AdventureTaco - turbodb's build and adventures

Were they previously loctited or were you the first to do that?

 

They were not previously, but will be from here on out!

 

Good call! I haven't touched mine since they were on the green truck and I used Blue Loctite then. Didn't have to take them out to put the spindles on the grey truck haha

 

Are they the originals from the factory.

 

Glad that took care of it! And that is a nice looking u joint, way prettier than the Napa ones...

I see what you did there...

 

I just recently had my differentials rebuilt with 4.88 gears and an air locker at JT's. Their service is on point and they have lots of stuff laying around to drool over... stoked to hear they are worth driving a shaky truck over the pass for as they are local for me.

 

LBJs are the originals. So that's like 90% of 85K miles, given the 10% lie my odo and speedo have been averaging over the years.

Totally, they are a great resource to have in our neck of the woods. I love showing up, and the fact that they let me watch them work, take pics, and joke around. Always cool projects going on there too!

 

Wow yeah you should go ahead and swap in new LBJ.

Just do it.

 

When I got the u-joint, I also got two new LBJ's and a carrier bearing. My plan is to use them as spares for now, and swap them in next year when I also do timing belt and water pump and whatnot. Basically, try to get one more year of adventures out of the current ones; then, use them as trail spares.

 

I...wouldn't chance it. Haha but that's just me.

Given the state of your u joint...never know what the LBJ could be like.

But hey..I am just skeptical about them..haha

Its cheap insurance. And not a hard job to do. Seriously, you have the parts. Just do it now.

 

I just installed a speedometer calibrator from Dakota digital to get my numbers right. It was super easy and cheap. I was off +18% with 315/75r16

 

Yeah I would much rather do it at home in the shop than struggling on the trail after it failed and I'm trying to get somewhere.

 

You're understandably biased, hahahaha! I looked for any type of play in them when I was down there and didn't see anything, and I'm not stressing them like you do on Frank with 35's.

At least, that's my hope.

In general, how many miles do you guys all put on a LBJ? And what percentage road/dirt?

 

Mine let out at around 110k-115kish. I didn't own the truck until 96k but it was a safe bet it had seen a lot of dirt in its first life as a hunt truck and irrigation truck.

For me, I don't expect to get any more than 30-50k out of a set these days from Frank. Obviously most of that is dirt miles. Igor I'll trade out every 70-90k, or hope too.

Brett only got 3 wheeling seasons out of his last set before noticing play to put it in perspective. He has had some really high mileage dirt seasons though.

I like to say for most normal folks to change them when you do a timing belt, which is every 90k. Better safe than sorry.

Considering you have been putting more stress on the truck in the last few years. Id just swap them out. You already have the parts and it'll take maybe 2 hours to do. Use the old ones as your trail spares, not the news ones haha

Because from my experience, if it fails and your at any sort of speed other than idling in 1st gear. You're gonna take the whole steering rack with you, the CV axle, brake line and god knows what else. Not a trail fix situation.

 

Good luck. You should at least check them.

Like Monte said, I got three wheeling seasons out of mine last set of OEM LBJs, and haven't DD'd my truck for the last two. Just over 30k miles. I put a pry bar between the LCA and the ball joint, and the play was immediately obvious. One side had more than the other, guessing about 1/8". They probably wouldn't have made it through this season without failing.

 

Yeah im not talking bolt failing FWIW. Im talking the actual joint exploding.

 

80K on a payment princes it is probably too soon. Wait for 90K.

Now if you were actually doing challenging trails like say the trek out to the doll house and such or were planning more challening stuff like the Naches trail perhaps or even HITR, then it may not be wise to wait.

I am not particularly biased, scarred maybe, but not biased.

90K seems about right as a bare minimum, but not for what I do. I have 45K on the set I have now. I too am hoping to survive this upcoming season. Then a new set will go on next winter. My guess is the mileage by then will be ~55K.

 

I just look at it cost wise, if there's any play at all I'm replacing them both, It's ~$200 and that's a whole hell of a lot cheaper and less of a pain in the ass than changing the rack, brake lines, UBJ, and possible wheel and frame damage. Mine have two seasons on them and I'm hoping they don't develop play in the third, but if they do then it's off to the trail spare bucket.

I should say that 3/4 of this pair of joints' life has been dirt and second vehicle abuse scenarios.

 

Hmmm.

 

Sweet - looks good!