LBJ Failure... My turn.

[88xtraSR5]

Well last Monday while driving home from work it happened. Crossed over some mild railroad tracks and as soon as the suspension compressed on the backside of the tracks. BOOM!!! I thought a bomb went off in the passenger side floor board. I slide about 200 fewer into an oncoming lane and came to a tire twisting stop halfway in the ditch on the wrong side of the road. I was only traveling around 25- 30 mph. Appears the LBJ on passenger side sheered in two. This was a replacement Moog ball joint with maybe 6 - 8,000 miles on it. Just a brief inspection the parts list looks like: new ubj, lbj, CV axle, tre, maybe a brake line, alignment and hopefully just a re- balance on the tire?
I am kinda at a lost, I will admit that my truck is a mall crawler with its 3" spacer lift. But I feel like it is somewhat the cause of the failure. Not sure if I should replace both lowers with oem and keep driving it or just repair and sell or just spend the money on smaller tires and new parts to lower it? What do you guys think? I had no prior symptoms leading to this failure.

 

[opie74]

If it were me, MOOG would be footing the bill for all repairs.

Good thing no one was hurt.

 

[BigNuge]

DAMN dude.......glad you're ok!! Lucky nobody was in the oncoming lane!!

Depending on how bad the flat spot is worn into the tire will dictate if it is savable. All the other parts you listed should cover it. I would DEFINITELY replace the other LBJ as well.

This convinces me, Ill NEVER use MOOG LBJ's. If this happened at 75 this would have been horrific!!

 

[Snowy21]

That shit sucks..

I'd bet large sums of money that the blame lies solely in the Moog ball joints and not the lifted truck. Lots of guys abuse their OEM ball joints out wheeling with minimal issues.

Fortunately for you the CV isn't wrecked, just pulled apart at the inner tripod, and your brake line is still intact. Throw some OEM joints in and reclamp the cv boot and it should be good to go

 

[4Runner4TW]

Glad you are ok! You should definitely contact MOOG.I hear way too many stories like this about their products so I always stay away.

 

[the great him]

thats why i dont use cheep aftermarket parts... toyota OE only for me

 

[nevada]

there is a good chance the knuckle is bent too. they arent meant to hold weight in the direction, and could bend easily.

 

[jsmith811]

Lbj

That's some scary stuff there... Would be nice to know for sure what caused the failure. Maintenance history on my truck before I owned it, shows LBJ replaced, I hope they used OEM parts.

 

[nobb]

Let us know how this goes. Definitely contact MOOG to see if you can get reimbursed, because this is a huge safety issue.

Do you offroad the truck?

 

[88xtraSR5]

Well I finally removed the tire and did a visual inspection. Steering knuckle appears to look good, appears the upper ball joint suffered most of the stress. Upper and lower control arms look good along with their mounting brackets. Brake looks like it might be salvageable, no leaks under pressure. Steering rack has no cracks or leaks either. So as is stands I will need a new upper and lower ball joints, new outer tie rod, new CV axle, new tire and alignment. I might fix the old CV and keep it as a spare. The inner fender cut my old tire pretty bad, its still holding air. But I am just going to replace it along with new ball joints on the driver side. Called the stealership its going to cost around $1000 for all the parts excluding this hard to find maxxis bighorn 255/85/R16. Should have bought all OEM last February, instead of the auto parts brand.

 

[snowninja]

hey man sorry to hear this and glad you are safe. parts can be replaced, lives cannot. this post cements my decision on using only oem parts for critical areas such as LBJ's.

 

[Nelsonmd]

Well I finally removed the tire and did a visual inspection. Steering knuckle appears to look good, appears the upper ball joint suffered most of the stress. Upper and lower control arms look good along with their mounting brackets. Brake looks like it might be salvageable, no leaks under pressure. Steering rack has no cracks or leaks either. So as is stands I will need a new upper and lower ball joints, new outer tie rod, new CV axle, new tire and alignment. I might fix the old CV and keep it as a spare. The inner fender cut my old tire pretty bad, its still holding air. But I am just going to replace it along with new ball joints on the driver side. Called the stealership its going to cost around $1000 for all the parts excluding this hard to find maxxis bighorn 255/85/R16. Should have bought all OEM last February, instead of the auto parts brand.

If you have the time to wait for shipment, try toyota of Dallas, or Newnan Toyota, they are pretty cheap for internet part sales. You could probably even pay for 2-day shipping and still come out well ahead of getting them from the local dealership.

Did the $1k include the labor, or just parts?

 

[Holley]

If you have the time to wait for shipment, try toyota of Dallas, or Newnan Toyota, they are pretty cheap for internet part sales. You could probably even pay for 2-day shipping and still come out well ahead of getting them from the local dealership.

Did the $1k include the labor, or just parts?

+1

I asked my local Toyota parts guy to match Toyota of Dallas' parts prices and he agreed!

It saved me hundreds of dollars on my tie rods, ball joints, etc...

Toyota of Dallas prices+ no shipping = awesome!

 

[iamadam1122]

Is it possible that the suspension fully compressed without touching the bumpstop because of the spacer? And when it bottomed it just ripped the balljoint apart?

 

[BrianSD_42]

this was a replacement moog ball joint with maybe 6 - 8,000 miles on it

olice:olice:olice: ding ding ding ding olice:olice:olice:

 

[JayRolla]

OEM OEM OEM OEM OEM OEM!!!!!!!!!! How many times does this have to happen before people relize OEM is the wya to go. I had 220k miles on my truck and a spacer lift for about 15k miles before my old OEM failed. OEM OEM OEM OEM. Burn it into you brains!!!! LOL

 

[Supermoney]

As somebody who is semi-new to 4Runners, what increases the chance of this happening? Is it a certain type of lift, or just any lift in general?

 

[papapoopski]

8000 miles? jebus christo that is scary. Glad you are OK.

 

[DeathCougar]

Is it possible that the suspension fully compressed without touching the bumpstop because of the spacer? And when it bottomed it just ripped the balljoint apart?

Don't go introducing Logic into this discussion!! It's all the LBJ's fault!

:fencing:

 

[01thunder]

As somebody who is semi-new to 4Runners, what increases the chance of this happening? Is it a certain type of lift, or just any lift in general?

poor design.