3.4L V6 JBA Headers. Waste of Time, Dismal Failure!! What's your experience?

This is a bit of a bitter rant. Its 2023 and JBA has been manufacturing 3.4L V6 headers for roughly 20 years. You'd think by now they would have quality control and fit down perfect. Not in my case. I have the cab off my 2001 Tacoma from doing a frame change. With the cab in place I would have never been able to get the kit on to the point where I did. The collector pipe is up against the frame and the flange to connect to the cat converter is pointed towards the transmission. I mean how can they actually F*#K That up that bad? I have seen post where guys have ran into miss fitting parts and having to heat and bend stuff. This is way beyond any heating and bending. Someone at the JBA assembly plant took one to many hits off a big fat blunt before returning back to work. I can't imagine someone thinking they are going to install this over a weekend on a fully assembly truck. With the cab on. You have to CUT OUT the original cross pipe. That becomes the point of no return to revert back to the stock exhaust. This would be a really shitty situation for someone thinking they were going to install this on a daily driver in a day or on a weekend. Not happening if your collector pipe its a complete misfit mess like this one is. You can see in the photos where the cross pipe connects to the collector pipe. It's not even coming together straight on. What's your thoughts and experience with JBA headers? When I ordered these from URD a couple months ago. These were the only option available from URD and pretty much anywhere else. I wanted to go with a better brand, but all were out of stock, back ordered or discontinued. I would not take the risk to install these on a daily driver. Have a backup plan to drive when you do start the installation. You have a good chance running into this issue just like I did. I'm sure many of you will say you had a flawless perfect installation. You got lucky and had a production run made with competent skilled fabricators or JBA has recently out sourced production to China or some place else not assembling these correctly anymore.

 

That definitely sucks, Headers are such a pain regardless the maker to install.
I've heard about the fit issues with JBA years ago and went Doug Thorley for my daily because of this.
Doug Thorley is finally back up and running.
I think they were bought out is why no headers were available for awhile and yes some of these companies farm out to China and that's were the quality control issues are coming from.
The pipe hitting the frame and the angle by the transmission and joints are definitely not good
That pipe configuration looks more complicated than Doug Thorley design.
Can you return them? And get the Thorley headers?

 

I may look into a Doug Thorley option. I did like the fact that this particular kit doesn't require you to cut the flange off the cat converter and weld it onto the collector pipe like other kits do. This Is an actual 100% bolt on kit. I totally get the complication of most header installation. Which is why I have never installed a set on a fully assembly truck. Since I changed the frame and the cab is off. Figured this would make a header install super easy. It is until you have a completely defective improperly shaped kit like this. The actual ceramic parts of the kit that bolt onto the cylinder heads seem to be well made. All went down hill with the bare steel piping. Even the cross pipe seems off. When its tightened down to the drivers side header. The cross pipe is almost touching the back of the passenger side cylinder head. I did come across a TRD header set off a T100 about a month ago. I wasn't really that interested in using them since they are used and I have no idea how old they are or the miles on them or how much life they have before they start cracking apart. They do appear to be in good shape all around. Collectors are not showing signs of burning out and cracking. Just want to have a lot of life in what ever header set I get on there. The S-Runner only has 114K miles on it so putting an unknown header on expecting another 100K plus miles may happen or may not. I just do not want to deal with a header change out a year or two from now. I did install the TRD header set on my engine to see how it fits and wow it went on quick. About 15 minutes since no cab in the way and the TRD header has all kinds of good clearance around everything. Only part on the header set that is unique to the T100 is the flange where the cat converter bolts on. On the Tacomas the Cat sits level and the flange bolt holes are like 9 and 3 O' clock positions. On the T100 they are tilted at like a 8 and 2 O' clock positions. In my situation that is a very easy correction for my Tacoma. I have seen where guys have asked if a T100 TRD header set will fit in Tacoma. YES THEY WILL. So if you come across a T100 TRD set. Don't pass on them. Your cat will just sit slighted tilted like they do in the T100s.

 

Night and day difference between the 2… the JBA crossover look like it must be 2 1/2 or 3 inch tube.

 

For what it's worth Doug Thorley have a 3 year warranty too and mine fit perfectly

 

Fawk all of them. They're garbage!

 

WTF!
Headers? With a crossover pipe?

All routed through a single stock exhaust pipe with a muffler?

Things sure have changed since the 60's

 

Good luck getting exhuast pipes down the drivers side at all on a 1st gen taco or 3rd gen runner. Got a steering shaft and a driveshaft/t-case right in the way. Upsizing the crossover and primaries is the best you can do... fact is unless you're boosted this engine don't give a shit about headers anyway.

Or just go all out and upsize the primaries so you can drive something meaningful with the exhaust

 

Followup, I have done some investigating on the fitment of these JBA headers. JBA has two kits. 1996-2000 and 2001-2004. Either kit they say fits ALL V6 Tacomas models for those years. My model is a 5 lug Two Wheel Drive S-Runner. As badly as the fit is for my truck. I figured there had to be more than the pipe being WAY off being bent and shaped wrong. Pretty much argued with tech support on the phone at JBA about my situation. Support guy said their products come off the line flawless and that hundreds of customers have had no issues installing this header kit. I then asked if there is any issues with them fitting a 5 lug V6 two wheel drive? NOT the pre runner that many mistake as being the two wheel drive, but the actual 5 lug two wheel drive which uses a completely different frame and suspension as compared to the 4x4 and Pre Runner models. He hesitated a moment looking at his information and just said fits ALL Tacoma V6 models. That set off a red flag with me. I went and crawled under a friends 1999 V6 4x4 Tacoma and measured the gap between the bell housing and inside of the frame rail. There is about 1 3/4 more inches of room between the transmission and frame rail in the 4x4 compared to my two wheel drive. The space in my two wheel drive is 5 1/8 inches where the exhaust passes through. In the 4x4 it was a little over 6 3/4 inches. That extra 1 3/4 inches would completely resolve my issue. Long story short. THIS HEADER KIT DOES NOT FIT A 5 LUG V6 TACOMA!!!!! JBA sells two kits. One for the 1996-2000 models which is what I have and the 2001-2004 modes. Steve at URD told me this kit has been installed on S-Runners. I think the kit those guys used is the 01-04 kit which has a completely different collector Y pipe that passed by the frame. In those kits you have to cut off the flange from your cat converter and weld it to the Y pipe. I went the all bolt in rout that the 96-00 kit uses to avoid cutting and welding. My advice is if you have a S-Runner or any of the other rare V6 5 Lug two wheel drive Tacomas. Just avoid the JBA headers. They are clearly made for the extra room the 4x4s and Pre Runners have. The 01-04 kits might fit a 5 lug two wheel drive? But all said and done. JBA is miss informing the models these kits fit. the 96-00 kit I have is listed fitting ALL V6 Tacoma models. The frames on the 5 lug V6 two wheel drives are all basically the same from 1996-2004 so this fitment issue will be an issue no mater what year.

 

You found the instance where they are wrong and can prove it. Will they refund your money as the headers do not fit all applications as advertised. It sounds like this needs to be discussed with management at JBA.

 

If you have an S-Runner, why didn't you go for the 2001-2004 kit?

 

I had the same issue with my JBA headers hitting the frame. I threw a ratchet strap around them and over the transmission to bend the header slightly away from the frame. Haven't had any issues with them since.

 

I am replacing the frame on my S-Runner. With that I am damn near updating and replacing all the suspension, brakes, exhaust and steering parts with the replacement frame. The donor frame is from a 1998 V6 5 lug two wheel drive which is the same frame with the exception of a couple options the S-Runner had for the rear sway bar which I will be installing into the new frame. Since the headers are sold based on the exhaust system used for older vs newer years. I decided to go with the older SINGLE cat system used in the 96-00 models to eliminate the double cat system the 01-04 use. The exhaust going in is the 2000 and older design so basically with the single cat 2000 and older exhaust system. The kit I got is correct for my application. So basically you can look at my truck as a 1998 where it counts for this header kit fitting. I have the older exhaust and technically pre 01 frame so the issue will come up regardless of the year. The fact that JBA claims this fits a 96-00 V6 ALL models is still technically wrong. I am not about to go trying a 01-04 kit after dealing with JBA and how unprofessional they are. I have already lost two weeks time getting this truck put back together dealing with this issue and no one seems to be stepping up to resolve this issue. This is a $980 paper weight that is useless to me. The reason I am going the single cat system is so I can run a "Test" pipe in place of the cat when I want to. I have a secondary O2 sensor simulator to get around not running the cat. Having the double cat system the 01-04 models use make it impossible to go catless as easy as it is with the single cat.

 

Is your truck a 4x4? If so you probably didn't have to bend it to much to clear the frame. I would literally need to bend or crush in the tubbing well over and inch to maybe get the Y pipe even pointed into the right direction to connect to the exhaust pipe and I would probably still be up agasint the frame. The fact the other collector pipe with its 3 bolt flange begin right behind it doesn't give much room to bend it much let alone over and inch. You have about 1 3/4 inches more room between the frame rail and transmission then I do and the fact that it was touching the frame in your truck really sheds light on how much more Impossible this is to fit in my 5 lug two wheel drive.

 

Yes it is 4x4.

 

Jeeeez! Those welds are pretty subpar also. Sorry that happened to you brother. This makes me mad and it's not even mine. I'm glad I surfed one of the few places left where you can find honest product reviews nowadays before purchasing myself.

 

Did JBA headers on ONE Tacoma, I think it was 4WD and a 3.4. It was a brutal install as I recall, and one header bolt was impossible to get to. It's like they didn't even test it after designing it....

 

I had JBAs for my 98 while doing the frame swap. Not even remotely close to fitting. They sent me a 2nd set. It was worse. Got my Money back and hunted down TRD headers… 1000% better. Miserable install though

 

I am very convinced that JBA designed this kit using a 4x4 and or Pre Runner truck. From the argument I had with a rep at JBA about my issue. It was clear that the kit was built using a 4x4. The rep was arguing with me about it fitting ALL V6 models. I asked what about 5 lug two wheel drive V6 models "NOT PRE RUNNER" Imposter wannabe 4x4 jacked up two wheel drives. He hesitated a moment then insisted ALL models. Sure it will fit ALL 3.4L V6 engines. I don't think anyone at JBA ever actually tried installing it on an actual 5 lug V6 two wheel drive. I figured out quickly after measuring the frame on a 1998 V6 4x4 and my 2x4 that the frame on a two wheel drive comes in a lot closer to the transmission bell housing. My photos in the earlier post show how bad the fit is tryin to squeeze the header collector pipe between the frame and transmission. The TRD headers are clearly designed a LOT slimmer through that area which allows the TRD headers to truly fit ALL V6 models. Unfortunately, TRDs are discontinued and not many other options are available for these older V6 trucks now days. Wish someone would reproduce a clone of the TRD design. They clear everything well with room to spare. JBAs are so big and bulky. Don't get why they went with that design. ‍♂️ Was hoping someone on this forum would chime in with experience trying to install JBAs on a 5 lug V6 two wheel drive. No one has which is another reason I don't think this is a known issue with JBA. V6 5 lug two wheel drives are very rare and the chances someone has chosen to put headers on a two wheel drive is very slim odds. To pic a JBA kit for any rare chance a V6 two wheel drive is getting header is probably unlikely. I hate to think I am the first one ever to try installing JBAs on a 5 lug V6 Tacoma. But if I am. JBA needs to verify a fit on a 5 lug Tacoma them selves or stop advertising fits ALL V6 models. Probably unlikely someone with a 5 lug V6 will be doing headers. But the odds are someone could. Feel sorry for someone that does attempt to install JBAs on a fully assembled truck after CUTTING off the stock exhaust only to find it wont fit and the stock exhaust is destroyed. V6 two wheel drives run pretty damn good with stock exhaust compared to the much heavier 4x4 cousins. Generally most are happy with the power in stock form in a two wheel drive.

 

Did you install your headers before putting your cab back on? That is what I have done knowing what a pain in the ass any header kit is to install on these V6 models. I have had 5 1st gen V6 Tacomas. First one I bought new off the lot late 2000 which was a 2001 SR5 V6 5 speed Xcab. All the Tacomas I had. I quickly passed on the idea of headers when the idea was considered because of the installation process. 24 years ago I did do a 3.4L swap into a 1991 V6 two wheel drive truck. I did put headers on that truck. Back then Downy Off Road sold headers that dumped down each side which made that install super easy. Joined the two sides together under the truck at the rear of the transmission. No cross over pipe over the transmission at the back of the engine. The high resolution big photos was this truck just before I sold it in 2007. The 3 photos smaller photos over 23 years old after I did the engine swap so the resolution is pretty crappy, but you can see the drivers side Downy header drops down. They are shorty style headers ending just a little past the mating point of the engine and bell housing. Someone should make these kind of headers. They make the install a breeze and can custom rout your pipes where ever you want them.