What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

All the new parts

OEM
LCAs, outer tie rods, lower ball joints, alignment hardware.

-reman fr33lance steering rack with poly bushings.
-new poly sway bar bushings

 

Little frame rub there, eh brother?

 

5 years Worth at full lock to the left, but not anymore. Might have to put some black paint on that

 

I'd make him pay for that.

 

Today I installed Toyota OEM lower ball joints (LBJ). This was a very rare pleasant installation. Replacing these ball joints was very easy. I had to do no MacGyver'n.

Since buying this Tundra, I had been watching YouTube videos on truck tires, shocks, lift/leveling, fluid changes, timing belts etc. and videos on LBJs catastrophes kept popping up in my streams. So, I inspected the LBJs for play and they were ok. The steering was solid and there was no clunks or noise coming from the suspension. Additionally, I had to get the truck inspected here in MD to get it tagged and titled and the shop guy said the LBCs were good. However, those videos just kept popping up and my gut feeling made me do a deeper visual inspection and I found a rip in the driver side LBJ boot which prompted me to be proactive and just get rid of them because I did not know the brand or when they had been replaced. I figured if the previous owner installed Carquest shocks and struts, they probably installed aftermarket LBJs, which they did. I found the driver side LBJ boot was even worse than what I could see during the visual inspection. The driver side boot was ripped in half but I could not see this rip with the LBJ compressed onto the vehicle. The passenger side LBJ boot was also ripped but not as bad as the driver side and it had a slight up and down play that did not show during the tire test.

Question: What is the general replacement time frame for the LBJ on these trucks?

FYI: I found that the Toyota OEM parts were cheaper or the same price as some auto store parts. I was surprised.

 

my experience was the same. A simple inspection does not reveal the play in these due to the tension they are under. My personal change interval will be every 100k with the timing belt

 

I would say general replacement timeframe if you use OEM LBJ is 80k-100k miles if you want to play it safe. With aftermarket, I would reduce that to 8k-15k miles.

 

The Chinese love to cheat, one way of saving money is to use clay filler in rubber products. I had the same problem with Napa axles, the boots disintegrated after one year.

I thought jacking up the lower control arm to test them took the tension off the LBJ.

 

So how are folks receiving toy valve cover gaskets being shipped? Flat or wadded up like this? They are flexible... but ... how hard was it to ship flat instead of bent up since they're supposed to last maybe 200k. Two sets of VC gaskets so 4 total in same bag with about 70 other parts (nuts, bolts grommets, Intake gaskets, spark tubes). Seems like the VC gaskets should have shipped separately with the intake gaskets in a flat box.

 

I lay stuff like that out in the sun for a bit to soften up so they lay flat. Actually anything rubber or rubber like will become more flexible in the sun and easier to work with, even tires.

 

put in husky floor mats b4 the snow hits...however past few days its been raining hard, so I have a small puddle on pass floor. Not my daily driver so never noticed water or mold smells...but it smells like a dog..p.o. had lots of dogs.

 

Got an email from Powerstop about the brake hose recall. I got that sent in so I figured I'd keep an eye on the hoses and reservoir and pocket the refund.

 

Probably cowl clips
LINK
Be sure to be mindful of what's at this LINK

 

Alright I've had these R1 Concepts brakes for a little while now. Performance is pretty good. Probably need to bleed the brakes to get a little more bite out of them, but when you lay into them they definitely grab. Only con is the brake dust is crazy.

 

Appreciate the feedback. EBC yellas also bite hard. They also shed a ton of dust. Guess that's the price to pay.

 

Cowl leak?

[Edit.] This.

 

I'd add to this, the community megathread is your friend: https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

Your likely problem is listed there in the nuisances section.

• Water leaks, from rain, car wash, or otherwise: Check this thread for the common ones you may find, the cowl leak into the passenger side is hugely common and very easy to fix.

 

Not Toyota, but both times i’ve ordered replacement OEM valve cover gaskets for my KTM 990, they just come kinda wadded up a bit in a plastic bag. KTM gaskets are really nice supple rubber though, so there’s absolutely no need to lay anything out in the sun to warm up. I would think OEM gaskets from any major automotive manufacturer would be the same?

 

the felpro kit i bought for my '87 s10 blazer came flat packed and one of the gaskets was hard creased. They fixed it, but took 3 days.

 

Didn't say you had to lay it in the sun but when you've been at it as long as I have (since 1958) you just might run across a situation where that little hint could be the difference between fits and doesn't fit. Eventually OEM parts become obsolete and you have to rely on 3rd party vendors whose quality may not be up to OEM standards and rubber gaskets may not be as resilient or flexible. So the sun trick is just a hint to store away.

 

Used it on the hose for my breather extension, was all tightly coiled up. Worked like a charm.

 

Warm water in the sink works too for non-pliable hoses. Like let's say you needed to rob an old fuel hose off of your buddies old ass boat to repair a pin hole leak in the fuel line on your commuter car. But the hose is hard and won't go into the shape needed to route through the car openings. Theoretically speaking of course.

 

#StrangelySpecific

 

Sorry I missed this, I didn't go behind the panels because they all work and I don't mind the low green look. I just wanted much brighter light in all the cab lights when not driving. I just replaced the drivers foot light (it exists?, glove box, map lights, dome and door inserts. I just used scamazon and bought the absolute cheapest blubs I could because you get about 5 more bulbs than you really need per size and they have all ended up working perfectly. I just don't want to pay any real money on these little lights and all these cheap chinese bulbs are brighter than OEM and none of them have failed yet. This guy kinda fucks this process up but this video inspired me and got me the general knowledge I needed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1MKCgnfCu4&t=0s

 

Would not greasing my poly steering rack bushings cause a small clunk when turning slow in a parking lot?

 

Thanks. I appreciate the reply.

 

Doubt it. More likely to be your sway bar links.

 

I’ll probably need to do those. It’s kind of a clunk/creak

 

I had to change a torn boot on my PS rack. Since I had to remove the outer tie rod end to do it, I figured I'd just buy new ends (this time Dorman) since I had installed Moog a few years back and have heard terrible things ever since! Well, the Moog end was just fine, nice and tight still. Curiously, it was marked "555" on the casting. Hmmm...

 

on another forum (4runners) someone said they got moog upper ball joints and they were 555's..upper ball joints are not as critical as lowers, so many use aftermarket uppers, Guess it just matters what best deal the supplier can get​