Well this happened today….

Glad it was a minor accident. From the length of that mark on the road, you were moving along pretty good. That had to be a scary 3-4 seconds that seemed to have lasted about an hour!

Thanks for the info. I guess sometimes they just get worn bad enough they break instead of separate due to road conditions.

 

Yes I am so thankful! I still can't believe it happened, you are so right about that, time seemed to slow down.
I even had some crazy dreams about it since!

 

Glad you didn’t get hurt

 

@YotainOregon
Thank you!

Just my hearts a little hurt seeing my Tacoma in such a state

 

This is great! Thank you

 

Anytime

 

I wish I was close enough to see this in person I would love to know just how and where it failed.

Good luck on your repair.

 

I noticed this happened right in front of a cemetery. Your right, could have been a lot worse.

 

Thank you! I have been documenting it all very closely, I’ll post some updates when I get it on the lift for better viewing.

 

I’m curious to see if I can tell what the right side looks like and if there is any indication of the ball joints being worn or compromised and of course better view on the side that failed.

 

Did a little searching on the Google and found this….

 

There is almost no visual indication of an LBJ about to fail, other than perhaps if you’re missing one of the steering knuckle bolts. The joint itself only has an allowable play of 0.020” before being considered out of spec. If you put it on a lift and flex the joint with a pry bar, any visible movement means it’s already on its way out.

The “voluntary replacement campaign” (not a recall) was for the original joints installed from the factory, and was for a narrow range of production dates. Even if your truck fell into that category, you’d probably have a hard time getting any reparations from the dealership at this point. It does go to show that they knew there was an issue though, and probably to a much greater extent than they’re willing to admit.

 

Good to know, I want my brother to be aware of this too since he also has a 1st gen Tacoma and 4 runner. Better to get them on the lift with 4 wheels and check that out vs what happened to me.

I don’t doubt that!
I’m going to call and talk to them anyway just to see what they say but I don’t have any expectations that Toyota will do anything but it was nice to read and educate myself on the issue and now how to prevent and be aware of it before it completely fails and to help bring awareness to other Tacoma owners.
Definitely will be thinking and dreaming about ball joints for a while

 

damn, gl op

 

somehow I missed your comment a while back on ball joints Oh well everything happens for a reason. Just rolling with it (not so great with only 3 wheels )

I now just have a bigger list of all the things to check out and replace if need be ​

 

Looks like that is regarding a manufacturing defect in a run of LBJs that they were replacing, not wear and tear, so I don't think you'll get anything out of them. It is a goofball design though, so it is important to inspect them periodically. Here's a video that shows how to check them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rteeAOQlrKY

 

I never knew about ball joints or that they are a wear n tear part but I’m grateful to know this for the future.
Joining TW has done wonders for me and my own growth with my vehicle maintenance and care.
Very informative video. Thank you for sharing!

 

Feel free to post up questions anytime, a lot of stuff that may seem obvious and routine to some of us is probably black magic to newcomers. There's the search function too, but if I'm being honest, there's a lot of misinformation floating around, so take what you find there with a grain of salt.

 

I really appreciate that! I have used the search bar a couple times but I find just creating a new thread (no matter if I feel it’s silly or not) helps get current and experienced folks to share their words of wisdom or informative links. I enjoy being a part of the Tacoma world that much more having such positive feedback and information from all of y’all. I was taught to take care of any vehicle Iv owned (being the only girl, my pops instilled those values of taking care of myself) and it’s really nice to be able to have this as a source of information and get a few laughs along the way.

 

Don't lie... We all know who was actually driving at the time Kacie...




Jokes aside, glad your ok. Should be a easy going fix.