Sadness, My Front Driver side wheel Popped off while driving.

"They all do that, sir"

 

I have had nothing but good luck using blue Loctite on all the different generations of OEM LBJ bolts on my heavily off-roaded '97 V6 Taco 4x4. And because of all these catastrophic LBJ/LBJ bolt problems much like the OP's, I will continue to use the Loctite. It would be very interesting to see if the LBJ bolts on the other side of the OP's '98 Taco, whatever type bolts were used, are tight/loose/bent/missing. The LBJ on the damaged side has what appears to be a plug on the inside for a Zerk/grease fitting (below) which would indicate that the LBJ is not original & not OEM. And OP, I agree that your pics are just sad to look at. I came close to having a catastrophic failure myself, but with my original OEM UBJs. Good luck with your repairs!

 

I'm going to use blue Loctite on mine too. I did read in the article mentioned that if you do this and go to re-use the bolts a second time it can significantly alter their clamping power, even after thoroughly cleaning them off.

 

Provided that there was no undue stress on other components in the aftermath, follow the aforementioned links to familiarize yourself with the process, spend a half day fixing the damage, and better aquainting yourself with your truck in the process. Win-win.

 

'Tis but a scratch

 

Hey guys thanks for all the response and feedback. Yeah all the ball joints are toast, the front axle also got ripped out when the wheel came off. What would the fix for the front axle be like? Would I have to replace the hole front axles?

 

Based on the pic, it looks like the inner CV just popped out. Unless there is damage to the axle, or the outer CV, you may be able to clean everything up, re-grease the bearings, pop the tulip back in to the housing, and put a new boot on. If you don't want to go that route, complete aftermarket axles can be had for about $100.

 

If I was to replace the cv's, I would just replace one but in OEM. I would never trust aftermarket drivetrain parts unless there is a modification that you need on them for your lift.

 

Yes indeed. Its a Taco, fix it and keep driving.

 

Fix it, keep it, or you will regret it.

 

Yeah gonna work on it tomorrow and see what all I need to replace. Also the fender got pretty dented up. Probably gonna need a new starter too since it's been sitting for a while. But I've done all then maintenence on it myself and shes at 420k Miles. So I'm sure I can get her fixed up and maybe just replace with a different fender.

 

I saw in another thread that you have fiberglass fender flares and on was damaged by the wheel. Don't throw the other flares out. The fiberglass flares are somewhat valuable since they only came on certain years and trims. You might be able to sell the other three, or find a replacement from another wrecked truck, or if you're handy enough you might even be able to repair the broken one.