Another one bites the dust! (LBJ failure)

[BoomSticks]

Fortunately this was low speed, and the only casualties were some parts and tire tread.

Buddy's rig with 260k miles, but it's a beast and the last several thousand had a lot of very hard driven off road and crawling miles. These LBJs were assumed factory original.

4"-ish LC/Tundra lift

285/75/16 I believe.

The socket you see in the pic below is the cup for the upper ball joint.

Looks like the LBJ failed, the tire crashed into the UBJ, the UBJ failed, and then the whole shebang rotated forward until it got stuck with the UBJ cup facing forward.

The tire has a road rash flat spot on the tire where the asphalt rubbed away a good 8 inches of the corner tread. Surprisingly, the tire is still driveable.

He went to the junk yard that same day and got ABS and brake lines and other little bits to get his daily driver back on the road. Already had a spare CV axle.

Related: Camelback price for R and L LBJ, plus the 8 bolts needed for install is $188 shipped.

[MENTION=120071]mtbtim[/MENTION] did a bang up job on a how to video for swapping out LBJs.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/217550-3rd-gen-toyota-4runner-diy-videos.html

Yes, Transformers. He even has a button in the cab that plays the transforming noise over a speaker. It's awesome.

And no, it didn't get stuck trying to transform. I'm also going to look for a flux capacitor next time I'm in it.

To get everything apart they had to cut the nut off this ball.

UBJ cup.

LBJ cup and assy.

 

[zig553]

Did you feel anything different in the steering before it failed? I think mine are probably due.

 

[frodiesel]

Ive heard it can get tight steering right before they blow. But dont wait. 188shipped for both on camelback toyota.

Thank you for the pics.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

[JohnMc]

Did you feel anything different in the steering before it failed? I think mine are probably due.

How many miles?

Anything over 175K or so, replace regardless with OEM.

If they look like they've been puking grease, replace them.

It's a wear and tear item with a catastrophic failure mode, don't take chances.

 

[volkinator]

This is the second one of these posted yesterday. Change your LBJ's folks! If you haven't replaced them yourself, just do it... Don't trust PO's It's cheap insurance to just do it and get it over with

 

[ThorInc]

270,000kms on my '97 and I have changed mine twice. The second time they were visually fine with no play but I just don't need the potential complications.

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[offroadxplr]

As a reference point, when I replaced mine, they had 156k on them (80k-236k) with the last 20k being lifted.

The driver side joint had noticeable play in it side to side, probably about 1/2 inch total. Passenger side was loose, but not as much play.

Highly recommend replacement around 150k miles, maybe even less if lifted. It'll be interesting to see how long these new ones last being lifted all the time.

 

[zig553]

How many miles?

Anything over 175K or so, replace regardless with OEM.

If they look like they've been puking grease, replace them.

It's a wear and tear item with a catastrophic failure mode, don't take chances.

350,000KM so around 215k Milles? Not sure if they've been replaced. The only one that appears to be leaking is a UBJ. One of my lbjs is sweating though.

 

[gamefreakgc]

LBJ's are pretty easy to replace as well. Just a few bolts and a tie rod puller and it's out. I was shocked at how easy it was once I did mine, really no reason not to do it. Most parts store will let you rent the tools needed to do it for free.

 

[stivine6]

Did mine as well with 99k on them to be safe. Looking at all these pictures freaked me out. Went with OEM LBJ and bolts