Energy Suspension steering bushing replacement

[ShooterMcGavin]

I've read many tutorials and I still have questions...
The center bushing has a flange. Does that go up or down?
For the long bolt on the driver's side, does it matter if the longer bushing goes forward or rearward?
Are there only 3 bolts that get new bushings? I have an extra bushing left.

 

[repo]

The bushing are 2 pieces, so a flange on each side and you push them together with the metal tube inside them. I used a c-clamp. You should not have any plastic bushings leftover, but you may have a metal tube left because the tacoma uses a different size and the kit is for both I believe.

 

[gamefreakgc]

The bushing are 2 pieces, so a flange on each side and you push them together with the metal tube inside them. I used a c-clamp. You should not have any plastic bushings leftover, but you may have a metal tube left because the tacoma uses a different size and the kit is for both I believe.

Yes. I just did mine a few weeks back and that's how it works.

Getting the old bolts out is another story. I'd jack up the front end as much as you feel comfortable and safe under and have at it. I don't have air tools, so I found positioning a breaker bar in a way that I could press/kick from the outside was the best method to loosen (I couldn't use heat due to excess fluids and oil leaks I recently fixed). They are torqued at 155 lbs and have been stuck in place with crud and rust.

 

[ShooterMcGavin]

Thanks for the tips. I was able to get everything apart with penetrating oil and a 2ft breaker bar.
I'll need to go back and look under the truck again tonight. For the vertical bolt, it looked like only a single bushing would fit. Even using 1 bushing, it was very difficult to put the rack back in place to get the bolt back in.
The torque specs I got from one site were 141 ft/lbs for the long bolt and 123 ft/lbs for all the others. I torqued down the long bolt, but for the others I did not torque them down completely. I broke a bolt under my LBJs recently, so I stopped when I felt like the bolts were reaching their limits. I hate breaking stuff.