Guys,

Through our collective experience here, what front-end components tend to wear out with time first? (excluding shocks).

Through normal everyday; no hardcore offroading use.

Cheers,
Greg

2011 SR5 w/ 165000 miles

I’ve replaced inner/outer tie rods, sway bar bushings and endlinks, and obviously tires/brake pads/rotors from standard wear and tear. I need to replace the outer tie rods again as well as my lower control arms


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Did you do all this work on your own or did the dealership do the work?

Replace outer tie rods again? I had a wheel alignment on my 2011 two months ago at 118,000 miles. The only suspension parts that have been replaced are the shocks and front springs for a 1 inch lift.

262K miles with a decent amount of off-roading and no need to replace tie rod ends, lower or upper control arms and ball joints.

My outer tie rod ends are showing a bit more grease every time I look. Is there front end maintenance I should be doing besides looking for wear?

I'm on my 17th Toyota 4x4 and I don't think I have ever replaced a ball joint or tie rod on any of them that wasn't over 20 years old. Unless I was modifying them of course. On my 11 I did urethane lower control arm bushings about six months ago because the stock ones were way too soft in my opinion. And they looked all cracked. But they were actually fine. I've done urethane sway bar bushings too and of course 5100's and Eibach springs, JBA uppers... All that fun stuff. But stock lower ball joints and tie rod assemblies as well as sway bar links at 92k doing just fine.

I replaced the tie rods initially because of some creaking and popping noise up front. Both outer tie rod boots were worn out and not holding any grease. Since I was replacing the outer rods I figured I’d just replace the inners too…did everything myself.
I now have to replace one of the outer tie rods because something tore one of the boots and is leaking grease.
Was actually the same with my endlinks. Initially replaced them because my lift but turns out the grease boot on both endlinks were torn in half.

Never had to replace any joints on my 2005 Tacoma, maybe just unlucky with my 4runner. Or maybe it’s the countless miles on corrugated FS roads…who knows. My 4runner also sits outside for at least 4 months a year in the fall and winter in Seattle so that probably doesn’t help? Good thing tie rods are cheap and take 10 minutes to install.

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Bushings will wear out first if we're talking about only daily driving. LCA bushings, sway bar bushings, etc.

Is there a better thread on replacing KDSS sway bar bushings?
I’ve seen a couple with this one giving some instructions.
how hard is it to replace sway bar bushing kdss?

Looks like the only thing to be careful with is the KDSS piston.
As long as the bar doesn’t go boing when I remove the bolts I think I’ll be comfortable.

KDSS Front Sway Bar Bushings

FRONT STABILIZER BAR, LEFT; FRONT STABILIZER BAR, RIGHT.
4881560320 MSRP $ 21.58 qty: 2

FRONT STABILIZER LINK, LEFT; FRONT STABILIZER LINK, RIGHT.
4884960041 MSRP $19.16 qty: 2

all it will do is fully extend at a slow predicable rate. you can hold it up with a jack or a strap. its just hydraulic pressure

Thanks. I had developed an occasional creak in my front end on my last road trip. I looked around and everything looked good, felt solid. Last week I did a quick trip up Deadman’s Pass in Mammoth before they closed the forests. No more squeak. Turns out my truck just missed the dirt.

My steering rack leaked and had to be replaced ~70k miles. Needless to say, I wasn't too happy about that. My 4R is a mall crawler/commuter and never abused.