Hey all! Looking for responses from people who had dealt with this first hand.. so, just recently leveled my ride ‘14 Trail with Toytec 2.5/1.5 and JBA UCAs. Got alignment.. few weeks go by get that beautiful steering wheel shimmy and clunking sound upon braking,bumps, and turns.. investigated and found passenger side lca has quite a bit of movement. Bushings seem to be dry rotted and slightly torn. I did think maybe the tech that did the alignment didn’t torque the bolts, but I checked them and found they are at 130lbs. My question for this is do I just bite the bullet and go OEM LCA replacement, MOOG LCA, or heavier bushings. Truck has 65k on it.. very surprised these bushings went so quickly.

My lower control, arms were shot at 15k miles. Could not get a proper alignment after my lift. Turns out one side the cam bolt was seized and the other side had a frozen bushing. Finally took a sawzall to it.

Bit the bullet and went with Total Chaos LCA. I'll find my post and link it.

How did you determine the lower LCA had movement?

Observed underneath while my wife drove fwd and reverse while turning and hard braking. It was flexing inwards like crazy while making the popping noise.

Where is the movement happening? If the rubber isn't torn - it's really unusual for it to degrade to the point where it's actually too soft to hold in place. The cam bolt should not carry the shear load of the bushing. The bolt clamps the frame tabs together and the friction between the frame tabs and the inner metal part of the bushing that is clamped between the frame tabs is how it's held in place. If that metal part is moving - the cam bolts aren't tight enough or something else is wrong. Just because the cam bolt doesn't visibly move doesn't necessarily mean that the bushing is properly clamped.

Some play in the rubber is obviously by design. But not a lot.

Mine are so badly seized that they were not movable last time I tried. I sprayed them very heavily with penetrating oil and left for a few months. Hopefully I'll get back to take them apart soon. Generally that's been successful for this issue. Penetrating oil and time and they'll eventually break free. If not - I'll end up having to cut them out. I will replace with rubber bushings again. I prefer rubber for a number of reasons, yeah it's more expensive, but it also has advantages in durability. A very heavy coat of antiseize is also going to be part of the program.

Just replaced my LCA's with Dirt Kings. Awesome product and has Delrin bushings. Super satisfied with them. Installation was pretty straight forward and alignment after came in perfect.



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I did the same thing, mine lcas were shot around the 30k mark and progressively got worse (thought it was a tire balance issue until the popping noise started).

anyway like the dirt kings, just be sure to torque them a bit lower than stock. I think DK now calls for 100ft/lbs instead of 130. Mine were binding after the initial install and backing the bolts off a quarter turn alleviated the problem.

I did both front lower control arms at 110,000 miles - on mechanic's advice - a few years ago. The (6) bushings wear our. Must be a common problem/maintenance.

My 4runner is a 2005 - and I hardly noticed any steering issues, but mechanic said it needed replacements.

I ordered the parts (entire new CAs) from Amazon for a few hundred. I'm pretty sure you can go with AM parts.

My bushings were rusted in place, freezing up the LCAs. Almost the same price to replace LCAs and bushings than to try to part it out and just do the bushings.

Thanks

For those of you using the Total Chaos lower control arms, which model are you using for non-KDSS 4Runners without dual shock?

Here you go sir! I have them in stock and on sale too

86555-E-10FJ-NSS - Total Chaos Stock Length 4130 Expedition Series Lower Control Arms - No Secondary Shock Mounts (10+4Runner/FJ)


Anthony