So you push your 1st gen offroad - what cracks next?

Go drive it and find out. You don't have anywhere to be, never heard of a better time to go wheeling.

 

I do most of my Trips Solo or with people that don't have Tacoma, Gladiators, Rams, Ect. I run 33s, 4.88s, a Rear ARB Locker, open front. As well as try to keep the truck lights as I can, 3RZ Struggles. I have broken Toyota CVs before in my 4th gen 4Runner with the V8 as well as taken out the Ring gear before, and cracked CVs in my last Jeep. Typically I just like to be prepared since sometimes we will go 6-10hr away from home and be the only truck out there.
I think my OSK will be 1 CV 1 Inner TRE 2 Outer (each Side) LBJ for Each side and Bolts. Maybe a U Joint for the rear driveshaft as it has been an issue. Seems like Hubs aren't a common break, Cvs seem to be the most common of them. LBJs Seem like they can develop some play under heavy use and are worth checking before and after each trip.
My goal this year is to go back to a lot of the trails I have done in my Jeep but haven't hit since I sold it. As well as some new ones around here.

 

Rubicon and Fordyce 2027 lets go!

 

I'm not talking about the hub itself freezing so much as the freaking hub getting frozen over so you can turn it because it's covered in ice. Happened to me all the time. To the point that yeah basically just left them locked all the time.

 

Definitely had this where I used to live. I carried pliers to turn them after snow wheeling. Sometimes it took driving on the highway and holding the brakes for a minute to warm it enough. That was only when it was -25.

 

Yep, mine froze on the outside when it got done to -3 here in Arkansas a few years back. Luckily I had locked them the day before. I did kind of enjoy getting out to lock the hubs when hitting the trails - it was satisfying to feel the click and it made it more of an event to go into 4wd. But I agree for most situations, they're probably more trouble than they're worth. I didn't think it was that common to break one anyway, since CVs are usually the fuse, unless you get RCVs like someone mentioned. In any case, I think the first gen Tacoma IFS is stronger than people give it credit for, and will cop more abuse than most other set ups, like on Chevy's and so on.

 

Ya I was locked front and trying to climb a large rock face. Outer CV cage let go. I was on 295/70r17's at the time which is like a 33.5" tire. I've run the Rubicon plenty of times on that tire and a smaller 285/75r16. I've since switched to ADD so I can run the RCV axles up front. I would have kept the Manual hubs if they made an RCV axle that fit it for the reason of not having to keep a stub shaft.

In that video I was running 295's. Other rig is @Dan8906 who was on the tire as me.

A lot of keeping these trucks from not breaking on harder trails is wheeling smart. Not putting yourself in a situation where things bind up and/or shock loading things.

I ran turkey claw last week at KOH a handful of times with no issues or breaks.

 

Great idea cutting the cups off! That saves a ton of space and weight.

 

I would bring a manual hub. The one wheeling trip I had with a manual hub the stub shaft broke inside the hub and destroyed it. Maybe I was unlucky but I went back to ADD after that. Some parts were non existant at that time to replace as well. ADD is cheaper to fix.

Do cracked heads apply here?

 

I might bring along a hub since they are pretty cheap and small. Plus 1 CV since the Manual hubs share the same length on both side.
Well, I have replaced my head, 3 burned valves at 285k finally did it in.

 

When did you last adjust your valve lash?

 

It had never been done, I bought the truck with 246k miles and my guess is they had never been touched. I have suspicions that they were on the way out soon after buying the truck and just ended up letting them go until it because an issue at 280K Then I just replaced the entire head and will check them every 20-30K

 

Is there not a stronger aftermarket/chromoly option for hubs on these trucks? I suppose you’d rather have that as the weak point as opposed to the ring and pinion or spider gears.

I think a lot of these reports of cracked heads are due to improper valve lash. I’ve seen multiple accounts of head cracking on both the 3.4 and 2.7 - some claim it’s due to bad casts from the factory, or simply metal fatigue over time. I don’t think it’s common in any case, but I’m interested in what people think the primary causes are. I’ve seen at least one account of someone who babied their truck and never overheated it, yet got a cracked head around 200k on their 5VZ.

 

I wouldn’t buy another 3RZ truck without a compression test, unless I was getting it for dirt cheap. You can barely expect people to change their oil on time, let alone adjust valves. So many of them out there are driving around with burnt valves - usually idling rough and getting crappy mileage.

 

100%. I bought mine and didn't know it had a smoked exhaust valve. So I put a new head on it. I agree that I bet most 3rz's out there are running way overdue on valve lash.

No upgrade hub options out there afaik. But I've also never heard of anyone blowing the R&P in the front diff. It's usually either the stub shaft or intermediate shaft before the gears with guys that run 37's.

 

I split the carrier when I was on 34's. Open diff, stock gears. The stub shaft was fine somehow.

 

same, ate the pinion, destroyed the carrier. Open diffs. Sub shaft was fine, so were the CV(Those were tundra CVs though).

 

Did you have upgraded CVs, like Lotus or RCV? I’m guessing you were bouncing and suddenly found traction in any case.

I wonder if an ARB or Eaton carrier would’ve prevented that. A lot of these trucks could probably be fit from solid pinion spacers and new bearings as well if you wheel it hard.

 

A locker definitely would have help up better. Thus why you increase the likely hood of popping CVs and the stub shaft with one.

 

Damn that's impressive. open diff and stock gears I think played a large role in that failure. Just worn out with probably loose tolerances from age in a high load situation. An ARB or similar would have prevented that I'm sure.