Finished putting on my OME front struts and rear coils shocks about two weeks ago. Took the 4runner into the dealer for alignment (was same price as local tire shops).

They reported the drivers UCA has a lot of play. Suggested replacing.

They haven’t quoted yet, but I’m guessing $600 or so.

Before I do, is it likely the excessive play is just bushings? Truck has 215k and I’m not sure they’ve ever been replaced.

So options are:
1) Pay dealer +\- $600 to replace with OEM
2) Replace myself and maybe do both sides for +\- $450 in parts
3) Just replace bushings. But I don’t know how to test the play. And already pulling off the UCA I’d be keen to just replace anyway.

So leaning toward 1 or 2. Looks like a straightforward but sort of a pain in the butt job? Also most of the vids I’ve seen are replacing with aftermarket not OEM. I plan to do OEM as I use it for 80% city/highway and 20% snow/light off-road and don’t want future alignment trouble.

Thoughts? Also if I do myself, do I do the ball joint when doing the UCA?

Have you checked the factory service manual to see if there is a published procedure for checking UCA play and what the tolerances are? If the FSM defines a procedure, then I’d vote for just DIY bushing replacement. Especially if you don’t have excessive rust.

I had a decent amount of rust, and during this entire frame swap and refresh, I only needed to replace the bushings, not the upper ball joints. The UCAs were fine, and the UBJs were still in spec and not leaking or anything.

Now, rust did make my rear upper links unserviceable. Rust had eaten away inside the joint such that any new bushing would get shredded up pretty quickly.

YMMV and best of luck

Thanks. No significant rust. I don’t have the factory service manual (though about time to order one), but have been looking online to see if I will be able to determine if it’s been fixed if I opt to just do the bushings. I know for the LBJs for example, there was x amount of play allowed, but it was too difficult to determine in my garage if it was within that tolerance.

If you don't wanna go aftermarket then I see no reason why not just replace the bushings. Maybe do the ball joint while you're at it, it's not that difficult at all doing it this way. I believe I was also able to fit a regular ball joint press in the wheel hub too

I just did this job myself over Memorial Day using toyota bushings. Timmytoolman has good video. To tell if they r loose I jacked up the side until wheel was off ground and then moved the wheel up and down and could feel movement and could see the Upper arm moving. To replace the bushings I removed the upper arm clamp on vice and sawzall the flange on bushings and then used my vice and sockets to press them out also applying heat. Time consuming and somewhat a pain for me to get bushings out the method I used. Would have been easier if I had a bearing press. Good luck!

MikeM

Thanks for all the advice. Turns out I’m an idiot, but less so than the dealership.

When I posted, I’d naively assumed the dealership was being honest when I asked them if they checked the torque and did I really need to replace the UCA. They said yes and there was “major play”

I didn’t physically inspect myself until this morning because it was getting dark. Turns out the nut on the bolt that connects the UCA to the frame was loose. Not just loose, but essentially falling off. Half the nut was not even in contact with the bolt (see pic).

How Toyota could send me home like this I have no idea. Seems borderline dangerous. And then to try to sell me a new UCA on top. Also question whether they could have given me a decent alignment with the UCA practically falling off.

Plan to ask for a full refund and never ever return to that dealership group with any of our cars or trucks.

Will check the torque of the UCA nuts daily until I’m sure they are not loosening. May still replace at some point though for peace of mind.

3-DE88831-739-A-4-DB0-90-C7-A17-D31-B406-B9 — ImgBB

See photo above for how nut/bolt looked when I inspected this morning.

Wow! Trust but verify!! Nice catch. Not a good look for your dealership’s service department…

I'm not really sure what you expect them to refund you for. You paid for an alignment and they gave you one; you didn't pay them to touch your UCA so they did nothing to it. They offered to, but you declined. Did they tell you it was SPECIFICALLY the bushings, or did they merely tell you "the UCA is loose"? If the latter, they didn't even lie to you really

This is a pretty crazy story. Not that it really matters and it may just be the angle of the picture but are those after market control arms? I would just go through and properly torque everything up and ask them to redo the alignment. I'd think they would be willing to work with you after missing something so majorly obvious. After that thoroughly check and re torque everything again. This is the main reason that most people on this site do their own work with the exception of alignments, new tires, windshields and a few other things of course.

Definitely an aftermarket UCA shown there.

That's not an OEM upper control arm. Did they perform an alignment? Most places will recommend repairs before attempting to align the vehicle.