they should include a warning about the part not exempting you from negligence.

 

So, I had a question about these when I was reading their description of what they prevent... (bold mine)

Given that, it sounds like limit straps - which prevent the LCA from drooping "too far" (to the point where the directional force changes) - should significantly increase the life of an LBJ.*

*Note: of the ball joint Monte, not of ensuring you actually installed the screws.

 

The problem with that theory is...

Over half the LBJ failures I've seen in person, heard about from first hand, and seen pictures of, were failure of one or more of the 4 bolts on the LBJ, not the ball joint it's self. So, all those things listed are still, theoretically subject to damage from failure.

 

Given what we know now from @SpikerEng it sounds like a lot of the possibility of that can be mitigated as well (assuming the threads in your spindle aren't damaged). Might be that the extra thickness from Camburgs new part lets us use a better bolt option from McMaster-Carr instead.