LBJ's replaced @ 235k ...

C

cahilc

New member
Couple notes to mention.

After the LBJ's removed noticeable play in the joint. Definitely over the factory recommend 0.5mm. It's a new truck to me and I had been monitoring the joint.

Ball joint castle nut was sketchy loose. Maybe 20-30 ft-lbs. We've seen some failures of popping the ball and other failures of broken ball joint shafts. Possibly the shaft was wearing into the control arm.

I'm going to be re-torque'ing all the bolts and castle nuts more frequently.

With new LBJ's definite improvement in quality of road feel. Noticeable directly after replacement but subtle enough over time to be missed.

She'll be on 90k replacement intervals for the future.

P.S. With 01 and 02 lbj dust cover I found I had to remove and slide the cover down over the ball joint shaft to the far side next to the control arm before using the puller. It'll go non destructively.
 
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jgue467 said:
Guessing you went with OEM parts?
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Oh h*'ll yeah factory Toyota parts. Pedigrees with chain of custody confirmed. Not gonna play games with LBS's.

On a prior truck had a passenger side failure @ 300k (original lbj, ball socket failure). Thank Gawd was doing 2mph and failed going over a bad hole in the road. No damage except broke the directly above headlight housing from the downward impact. JB Weld fixed that.

Seriously... cheap lesson learned.

Interesting to note the dusts covers use to come in left and right versions. Superseded now by just one part.

What I took off was exactly what went back on. So the superseded one part dust cover happened prior to the build date of my 2002 4runner.
 
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Do you live in the climate where salt is a problem??? I'm going to be doing mine soon but i'm in rusty Ohio where those 8 bolts underneath my truck can be a problem.
 
FD7683 said:
Do you live in the climate where salt is a problem??? I'm going to be doing mine soon but i'm in rusty Ohio where those 8 bolts underneath my truck can be a problem.
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I just did my 208k-mile LBJs here in rusty Kansas City area.

I think for us, preparation is key.

I got the truck very clean, then parked in the garage and sprayed a ton of PB Blaster all around (above, under, around) the bolt areas several times a day for four days. Also tried to get the penetrating oil in between the mating surface of the LBJ and knuckle.

Before and after spraying penetrating oil, I lightly (not too light, not too firm) tapped the bolts with a hammer a few times here and there.

After jacking up the truck and taking off the wheels, I used a 30 inch breaker bar with an impact socket, and after ensuring I had clean and full contact/engagement between socket and bolt head, I carefully broke the bolts free by hand in a star pattern (but did not loosen right away).

More penetrating oil and waiting. Then I slowly spun them out with hand tools. Keeping the LBJ aligned with the knuckle using an additional jack helped keep stress off the bolts/threads as I broke them free and spun them out.

I then used a lot of brake cleaner and soft bristle brush to clean the threads on the knuckle.

I ended up needing to reuse one of the eight bolts because one of the threads on the knuckle was a little gummed up. The new bolt would not comfortably spin in by hand, and I didn't want to cross thread it.

After installing everything with blue thread locker, double checking torque specs, and applying witness marks with a paint pen, I always coat any exposed bolts (heads, threads, nuts, anything and everything) with anti-seize.

If I had thought ahead, I would have made sure I had a tap and die set ready with the exact size/pitch of the factory bolt, and cutting fluid. Then I could've carefully cleaned up the problem thread in preparation for the new bolt. Would have added maybe an hour (or two, for me!) to the job.

Basically, it was about five days of preparation for a 2-3 hour job! And even all this preparation didn't guarantee that I wouldn't break a bolt. I was pretty nervous about it and relieved that the only snag was reusing one bolt...

Hope this helps. Best of luck!
 
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FD7683 said:
Do you live in the climate where salt is a problem??? I'm going to be doing mine soon but i'm in rusty Ohio where those 8 bolts underneath my truck can be a problem.
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Truck has been completely a South Carolina truck entire life. Never had a front plate.

About as rust free as they come East of the Mississippi.

Fortunate find. Recently purchased. Never seen salt. Seriously.

Use to live Mid-Atlantic. H8te working on rusty trucks. Sorry.

May I suggest two words?
Heat (careful use)
Breakerbar (careful use)

Even on my truck those four infamous bolts were stubborn beyond expectation. I was definitely getting into there's enough force to snap these bolts range before they broke free. On my 2002 the bolts definitely had some sort of thread sealant applied at the factory.
 
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Fortunately my bolts aren't too bad. I've already sprayed PB Blaster several times on the 8 bolts and looks to be ready for my 1/2 in" breaker bar. Have taps and torch ready. Nice tips on here for the job!
 
Alternating the impact gun with penetrating oil back and forth has worked well for me. I've had to do this back and forth as many as ten times before seeing bolt rotation. I've snapped these bolts off before when using a breaker bar which turns a fairly easy job into a PITA. My $.02 is to have some patience and let the impact and penetrating oil work.
 
Barnabas1 said:
Alternating the impact gun with penetrating oil back and forth has worked well for me. I've had to do this back and forth as many as ten times before seeing bolt rotation. I've snapped these bolts off before when using a breaker bar which turns a fairly easy job into a PITA. My $.02 is to have some patience and let the impact and penetrating oil work.
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Definitely gotta tease them out. Tickle them. Twist them left and right. Use you favorite penetrating fluid. You've done this before you know how it works.
:)

Threw my 3/8" impact on them at first which hits at a max 160 ft-lbs and nothing budged. I was like d*mn. This gonna be a pain.

The rust free or less rust trucks don't have a free pass on problem free bolts.
 
That was my plan if I can just get the biggest impact I can find and just zip the 8 bolts out like that :) Good thing I can rent a Makita 1/2 in" at United Rentals for cheap.
 
Rileyismydog said:
I am going to do front end suspension next on my 1998. Has anyone had issues with the non OEM kits that have everything needed?
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If you are referring to the ebay or Amazon kits, they are total garbage and you will be redoing the job soon. Years ago, I used one of the eBay kits on my pickup and the outter tie rod ends and idler arm lasted about 3000 miles before they had more play than the parts they replaced.
There is a reason the kits are that cheap to buy. Spend the money and get good parts.
 
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