Damn trail damage on my 03 4Runner.

S

sibanez

New member
Went to Paragon Saturday and decided to clean up my truck, including pounding out my front skid plate, today. I found this while I was pulling the skid off and am a little worried, this is my first non-fwd car and I'm still learning.

I'm running Goodtimes' old Downey coilovers, set to roughly 2 3/4 inches of lift, in the front and OME shocks/springs in the back.


traildamage1.jpg


traildamage2.jpg
 
Register to hide this ad
a split dust boot? thats not damage! thats normal wear...how many miles on your toy? I would fix it if it is recent if not wait untill the whole thing goes bad.... but if your really worried about it they sell replacement boots at napa .....
 
064runnersport said:
a split dust boot? thats not damage!
Click to expand...

yes it is, that looks like a boot that has a joint or a moving part in it, or why else would it have grease coming out?

id get it checked out, when i broke a tierod wheeling it had grease like that coming out.

better safe than sorry and it probly will be INexpensive to fix
 
broncosi said:
now that ive looked at this more, it looks like my busted tie rod
Click to expand...

Uh-oh...we better keep this quiet...ya know, last time a Hummer H2 owner took pics/video of a tie rod breaking, it went all over the internet!:D
 
broncosi said:
yes it is, that looks like a boot that has a joint or a moving part in it, or why else would it have grease coming out?

id get it checked out, when i broke a tierod wheeling it had grease like that coming out.

better safe than sorry and it probly will be INexpensive to fix
Click to expand...



fix it yourself!!! like 10 minutes..unless you have a warranty on it still . I dont know if that is covered but you could drive it like that for thousands of miles
 
Your lower ball joint boot split. It's not that common but all boots do wear and split over use (typical wear and tear). When you offroad you just accelerate your wear and tear.

It's a relatively easy fix.

1. disconnect swaybar (if you have one connected still)
2. remove the two outer bolts holding the lower a-arm by the rotor.
3. rotate rotor away from lower a-arm to expose bottom ball joint.
4. remove cotter pin and nut holding ball joint
5. use tie rod puller to extract boot.
6. replace boot and add grease.
7. reinstall using the reverse order.

Pick up the boots from the stealer (not sure what the part number is). This should take a few hours with hand tools but a very simple maintenance job. Check all other boots prior to installation as you may have other boots that are cracked.

Good luck
 
Doesn't sound too bad, I replaced the tie rod ends not too long ago, figured something else was bound to happen with 80k on the car. Are there any other problem areas to look out for? Also, how soon should I replace it (this week, next week, tomorrow?)

Thanks.
 
064runnersport said:
fix it yourself!!! like 10 minutes..unless you have a warranty on it still . I dont know if that is covered but you could drive it like that for thousands of miles
Click to expand...

if it was the tie rod?? are you joking? If his tie rod was broken and he continued to drive he would ruin his tires. The tie rod controlls the alignment of the car. So if you drive on unaligned tires its going to cup the insides or outsides from the tires bowing in or unbalance.

You could balance them until your blue in the face and allign it until your engine dies and it wont improve the intense shaking above 50 mph after you drive for 2 days with the tie rod broken.

I did fix mine myself and the part was only $24 so not that horrible but the concequences of not fixing a tie rod pretty quickly while still driving as normal can cost you alot more.

I am aware that had nothing to do with his lower ball joint, i just felt the need to educate a little :arrow:
 
broncosi said:
if it was the tie rod?? are you joking? If his tie rod was broken and he continued to drive he would ruin his tires. The tie rod controlls the alignment of the car. So if you drive on unaligned tires its going to cup the insides or outsides from the tires bowing in or unbalance.

You could balance them until your blue in the face and allign it until your engine dies and it wont improve the intense shaking above 50 mph after you drive for 2 days with the tie rod broken.

I did fix mine myself and the part was only $24 so not that horrible but the concequences of not fixing a tie rod pretty quickly while still driving as normal can cost you alot more.

I am aware that had nothing to do with his lower ball joint, i just felt the need to educate a little :arrow:
Click to expand...


Its a dust boot the tie rod is not broken fi ti was broke he woluld not be able to steer.... and this is a ball joint.... the dust boot keeps dirt out and grease in... that is all most people dont catch them untill its too late to save it (kinda like a c.v. shaft) so no eductate needed thanks
 
064runnersport said:
Its a dust boot the tie rod is not broken, this is a ball joint
Click to expand...

Right I know its not tie rod, as stated here:
broncosi [/i]I am aware that had [COLOR=red][B]nothing to do with[/B][/COLOR] his lower ball joint.[/QUOTE] But your post when you quoted mine seemed to be in response to mine: [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by 064runnersport said:
fix it yourself!!! like 10 minutes..unless you have a warranty on it still . You could drive it like that for thousands of miles
Click to expand...

064runnersport said:
no eductate needed thanks
Click to expand...

That sentence speaks for itself :D
 
Last edited:
Anyone ever do this? I got the boot off and am getting ready to put the new one on, but I noticed the retaining ring that holds the boot on is completely different . . . the one that came from Toyota is much thinner, more like a key ring holder and the one that was on the 4Runner is thicker, by about twice the width.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 1,748 (members: 2, guests: 1,746)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,312
Messages
3,554,083
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top