Safety Recall!

[corth]

Hello all,

I got the recall letter two weeks ago and finally took my 2003 Tundra in for work on Monday. It took the dealer a couple of hours to do the job. The service advisor told me that he is scheduling two vehicles a day for the recall work.

I've put a hundred or so miles on the truck since the recall. I am pleased. I think there is less play in the steering wheel. My truck had an alignment a few months prior to the recall work when I did the steering rack bushing upgrade and had new tires put on it. That alignment didn't seem to fix the vagueness that was bothering me.

Perhaps I am exhibiting "confirmation bias," but the steering feels better. Has anyone else noticed this after the recall work? All seems well.

[DeebsTundra]

I just had the work done on my '03 as well. The biggest thing I notice, is the front end no longer squeeks like a rusty gate going over bumps. The steering wheel does have less play, the steering feels a little stiffer, and over all seems to drive just like it did when I bought it.

Very pleased with it.

[MOREPOWER]

i just got my letter for the recal, but the work was done almost 2 months back i did not wait to get it done, i never saw any difference steering is the same

[RobertT3]

I'm still waiting on my recall letter...

[anmrivera]

Just had my service done. They replaced both LBJ's and gave it a front end allignment. I noticed that they reused the 14M bolts. In the write up in the TSB Database it says that if there are 14MM bolts they must be replaced but if it was 17 they were good. I was assuming that the kit then came with 17MM bolts! Especially since they had to keep my truck from Thurs AM to Fri mid day cause they were waiting on a bolt. Looks to me like they used the original 8 bolts that were on the old LBJ. Is this normal?

[mustang67408]

No they dont change the bolts. It says in the SSC

If the sizes of the bolt heads are 17
mm, lower ball joint replacement is

NOT NECESSARY

. Proceed to
section “VIII. SSC COMPLETION
LABEL INSTALLATION”.

•

If the sizes of the bolt heads are 14
mm, replace the lower ball joints
using part 04005-21134. Proceed to
section “VII. WORK PROCEDURE”.

The vehicles w/17MM bolts have already been updated at the factory. They are the later model tundras and SEQ's. You have to check the VIN's and inspect the ball joints for production dates, in order to determine which is the correct joint for that particular vehicle, IF IT NEEDS IT.
Hope this clears it up.
Yes, they should have come with new bolts too.

[anmrivera]

Originally Posted by mustang67408

Yes, they should have come with new bolts too.

So, if they did not replace my bolts is there a problem with that.

[mustang67408]

No there is no problem.
I PERSONALLY THINK< THEY SHOULD HAVE COME WITH NEW BOLTS>
But they do not.

[bunker7]

Hi.

Just had my 03 Tundra serviced and they did the recall on the LBJ's at the local dealer. Am I mistaken in assuming that a alignment has to be done after the lower ball joints are replaced? The service department says they can change the balljoints with no effect on the alignment. Is this correct?
A have just put a new set of tires on and don't what to see them wear out early.

Hans

[mustang67408]

Originally Posted by bunker7

Hi.

Just had my 03 Tundra serviced and they did the recall on the LBJ's at the local dealer. Am I mistaken in assuming that a alignment has to be done after the lower ball joints are replaced? The service department says they can change the balljoints with no effect on the alignment. Is this correct?
A have just put a new set of tires on and don't what to see them wear out early.

Hans

I have done alot and i mean alot of 50J's. I have only found 1 vehicle out of all of them whos alignment wasnt off after replaceing the ball joints. TOYOTA will pay for a alignment when doing the ball joint replacement. ANY DEALER who doesnt perform this operation is short cutting the job and you should demand that it be done or find a dealer who will do it going in. The tech gets paid well for this job with the alignment and there is no excuse not to check it and be sure.
Ask MIKE DONOFRIO about this and his sisters tramatic exp.

[anmrivera]

Originally Posted by bunker7

Hi.

Just had my 03 Tundra serviced and they did the recall on the LBJ's at the local dealer. Am I mistaken in assuming that a alignment has to be done after the lower ball joints are replaced? The service department says they can change the balljoints with no effect on the alignment. Is this correct?
A have just put a new set of tires on and don't what to see them wear out early.

Hans

I read somewhere on here that if the tie rod ends were removed an alignment should be performed. I crawled under my truck the day before I had it done and marked the cotter pin to the tie rod bolts with a black permanent marker. I also did not see a way to remove the LBJ with out disconnecting hte tie rod anyway. Long story short, they obviously removed the tie rod cotter pins and my dealer ended up aligning my truck too. It pulled to the right a bit before the job and now the steering wheel is straigh when the truck is driving straight. I would tell them to do it. It is part of the job I think.

[RobertT3]

Well I've not gotten the safety recall letter yet..I ain't waiting any longer so I'll set up an appointment to get the ball joints replaced...

[Propak]

After a long hard fought battle Toyota has reimbursed me for the repairs done to my truck BEFORE the recall went into effect. To make a long story short- I had both left AND right front wheels come off (april 2004 & March 2005) after the lower ball joints failed on both. Fortunately I was travelling slow and I was uninjured. I had both repaired out of my pocket ($4500) and started sending letters to Toyota and NTSA. In July the recall came out. Hoorah! I recieved a letter in August from Toyota CSC telling me to do the 50J anyway so I went ahead and did that. I recieved a call in September from Toyota saying that my VIN# was not in the recall. Yeah right. He was clueless. I knew more about the recall than he did thanks to this website! He said he would do some research and get back to me...never heard from him again. I was going to start with my round of phone calls and letter writing again this week (just back from vacation) when lo and behold a check from Toyota! Not the full amount but I was asking for the rental car fees which they didn't pay. It was for $3985.00 . I am pretty sure there are not many that are in my situation but if so I would encourage you to be patient but persistant if you are seeking a settlement from a repair performed on the LBJ's before the recall. Toyota may try to tell you you're not included in the recall but don't take that as fact until you have checked it out yourself.

Drive safe!

[KArn Atull]

Finally got my recall letter. Anyone know of a dealer in SoCal that is doing the alignment with the ball joint replacement?

[cubic22]

I thought that was included with the replacement is the alignment....