Well this happened today….

nice bowling shoes by the way.

 

There was a recall on the earlier models for the lower balljoints, but it was for a quality control issue, so that doesn't really address the main weakness with the design.

The 100k mile (manufacturer recommended) is NOT the "inspection interval" that's the replacement interval. But given what we know about them, you should at a bare minimum be checking them regularly, like at every oil change. Hell every time I walk by my truck I take a look as see if the boots are leaking.

I have a whole diatribe on ball joints on my build thread if you care to read through it (link in my signature). Take it for what it's worth, just some guy's opinion based on my experiences. I plan to replace mine far more regularly than every 100k miles. I'm on my 3rd set with 130k miles.

But honestly, if it were really as big a deal as some people think, Toyota would not have continued with the design for almost a decade. To my knowledge, they haven't been successfully sued over it, and there haven't even been any recalls regarding the design either. Yes, it's not the best design, but if you just take a few simple steps like proper preventative maintenance(really, that's just inspecting them), they aren't really the ticking time bomb they're made out to be.

 

This is why I've changed mine 3 times in 75k miles. First sign of any up/down play with a prybar and new ones get ordered. I'm making it a goal to be one of the few 1st gen taco owners to not have an LBJ failure, of course now that I've said that...

looks like you got lucky OP, could have been worse. Most people end up with body damage and all new suspension on that side when this happens.

 

I think a big part of it is that you don't really see this happening at highway speeds, in most cases the joint tends to give out at lower speeds instead (parking lot turns, hit a speed bump, etc).

If it were more likely to happen at 75mph+ then there would probably be a much bigger fuss

 

LBJ`s are a wear item Now I could see if they had many documented failures under 10,000 miles.

It would be very difficult to prove a design flaw or manufacturing defect compared to end user neglect then if it was to go to a court case the vehicle sits in limbo till things are over most likely outside in the weather.

Now I wonder how many failures for every 1000 Tacoma`s on the road ?

Just like the frame issues most outside of Forums have no clue about the LBJ weakness.

When the letters were sent out about the frames the majority of the people figured it was just a sales pitch and tossed it.

 

[QUOTE="jbrandt, post: 27013625, member:


Thank you for your input and words of wisdom. I’ll definitely be checking out the link!


Iv already learned so much since all this and it just happened they way it was supposed to at the end of the day.
and It’s crazy because I literally had plans to get it on the lift (like within the next few days of this incident, and hadn’t been driving it much in the meantime) had a plan to do a thorough inspection of everything and a make a check list of parts and anything that needed to be done etc.
Funny how mine decided to malfunction before I could even do my first check on them

Kind of wish I would have joined TW a little sooner! I would have learned and been checking my LBJ’s every time I changed my oil at least.

yeah it was truly a best case scenario for what happened especially from other stories Iv heard.

 

I have 300k miles on my 98, I bought some OEM lower BJ's (have not installed yet) but I also have a squeak (rubbery type squeak, hard to explain but I think everyone knows what I mean) on one side when I push the front down or when braking to a stop. Likely lower control arm bushings? Truck steering is rock solid straight and no shimmy which is actually pretty impressive for 300k miles.

I'm thinking it would probably be stupid to change the BJ's w/o also replacing the lower control arms since a subsequent repair may damage the BJ's. I'm leaning towards just getting new OEM lower control arms since I can't have a lot of down time and I don't have a bottle jack.

 

My brother left in the middle of the game to come save me and ran out without taking off his shoes

 

well, that’s what brothers do.

 

I wonder if this is a case of survivor's bias. We simply don't hear about the cases where they've failed at highway speeds because, well...

But yeah, it seems like there's usually some external force (speed bump, driveway, curb, etc...) that is a common trigger for a failure.

Like the video of that dude a while ago in the dunes (Pismo I think) who was mobbing it and his from wheel falls off, lol. IIRC, the story goes he was LT but running the Total Chaos kit that uses the stock BJs and knew they were bad and just wanted to drive it, literally, until the wheels fall off, lol.

 

All of that is repairable!!!

 

Heck yeah!
Definitely happy to get a better view on what’s going on.

 

Hi Kacie . Separated from the upper control arm & your gonna need a CV axle. As Juan said "all repairable". I'd just use aftermarket parts (Napa, Autozone, etc.) to keep costs low. It is a 2001 after all. Toyota parts are way too expensive. I'm sure you already know this. I wish you good luck, my friend

 

I wanted to mention, also to check the driveshaft (propeller shaft) for excessive "play" or "slop" as I call it, when you have it jacked up. If that fails, it can really mess up your day, too

 

Maybe for the CV axle, but I would still get OEM ball joints. There are several threads showing how much better made they are than aftermarket LBJs.

If your local dealer has outrageous prices, order then online from McGeorge Toyota.

 

Like the upper ball joint, lol... I'm just kidding I'm sure she's feeling a bit overwhelmed with the price of everything including the towing. Of course OEM is better. She's probably getting it fixed now, anyway.

 

After a ball joint failure like this, using autozone brand replacement parts is probably the LAST thing she wants to do.

Just to save a few bucks?

 

I'm willing to bet there are many many people out there who will never have a failure.

Given how many 1st gens were built and sold, the ratio is a LOT lower than internet posts would have us believe. It's like my comment on survivor's guilt, you only hear about the failures.

I'm sure there's a way to figure out what the actual numbers are, I'm just too lazy to figure that out, lol.

Even if you look only at TW members, those who have had failures are in all likelihood a minority, and TW membership in of itself a minority of Tacoma owners.

Those of us who use our trucks off road are likely more prone to failures, which is why we need to be more cautious.

 

I said that's what I would do on a 20 year old truck. I just looked up the CV axle for example $582 MSRP, which is what most local stealerships will charge & $395 online versus $117 at AutoZone. That's more than a few bucks to me, it's a tank of gas, lol.