Another one bites the dust! LBJ failed on the trail

[scrap metal]

Well, I consider myself lucky because I was only going 5 mph when my drivers side suddenly dipped down and I thought hmmmm.... don't remember seeing a hole in the ground.

Surprised because the boot on the lower ball joint wasn't torn.. but not surprised at 127,000 miles.

Not so lucky was it happening at 2am up in the mountains. I camped for the night and had a friend buy one from the toyota dealer at $101 And run it up.There was a 24 hr autozone but duralast is the last thing I trust.

Next day 4:00pm afternoon

Into the night

 

[Chuckles89]

Man, that sucks! I bet that was miserable :rain:

 

[ToyotaBrah]

brb..ordering OEM LBJ's for my 215K 4Runner.

 

[BrianSD_42]

did you conplete the replacement?

if the work is going to be done tomorrow bring a jack stand. you don't want to trust your life to a hi lift jack.

 

[Kenworth]

If you look under his trk he's useing tire as protection if the jack cuts loose

 

[Road Bull]

That's pretty brutal. At least you weren't buried in ice cold mud as well I suppose. Glad you were not hurt.

 

[GVL]

For those of us who have never replaced a LBJ, can someone rate the level of difficulty doing a field repair? Do most people carry spares when venturing away from civilization? Mine were replaced by the PO ~10k mi ago with OE, but I would hate to have to abandon my rig in the forest while I was chasing down spares should they ever go.

 

[scrap metal]

I did complete it. Ruined the tie rod in the process since all I had was a pickle fork but those will be replaced along with the passenger lbj tomorrow. Also tore the cv boot.

You can't see in the pic but I had the tire underneath the front crossmember... hi lift was there for extra support

Also hit my thumb with a hammer

It sucked but I'm glad it didn't happen on the highway or with my son in the car

 

[MandAtaco]

Was this an OEM unit? Or another brand?

 

[scrap metal]

Luckily I had some friends who were willing to help. 3 camped with me and Another brought the part back up at 4pm the next day.

I would never leave my rig alone on a trail. .. I've seen too many get stripped and scavenged.

Also, one of the 4 14mm bolts stripped on me. good think i had bought a stripped bolt extractor last month! I got it from sears and it came with 10 sizes. .. worked perfect.

 

[mbhill92]

Yeah, I have 210k on mine. Not too sure if they've ever been replaced. I think I'm gonna put in that order right now haha..

 

[LittleCaesar]

Be glad it wasn't worse. Make sure to get new bolts from the dealer as well.

My friend uses his Jeep Rubicon to cover acres of family land in the mountains of Virginia for tree harvesting and of all the tools he carries in his arsenal, this Dewalt impact has saved him and countless others he has seen on trails and dirt roads broken down:
http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCF880...sim_hi_31?ie=UTF8&refRID=0M4602CQGK4XTRX7T8DA

I'd try and find the one with the hog ring instead of the detent pin. I have the 3/8 and love it.

 

[BrianSD_42]

glad to hear it worked out ok. pretty badass fix out there on the trail

 

[Koko4]

Did you use Blue Loctite on the 4 14mm bolts?

 

[scrap metal]

Well I only used 3 out of those 4 bolts. My goal was to get home and it got me there lol. Parts was closed today so I'm going tomorrow to get cv boot, new bolts, left and right tire rod ends, and passenger lower ball joint

 

[96LTDrus]

Wow! Good for you on accomplishing the trail repair, and for having some friends to hang out with during the whole ordeal!

My question: were the ball joints feeling worn at all (loose, rattling) to give any indication of wear before this happened?

I have 116k on my almost exclusively on-road driven 1996, the front end is perfectly tight and sound (new LCA bushings, steering rack bushings, sway bar end links) Everything else checked out perfectly (LBJs, TREs), drives with no sloppiness or sounds, even when driven on rough roads/terrain. I'd hate for this to happen, especially with the sort of damage that happens to the fender (or worse, if it happens at high speed).

 

[Rifter]

Just ordered the LBJ's and OTE's, OEM parts. Will install when they arrive, I have new tires coming so its going for alignment anyways might as well do these to for the peace of mind. Unknown vehicle history and its got 186k miles on it now.

And it will spend more time offroad than on road now.

 

[LeeMajors]

I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but these threads always raise my hackles a bit.

Is it common here bc of a high population of off-road enthusiasts? Is it similarly common in 2wd on-road daily drivers?

 

[Rifter]

I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but these threads always raise my hackles a bit.

Is it common here bc of a high population of off-road enthusiasts? Is it similarly common in 2wd on-road daily drivers?

For what its worth I Dispatched tow trucks for 5 and a half years. The most common problem for towing 4runner was by far LBJ failure for the 3rd gens. And blown head gaskets for the 2nd gen V6's.

 

[97_Runner]

Is it just the LBJs that are recommended maintenance for high mileage 4Runners,
or LBJs + OTRE,
or LBJs + OTRE + ITRE?