LBJ/OTR Help needed

I Recently replaced the LBJ with factory units ordered using my vin. I’m fairly certain they were factory units as I for the life of me couldn’t get the outer tie rods off so ordered also factory OTR using the vin, factory parts as well. Well here is where the fun begins. It seems to me as though the ream/taper for the OTR is too large. Is there something I’m missing? When installing the OTRs I’m almost fully smashing the boot to get them mostly tight and the hole for the cotter pin is slightly more than 1/8” above the castle nut. Both sets of parts were ordered from Toyota using my vin to verify fitment yet to me this can’t be right. I even went to Napa and grabbed a set of 555 OTRs to see what the fit would be and they are the same. HELP Tundra gods!!!

 

Measure the old part vs the new part? Mine look to sit pretty low in the taper, but my pin still engages the castlenut.

 

If I could have gotten the old tie rod ends out of the LBJ I could measure but even out of my truck and in a vice no luck. Hammers, pullers, MAAP gas, and more hammers. It’s as if they were welded in, no joke. I even bent a pickle fork beating on them. Lol

 

So, are you putting the new OTR into new knuckles?

 

That is correct sir.

 

I’m almost convinced I was shipped out of spec LBJ assemblies as there is no press fit at all

 

No sir.

 

Those look wrong. What’s with the cone shape and the taper? The ones for my 2000 should be the same as yours and don’t look like that.

 

The ones I removed visually look the same as far as I can tell.

 

I’m going to have to make a few calls tomorrow as I have a trip coming in 2 weeks and need my truck. Living in small town Montana my resources are limited so everything has to be shipped. Then I get to try and get an alignment if I’m even able to get the correct parts. Pretty frustrated at the moment. This has been a 2 week ordeal.

 

When I look up the appropriate parts, they all look like yours, so they are the correct ones. The tie rod is the part that looks different from the old one to the new one. Longer threaded shaft it appears?

 

Honestly at this point I have no idea. I’ve been looking at a lot of parts as well and have seen some that look like yours. I’ve double checked the P/N for the OTR and it comes up as correct. Working through the ball joint assembly now.

 

PERFECT. It would seem the dealership I got the parts from in Cali may have screwed me. Now to see if I can get the correct LBJs shipped FAST.

 

These were my part #’s when I changed mine last year and bought through the dealership. I have a 2001 4x4 AC Part# 4334039356 Suspension Ball Joint (Left, Front, Lower) Part# 4333039466 Suspension Ball Joint (Right, Front, Lower)

 

Thank you.

 

Always check your part numbers. The top 10 lines or so of this thread will give you an easy system to use.

In your case, after you hit that EPC DATA website linked in the 1st bullet point of that thread, you'll click on "Transmission and chassis", then next to the 2nd exploded, click "Front axle arm & steering knuckle" to find your LBJ, UCA, LCA, UBJ and steering knuckle.

If you back out to the "Transmission and chassis" section, the "Front steering gear & link" section has your steering rack and tie rod ends.

Remember, you can click the link below any exploded image to expand it, and many of the parts you can just click on inside the picture to pull the p/n. This system, from what I've found, will always pull based on your VIN. It hasn't failed me yet when pulling parts for others. There are some quirks, like sometimes with interior parts, you may have multiple colors, or the part description may tell you a cab type (access, standard, double) or feature (2WD, 4WD, TOW PKG, etc.) so always read the descriptions and look for special symbols in the corners of the exploded image.

Sorry you got hosed.

 

I've also had a Toyota dealership send the wrong part even though the part # on the plastic bag was correct. Someone bagged it wrong.

It was that asshole Eric at Serra Toyota. @shifty`

 

This being my first Toyota I naturally assumed (I know I know ) that ordering through a Toyota dealership using the VIN would be safe. Lesson learned I guess. I would truly like to bash them online as this has been beyond frustrating. Being a new member here I thought better as I don’t want to be the negative type. At least not yet. Just trying to do right by the ole girl.

 

So to clarify, which parts were wrong and what were they for?

 

Yup, Eric Francis at Serra Toyota of Birmingham also shipped me the wrong part, bagged with the correct #, and screwed me over for weeks after, refusing to do anything, blaming it on Toyota, saying he's dealing wit hthem. I still have the part, it was one of the mud flap aprons that covers the openings on either side of the strut.

Eric Francis is an asshole. Refuses to own up to his mistakes. I seriously contemplated shooting an email to Steve Serra at the time to complain that this is what his Parts people are doing. Maybe I should've... Steve died in February, 6 months ago, at age 54. And Eric Francis is still an incompetent asshole.

I'm not so delicate. When a dealership screws me over, blatantly, I'll make a fuss.

I gave the right part number. I posted pics of the parts laid out showing the exact same part - all those aprons are different shapes - on my counter, with unbroken stickers, clearly showing two identical parts with different part numbers. Dude tried to tell me, "Oh this is a problem at Toyota corporate!" and said he emailed them several times over the course of 2 months. When I finally broke down and bought the part at my local dealership, the parts person was, like, "Uh ... bro, that guy is full of shit. Corporate doesn't bag any of our parts, there's a local warehouse feeds all the dealerships in their area and we bag and tag things. I worked at one other place where the local distro WH bags and tags, but ... either way, this dude is running you through the ringer because he doesn't want to admit to it. This Eric Francis from Serra Toyota of Birmingham sounds like a lazy schmuck, and an embarrassment to any Toyota Parts Department. Glad he doesn't work here!"

Honestly, if you use that EPC website, plug in your VIN, and find a different part# gets spit out than what you got, I'd be carrying that shit back and raising hell with the parts manager. Show him their guys gave you the wrong part, and you looked up the part yourself, and it was the right part.

Most dealerships have a pretty strict policy: If you give them the part number, and it's wrong, that's your fault. If they look up the part and give you the wrong part#, they'll accept the return. But some of them won't take back any part with clear signs of use. It's worth a shot though, this isn't exactly chump change here.

 

At this point I’m guessing it was the LBJ. The packaging only had the p/n for the set and not for the individual parts. It’s in one of the photos above. The one on the box. The numbers for the outer assembly are correct. Shifty thank you for the tutorial with the parts list, that allowed me to verify what I have as far as the outer assemblies go.