Did my Dealer skimp out on parts?

Hi, new member. Looking forward to spending a lot of time here. Zero knowledge here, but excited to learn.

Just bought my first truck — '03 AC, 4.7 V8, 130k. Pretty meticulous maintenance history. So meticulous, the LBJs were done at around 20k.

So I just had them redone for safety's sake at the dealer. But something looks off about it — the replaced assembly looks like a mix of parts?

Every pic or vid I've seen of the LBJ assembly has the "protector" piece as part of the part. In these pics, it looks like the Dealer used the existing. Should I be concerned about that indicating any kind of "wrong" part used?

 

Welcome! People who know stuff will be around soon with answers.

 

I think they just didn't have any dust shields on hand and reused your old ones.

What part of the Texagon are you located?

 

If they just got a ball joint the protector is a separate part through Toyota. Either way I wouldn't be concerned it's nothing other than a piece of plastic.

I believe the 'recall kit' has all of the pieces.

 

I would say nah but it’s weird the new LBJ’s didn’t already have new dust shields on them.
Honestly, I would go talk to a manager and have them install new LBJ’s that have the dust shields already on them. It’s a part of the package. And since you probably had to pay a premium at the stealership. I’d expect zero corners cut.

For an example here’s mine. ~10kmiles

rubber boot still looks fresh

 

I would want to see the art number on the package for the parts they used. If it's the updated LBJ, good to go. Curious why the dust protector wouldn't be included though.

 

Thanks y'all. I'm in the Austin Metro. Here's the parts list:

43330-39605
43340-39485
90119-10933

How do you tell the difference between the updated and non-updated LBJ?

 

For the larger style ball joints that come on the 2004 and new trucks, I know the recall kit comes with the rubber shields and they are already fastened to the BJ. I don’t know if this true if you buy both BJs individually. Then again the BJs cost a lot more when you do buy them individually, so maybe that what the dealer did?

 

see if this link helps you out...
https://www.tundras.com/threads/lower-ball-joints-part-numbers.97100/

 

Those are good current part numbers for a L and R ball joint and a new bolt kit for a 2003 Tundra. You should be good. There's a "kit" that contains everything including the dust covers, they simply used the individual parts and not the full kit.

 

Perfect, thanks. Feeling good about it now. Of course, the kit seems to be ~50% cheaper than buying individually. Live and learn!

 

orrrr could of searched this forum. Cause it been asked like a billion times. I lurked for months getting information before I became a member.

 

The kit you don't get bolts, so you're buying those separately anyway. You'll want to use new bolts due to fastener stretch; there's quite a few folks who actually snap the LBJ at the bolt, not the joint.

I would've come out about 15-20% cheaper buying the kit and bolts, IIRC. But there are only certain places you can buy the kit, all online, so after all was said and done, it was a wash.

I bought individually, and bought 8 new bolts.

 

Nevermind. I see you provided the part number for the bolts, so I guess they did the bolts? They sure don't look new to me....

 

Agree with DigFerg those bolts look used. They are the black bolts which should only be torqued to 37 ft-lbs. In testing they retain their strength and grip better on reuse than do the red or green bolts which are torqued to 59 ft-lbs. Look at the Spicer Engineering posts here and on the Taco forums. Personally I would not re-use any LBJ bolts.