I have a 2009 200 series lc. OME 2 inch lift. I have busted my front right axle (in the cv) twice. Both times in very very mild conditions. Once in my front yard stuck in 2 feet of snow and once in the mountains on a dirt road covered in 12 inches of snow. Both times with the center diff lock engaged. There was zero resistance in the tires. basically free spinning when the axles broke. No wheel or vehicle hop or anything. The only thing i can figure is the VSC sensed the front right tire spinning and activated the brake and busted the axle. I have busted axles in Moab after vehicle hop or having a spinning tire grip suddenly (in other 4x4's) but i have never seen or heard of an axle breaking so easy and from VSC. I know it should never brake hard enough to cause this but there is no other explanation. there was zero resistance on the tire. the second time my axle broke it actually cracked the cross member where the axle is bolted. A tremendous amount of torque obviously was sent thru the wheel. Any one else ever experience the same? I am thinking of installing front and year arb's but with out being able to deactivate the VSC what happens when all 4 tires spin? Does it cut power and brake all four tires? Its ridiculous you cant disable VSC in an off road vehicle!!!!
Busted front axle twice on 200 series (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter bigperm
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Who says you cant disable VSC and TRC? Just hold the button down for 3 seconds.
It's in the manual...
It's in the manual...
I hope you realize that VSC is turned off automatically when you lock the center differential.........and also that VSC does not try to correct wheel slip. VSC=Vehicle Skid Control, it keeps you from wrapping yourself around a tree on icy or wet roads, not getting out of snow
Got pictures of the busted axles?
Yeah, I just assumed he meant TRC, which can be disabled by holding the button for 3 seconds.
As they say....
RTFM!
- Thread starter
- #5
Sorry I mean the A Trac in conjunction with Vehicle Stability Control (VSC). From what the Toyota tech told me in the Tundra, Tacoma and FJ when you engage 4 wheel drive it automatically turns this off. There is no way in the LC to disable A Trac according to the tech. While it is designed to help in a skid or in rough terrain from what I understand it works by braking the the spinning tire and sending the power to the wheel that is gripping. The first axle broke inside the cv joint and it busted the cv casing. Toyota threw it away before I got any pics. The second axle is still in the truck at the dealership. It busted inside the cv and didn't bust the housing so the pictures dont show anything. when they pull it i do want to see what broke on the inside. I would love to know how to disable the VSC and A Trac. Ill try holding it in for 3 seconds when i get the truck back. Hopefully the tech is just wrong!
Is the vehicle modded in any way? Lift? Large tires?
Can you be more specific about how the axle broke? At the CV joint or in the middle? Do you have a picture of it?
There are several guys on here with lifts and larger tires, that wheel their 200s and have zero issues, not to mention all the guys in other countries that do the same. A lift wouldn't cause an axle to break......leaky CV joints maybe (atleast on a 100), but not an axle failure. What this guy is experiencing is an anomaly.
I hear what you're saying but if it's not done right/installed correctly things are going to break.
lowenbrau
SILVER Star
Really? What exactly about a 2" OME lift can you install improperly to cause a broken axle?
No need to get worked up. Plenty of 2" lifts create poor angles. I'm not familiar with the OME lift and speak purely from having worked on a few other vehicles.
But if I may so bold as to ask you a question, have you ever heard of something like this happening to a stock LC on two occasions in such mild conditions?
lowenbrau
SILVER Star
No need to get worked up. Plenty of 2" lifts create poor angles. I'm not familiar with the OME lift and speak purely from having worked on a few other vehicles.
But if I may so bold as to ask you a question, have you ever heard of something like this happening to a stock LC on two occasions in such mild conditions?
I'm not worked up but twice you have pointed to the lift as being a mitigating factor in this breakage and I wondered if you had some knowledge that I didn't. ARB has been pretty conservative with their lifts on new models to keep the angles within reason. I'd be shocked if the lift had much of an influence.
If you can believe the original poster's story it does seem very strange to break axles in such mild conditions. Strange enough to make me want to follow along to see what the whole story ends up being. Having owned, broke and worked on as many Land Cruisers as I have, it doesn't seem likely that that latest model is flimsy. I remember, however when 100s were relatively new, people were breaking front diffs in similar wet snow conditions. Toyota had to rethink the front diff for the 2000 model year.
It would be interesting if the damage is caused by some computer controlled combination of throttle, lockers and brakes.
Some interesting insight, I appreciate it. You may well be right that, if the story is true, that the computers are behind it. If so, it poses more questions about Toyota's software unless this is an isolated incident. One would certainly hope so.
I heard that they'd really beefed up the front end on the 200 after problems with the 100 so it's good to hear you confirm that that's the case as I'm close to pulling the trigger on one.
- Thread starter
- #16
It broke both times in the cv joint. The second time it actually busted the top bolt of the cross member along with the inner cv. Ill run by the dealership on my way home and grab some pics. I have the same lift on my 09 Tundra and I had it on my 08 Tundra and I wheeled those waaaaaaayyyy harder and never had issues. I just installed the ARB front locker on my Tundra so hopefully I dont start busting stuff.
I had an 08 Tundra, ran well on road and wheeled some mild trails with ease but I wanted diesel towing power and hogher payload hence the new PU.
How similar are the front ends on the Tundra and LC 200?
lowenbrau
SILVER Star
Nearly identical. The control arms are a bit longer on the Tundra, I think.
looks like a quality control problem on the metal casting, that should not break.
