thezentree
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2023
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It is a giant pain in the ass, but on the plus side you get to buy a 20T harbor freight shop press.
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3rd gen 4runner/1st gen tacoma thread
- Thread starter YotaAtieToo
- Start date
-
- Tags
- toyota
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Pulled the knuckles off today, local shop has all the special tools and said he'd be happy to just do the press work if I brought them in.
I did notice it seems like the seals didn't do a great job keeping rust out. I'm wondering if the the vato zone cv's are not exactly perfect and don't seal well? Just seems odd that the bearings lasted over 300k, then I had a guy do them around 310k, (he actually only did one side because it was such a pain and he said the one he took out looked perfect) about that time I put the cheap cv's in and now less than 40k later they're bad again.
Luckily I have some oem cv's to go in and this time I'll fill that cavity with moly grease.
Figured I'll do LCA bushings, brake lines and sway bar stuff at the same time since I skipped that last time.
I did notice it seems like the seals didn't do a great job keeping rust out. I'm wondering if the the vato zone cv's are not exactly perfect and don't seal well? Just seems odd that the bearings lasted over 300k, then I had a guy do them around 310k, (he actually only did one side because it was such a pain and he said the one he took out looked perfect) about that time I put the cheap cv's in and now less than 40k later they're bad again.
Luckily I have some oem cv's to go in and this time I'll fill that cavity with moly grease.
Figured I'll do LCA bushings, brake lines and sway bar stuff at the same time since I skipped that last time.
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Was about to button this up last weekend and noticed the spc ball joints were sloppy 
maybe 10k miles on them.
Found lots of people having the same issue with ball joints bought around that time (late 21 to early 22) but said spc was taking care of them. I contacted them and they had me order new ones, now I'm supposed to send the old ones in for them to look over.
The new ones are different, no zerk, and longer stem, which requires changing the adapter in the knuckle out. Obviously they saw an issue if they totally redesigned them. Hopefully they will honor the warranty.
Hardcore tech incoming
I wanted to use the 04 tacoma sway bar I had to get rid of the stupid stem bushings, as the tacoma uses mini rodends on both sides of the link. The tacoma has the tabs up on top of the a arm so the link is way to short. I looked around and found 16-23 tacoma has a longer link, but with rod ends on both sides, so I ordered aftermarket links with hiem booties. They fit perfectly.
Also, for rockota
The spc joint has 3/4" of offset. So would move out 1 1/2" if flipped. I'd think the adjustment in the arm would get you to 2". At minimum, you might have to live with a hair more camber.
2" tie rod extensions would be nice to find. Lots of companies making similar shit, but can't find them in M20x1.50.
Wierd they went down to 15 and 16mm in later models?
Now the problem is that the +2" cv's are now where to be found anymore
So either spend the $2300 on rcv's which I'm not 100% sure are available. Or pull apart some stock cv's and have some longer center shafts made. Which I can't imagine would be very expensive.
Other thing would be trying to figure out if the center axle is the same splines as another model Toyota. Anyone have any 2md or 3rd gen cv's to pull apart? Tundra?
maybe 10k miles on them.Found lots of people having the same issue with ball joints bought around that time (late 21 to early 22) but said spc was taking care of them. I contacted them and they had me order new ones, now I'm supposed to send the old ones in for them to look over.
The new ones are different, no zerk, and longer stem, which requires changing the adapter in the knuckle out. Obviously they saw an issue if they totally redesigned them. Hopefully they will honor the warranty.
Hardcore tech incoming
I wanted to use the 04 tacoma sway bar I had to get rid of the stupid stem bushings, as the tacoma uses mini rodends on both sides of the link. The tacoma has the tabs up on top of the a arm so the link is way to short. I looked around and found 16-23 tacoma has a longer link, but with rod ends on both sides, so I ordered aftermarket links with hiem booties. They fit perfectly.Also, for rockota
The spc joint has 3/4" of offset. So would move out 1 1/2" if flipped. I'd think the adjustment in the arm would get you to 2". At minimum, you might have to live with a hair more camber.
2" tie rod extensions would be nice to find. Lots of companies making similar shit, but can't find them in M20x1.50.
Wierd they went down to 15 and 16mm in later models?
Now the problem is that the +2" cv's are now where to be found anymore
So either spend the $2300 on rcv's which I'm not 100% sure are available. Or pull apart some stock cv's and have some longer center shafts made. Which I can't imagine would be very expensive.
Other thing would be trying to figure out if the center axle is the same splines as another model Toyota. Anyone have any 2md or 3rd gen cv's to pull apart? Tundra?
Last edited:
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Ignore the ball joint Pic, I have them in backwards 
Must have dreaming about the +2"
Must have dreaming about the +2"
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
So I lost the timing belt in my 3.4 today. It was replaced about 40k miles ago, which makes me wonder why it went out?
I'm just curious what guys are replacing at this point? I did the full kit last time, but seems unnecessary with only 40k miles on those parts?
I'm just curious what guys are replacing at this point? I did the full kit last time, but seems unnecessary with only 40k miles on those parts?
tsomctl
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2023
- Member Number
- 6644
- Messages
- 82
If the belt was so shitty that it broke this soon, I'd be worried about how shitty the water pump and idler pulleys are.
Just don't buy ITM.
FleshEater
Ordinary Average Guy
Is that an interference engine? If so are you doing valves now, too?
tsomctl
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2023
- Member Number
- 6644
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- 82
It's not
FleshEater
Ordinary Average Guy
Well that’s awesome.
I see Rock Auto has 2 Aisin component kits. I know nothing about these engines so the hydraulic tensioner seemed unique.
rockota
white collar hillbilly
- Joined
- May 28, 2020
- Member Number
- 1642
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- 3,967
Cummins swap?
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
I had that thought also, but 90% sure I got oem stuff.
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Slander
Team no stickys
Uhh replace whatever is broken, and if nothing is then just the belt
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Uhh replace whatever is broken, and if nothing is then just the belt
That's my thought since the stuff is not that old, but at the same time "while I'm there"
rockota
white collar hillbilly
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- May 28, 2020
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Don’t ya have to pull the water pump to do the belt anyway?
Slander
Team no stickys
No, it's the crank pulley and fan bracket you have to pull
rockota
white collar hillbilly
- Joined
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- 3,967
gotcha... have to pull the belt to get to the water pump. I had it backwards.
Been a while since I did one.
Slander
Team no stickys
Happens!gotcha... have to pull the belt to get to the water pump. I had it backwards.
Been a while since I did one.
YotaAtieToo if you want to fire up the money cannon, replace that fan bracket assembly. I had the fan bearing fail on me a few years back, and it wasn't worth my time to attempt to replace just the bearing, so I swapped the entire bracket out.
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
It's a tough call between "it's a 350k rig" and "I don't want to be stranded by a $50 part"
Good idea though
YotaAtieToo
Thick skull
Spc ended up honoring the warranty on the ball joints. Hopefully the new design last a lot longer.