One more LBJ failure to add to the list

StreetCreeper

StreetCreeper

New member
Saw this truck sitting on the side the road this morning. Looks like the driver made a right turn into a parking lot/field and lost the driver side LBJ.

We went back to check on the driver. She said she was ok and appeared to be on the phone with a tow truck or someone.

This is like the 3rd or 4th LBJ failure ive personally seen, and its the second one in less than 6 months I've personally come across.

This is going to be a common sight as these trucks get older since 3rd gen runners will easily outlive their LBJs.

Don't wait! Replace with OEM folks! This could be you or your wife/daughter/girlfriend/son/whoever next time!

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Here is the one from earlier this summer.

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Shheeesh. Just did mine two days ago with Toyota OEM, along with inner and outer TRE's. Feeling even better about it now!

For those of you waiting to do this, do it now! Took me a total of 4 hours, which included wrangling my two year old daughter in and out of the garage, food breaks, and putting all tools away and cleaning garage! Not bad at all!
 
1) Was she hot? (I have a thing for women in 4runners) :tongue:
2) Did you ask her if her clear corners were OEM or E-Bay junk?
 
I get the impression that most of the failures are due to aftermarket replacements at this point.

Thoughts?

The original LBJs lasted 270k+ miles on mine and didn't seem to have any play when I replaced them with a new OEM pair.

-Charlie
 
It's really nice of Toyota to have engineered in a low speed breakage safety!

Unless that is no one survives to tell about the highway speed failures...

In all actuality they probably fail at low speeds as I'll bet they see more stress the further you have the wheel cut.
 
What does Toyota say is the replacement interval for the LBJ anyway? I'm super paranoid about them so every time I do an oil change I take a good hard look at the boots and whatnot.


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AZBub said:
What does Toyota say is the replacement interval for the LBJ anyway? I'm super paranoid about them so every time I do an oil change I take a good hard look at the boots and whatnot.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I believe it's 100k let me check and see if my owners manual says.

Edit: No recommended maintenance schedule available in my 2000 or 2001 manual.
 
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isn't it interesting how most of the pictures we see of lower ball join failures were on trucks that look essentially stock?...

with the exception of some, most of these lower ball joint failures look to be on trucks that have never gone offload... I'm curious to understand what mileage these rigs had on them or if they had replaced their LBJ's with aftermarket crap or the OEM ball joints literally had 300k on them...........
[MENTION=120071]mtbtim[/MENTION] and I replaced his at 150k and there was literally no play in them.





<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bfLvtEnX9qk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rteeAOQlrKY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Scramble said:
1) Was she hot? (I have a thing for women in 4runners) :tongue:
2) Did you ask her if her clear corners were OEM or E-Bay junk?
Click to expand...

I'm married and the wife was with me. I saw nothing.

I didn't notice the clear corners until afterwards. Too busy looking at the carnage.



phattyduck said:
I get the impression that most of the failures are due to aftermarket replacements at this point.

Thoughts?

The original LBJs lasted 270k+ miles on mine and didn't seem to have any play when I replaced them with a new OEM pair.

-Charlie
Click to expand...

I think the majority of the failures are the original LBJs. These trucks are starting to outlive certain components. LBJs and Radiators seem to be the first to fail catastrophically. The parts are good, but Toyota probably didn't honestly expect these trucks to still be on the road 20 years and 3 or 4 hundred thousand miles later.

In my opinion it's not the parts failing early — but the truck never dying and forcing the parts to keep working beyond their useful life.

As was stated earlier in this thread, LBJs need to be a routine maintenance item instead of a "fix it when it fails" item. Same for radiators. A new $100 radiator could save ones tranny, plus the engine will thank you too.

Two known failure points on a 4Runner are the LBJs and the radiator. Both can be fixed for less than $300. Easy-peazy. :cool:
 
infamousRNR said:
isn't it interesting how most of the pictures we see of lower ball join failures were on trucks that look essentially stock?...
Click to expand...

I see where you are coming from but I think it appears that way because the vast majority of 3rd gens are stock. Those who wheel hard or modify their 4runners are more likely to have already replaced their LBJs I would think.
 
ThorInc said:
Have you considered that you might just be the LBJ bad luck hombre? :fish:
Click to expand...

I told the wife that I should keep $1000 cash on me for the next time I see this. Then I'll tell them that their truck is old and unsafe and will require costly repairs.....but I would be happy to take the truck off their hands for a little cash....


Or I could just makes some cards to hand out that explain what broke, what to replace it with (including part numbers) and the web address of Camelback Toyota for good prices.

Choices choices...
 
Last time I went to the junkyard, I saw two LBJ failures. It's sad that that amount of damage constitutes a totaled insurance claim.

I blew out a pair of OEM lower ball joints with less than 20k with wheeling on 35's. I was a bit surprised they were in such poor shape.
 
rideexileex said:
Last time I went to the junkyard, I saw two LBJ failures. It's sad that that amount of damage constitutes a totaled insurance claim.

I blew out a pair of OEM lower ball joints with less than 20k with wheeling on 35's. I was a bit surprised they were in such poor shape.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think hard wheeling kills them early. 20k sounds early. You must wheel a lot and hard too.

I'm going to replace mine again in a couple of weeks. I have about 60k on them and often have my 3 kids in the truck. $190 is cheap insurance in my mind.
 
I replaced mine at about 150k with OEM from camelback
no slop, no issues , just preventative

just like 3 weeks ago put in a new denso radiator, no issues. preventative
 
I really need to replace mine. Although mine don't have any play and they look fine (the boots) it just makes me really paranoid when driving and my car steering wheel plays a little. Need to just do it for peace of mind.
 
Best $$ I've spent. Just need someone to PM me a link for the best or most common replacement radiator everyone goes with. :)
 
My coworker had about 305k on his original LBJs.
I'd been hounding him for weeks to change them, and he was just about to order some from Camelback when he T-boned a Suburban.

He came out fine and got almost $6k from insurance for it...
 
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