New TC part for 1st gen taco, 3rd gen 4 runner, first gen tundra

[Camper shell fun]

Hey dudes I’m not sure who on here knows that I work at TC and have for the last almost 18 years, but I have been working on this project for the last just over two years. I put my blood sweat and tears into this project end it’s pretty satisfying to finally be able to talk about it. I originally just designed these for my own truck because after I had my son I realized I did not want to have a lower ball joint failure with him in the car so I got to work. I now know more about these front ends than I ever wanted to but at least it’s done. Anyhow, yes I know they are expensive but trust me they were not cheap to make. I have 30,000 miles on mine and my coworker has another 5k on his. As some of you may know I’m not exactly easy on my truck so you can guarantee that they have been tested for durability. Check them out and please help me spread the word so that people stop busting lower ball joints and totaling their trucks. Sorry for any typos this is talk texting.

https://www.chaosfab.com/product/1996-2004-Toyota-Tacoma-Lower-Uniball-Conversion-OE-Tie-Rod
https://www.chaosfab.com/product/1996-2004-Toyota-Tacoma-Lower-Uniball-Conversion-Heim-Steering
This last picture is the first prototype that I did a year and a half ago that was made by hand

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

Love it dude. Having the kiddo's make you rethink safety.

 

[Mullen]

I'm more impressed (read: jealous) that you put 30k miles on your desert truck in two years. I'll have to swing by the shop soon, I live right round the corner from TC.

I love that TC is still innovating for older platforms when everyone else has moved on to only developing parts for new trucks. I miss the days when you could build a solid desert truck for $15k, truck included. Keep it up fellas.

 

[dose]

Great job M! I love watching your sleeper out smashing. Stoked these are available now.
-Dusty in mammoth

 

[theycallmeWALLY]

Great job M! I love watching your sleeper out smashing. Stoked these are available now.
-Dusty in mammoth

You should go for a ride in that beast. Literally blew my mind.

 

[5lugger95]

Very cool guys. I bet you will sell a lot with how popular the 3rd gen 4runner is with overlanders. Just sold my 3rd gen, regrettably now that you have come out with this product.

 

[alberto]

With 30k+ miles on them, any issues with the snap rings taking all the stress???

 

[dwphoto]

@Camper shell fun

 

[Camper shell fun]

With 30k+ miles on them, any issues with the snap rings taking all the stress???

This is a topic that I knew would come up at some point, as some people have argued the snap ring is on the “wrong” side. There is a reason why the snap ring is on the bottom in this application and there were pros and cons to doing it this way. To put the snap ring on top we would have not been able to put the ring on the top of the part that registers into the bottom of the steering knuckle. The pros of adding that sheer ring on the top of the unit ball conversion outweighed the “cons“ of putting the snap ring on the bottom. While the snap ring is under load it is really only under extreme load when the uni-ball is being pushed directly downwards, when there is any type of misalignment on the uni-ball, and it is being pushed in any direction other than directly up and down, there is not direct load being pushed on the snap ring as that load is being dispersed into the side of the uniball cup and the snapping. The other reason that this design did not concern me, was that all of our uniball conversions for the Caddy kits have the same configuration and we have never had a failure. On top of that we have some government contracts where this design is used on 10,000+lb vehicles with the load being pushed on the snap ring and we have never had a failure on those vehicles either. As long as the snap ring is installed correctly with the ring completely in the groove, I have never seen one fail. That is not to say it has never happened on other products as I can only speak for what I have seen in my 18 years at the company. Let me know if this makes sense, or if you have any other questions I’d be more than happy to answer them.

 

[alberto]

Perfect explanation. You layed it out perfectly.
(theoretically, no direct downward tugging on the snap ring) Thank You.

 

[Anzuelo]

Hey dudes I’m not sure who on here knows that I work at TC and have for the last almost 18 years, but I have been working on this project for the last just over two years. I put my blood sweat and tears into this project end it’s pretty satisfying to finally be able to talk about it. I originally just designed these for my own truck because after I had my son I realized I did not want to have a lower ball joint failure with him in the car so I got to work. I now know more about these front ends than I ever wanted to but at least it’s done. Anyhow, yes I know they are expensive but trust me they were not cheap to make. I have 30,000 miles on mine and my coworker has another 5k on his. As some of you may know I’m not exactly easy on my truck so you can guarantee that they have been tested for durability. Check them out and please help me spread the word so that people stop busting lower ball joints and totaling their trucks. Sorry for any typos this is talk texting.

https://www.chaosfab.com/product/1996-2004-Toyota-Tacoma-Lower-Uniball-Conversion-OE-Tie-Rod
https://www.chaosfab.com/product/1996-2004-Toyota-Tacoma-Lower-Uniball-Conversion-Heim-SteeringView attachment 4260View attachment 4261View attachment 4261
This last picture is the first prototype that I did a year and a half ago that was made by hand
View attachment 4258

Can you contact me about these?

 

[dwphoto]

Can you contact me about these?

Hit up Pat at TC. (951) 737-9682

@Camper shell fun is probably in the shop welding.

 

[Turboyota]

I bought a set a couple months ago that will be getting installed over thanksgiving.

So excite!!!