Another LBJ FAILED Thread..BUT...
- Thread starter KSWAY
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Dous
New member
Yea the only difference is tie rod size, the ball joint is no stronger and is susceptible to the same failure.
IMHO the tacoma ball joint swap is not worth it, requires grinding down a whole bunch of stuff to regain turning radius. And still the tie rod hitting the sway bar bracket will become your turn stop. Which is not good
I don't think there is an issue with tie rod size, hell the stock 4runner tie rods are MASSIVE compared to an H2 tie rod, which is pathetic. I have never even heard of a snapped tie rod on the 4runner
H2 tie rod
It's like a 3/8" bolt...laughable. Go look at any Chevy/GMC product and you will see the same.
I know I kinda swayed from the topic, but this has bothered me for sometime
IMHO the tacoma ball joint swap is not worth it, requires grinding down a whole bunch of stuff to regain turning radius. And still the tie rod hitting the sway bar bracket will become your turn stop. Which is not good
I don't think there is an issue with tie rod size, hell the stock 4runner tie rods are MASSIVE compared to an H2 tie rod, which is pathetic. I have never even heard of a snapped tie rod on the 4runner
H2 tie rod
It's like a 3/8" bolt...laughable. Go look at any Chevy/GMC product and you will see the same.
I know I kinda swayed from the topic, but this has bothered me for sometime
cj80cruiser
Senior Member
Yea the only difference is tie rod size, the ball joint is no stronger and is susceptible to the same failure.
IMHO the tacoma ball joint swap is not worth it, requires grinding down a whole bunch of stuff to regain turning radius. And still the tie rod hitting the sway bar bracket will become your turn stop. Which is not good
I don't think there is an issue with tie rod size, hell the stock 4runner tie rods are MASSIVE compared to an H2 tie rod, which is pathetic. I have never even heard of a snapped tie rod on the 4runner
H2 tie rod
It's like a 3/8" bolt...laughable. Go look at any Chevy/GMC product and you will see the same.
I know I kinda swayed from the topic, but this has bothered me for sometime
I agree with Dous. Even called it into question in the ball joint thread after I realized all you are upgrading are the outer TRE. The fail points are the joints and 14mm bolts which don't differ that much (if at all) between 4runners and tacomas.
fish0281
New member
I know it's been mentioned before, but it's surprising how many of the reported LBJ failures (on this site) have been at nearly stationary conditions. I think there must be some loading going on at speed that holds things together in a failure-situation, but dang... considering the one failure I saw where the dude flew off the highway into a pole, it seems like a large risk that was overlooked during some Toyota FMEA design review meeting!
To the point of Tacoma vs 4Runner LBJ's, I still don't understand why they'd be different in the first place, but I was happy with the 180k I got out of mine (w/o failing), so I stuck with the 4Runner version for replacement.
To the point of Tacoma vs 4Runner LBJ's, I still don't understand why they'd be different in the first place, but I was happy with the 180k I got out of mine (w/o failing), so I stuck with the 4Runner version for replacement.
cj80cruiser
Senior Member
That's the first pic I saw when I joined this forum on balljoint failure. Pretty scary sight.
Atleast a few cases of newly installed LBJs seem have sheared off the 14mm bolts which makes me wonder if the bolt quality has changed or if its installation error.
On a side note, the new 14mm bolts I got from toyota don't look the same as the old bolts. I'm going to take them to a local "bolt expert" to get his thoughts. I may be a little paranoid but my family's lives are worth investigating this further.
Dous
New member
My failure was a result of shearing all 4 bolts off at the spindle. I still really don't know how it happened.
But the ball joint had been disassembled around 4 times, to replace CV's, suspension ect....and I reused the same bolts. My advice is if you ever break it down just go buy new bolts, applying torque to them over and over obviously stresses them too much
I thought about going down to Fastenall to see if they could get me a nice grade 8 bolt, but I just went with Toyota replacements when I did my ball joints
But the ball joint had been disassembled around 4 times, to replace CV's, suspension ect....and I reused the same bolts. My advice is if you ever break it down just go buy new bolts, applying torque to them over and over obviously stresses them too much
I thought about going down to Fastenall to see if they could get me a nice grade 8 bolt, but I just went with Toyota replacements when I did my ball joints
KSWAY
New member
The truck is completely stock. BTW it's not my truck, It belongs to my cousin. I'm just helping him get it back on the road.
Dark Lord
New member
Yea the only difference is tie rod size, the ball joint is no stronger and is susceptible to the same failure.
IMHO the tacoma ball joint swap is not worth it, requires grinding down a whole bunch of stuff to regain turning radius. And still the tie rod hitting the sway bar bracket will become your turn stop. Which is not good
I don't think there is an issue with tie rod size, hell the stock 4runner tie rods are MASSIVE compared to an H2 tie rod, which is pathetic. I have never even heard of a snapped tie rod on the 4runner
H2 tie rod
It's like a 3/8" bolt...laughable. Go look at any Chevy/GMC product and you will see the same.
I know I kinda swayed from the topic, but this has bothered me for sometime
Yeah, I might have to agree here. I did the Tacoma LBJ/OTRE's on my other 4runner. All in all, it wasn't that difficult, and the grinding took literally 5 minutes. On my new 4runner, I'm going to replaced with stock 4runner LBJs and be done with it. I don't want to have to buy both LBJ and OTRE.
ChildrenOfBodom
Moderator
The difference is that Tacoma ball joints started failing badly enough for Toyota to create a new fail safe LBJ design, which you'll get if you're buying new Tacoma LBJ's today.
1999 Tacoma with original ball joints still has the old design LBJ.
1999 Tacoma with original ball joints still has the old design LBJ.
prospectator
New member
I guess Taco LBJ are no different from 4runner? This one is a stock 99 Taco with about 160K on it. Luckily it happened coming to a stop sign. Damage wasn't too bad. Creased fender, Inner axle got ripped out..
Glad there wasn't more damage. You might also want to address that lower shock bushing, it's looking pretty worn out.
Dous
New member
Good catch brother
gornish_hick
New member
Seen the same thing happen to a guy last week with his 97 Runner about 30 miles in the backwoods. luckily I came along and gave them a ride (couple old fellas) back to civilization. when i saw it i couldn't believe it, expectantly when he told me it was just replaced that LBJ 4 months ago. Has me worried it happens more often then a person thinks!
cj80cruiser
Senior Member
Did you get a look at it? Did the 4 bolts fail or the joint?
scary prospect
Nelsonmd
New member
I doubt it. Shops just hit suspension components with their air gun and call it good. The guy that did my last alignment at NTB confess to that while we were chatting. He said they never consider torque specs.
