Front Suspension Frustration

[DerKaiser]

I bought a 99 sr5 4x4 this year. It needs an alignment and I'm pretty sure the lbj's are original along with the lca bushings. The shocks/struts are ugly looking Rancho's that aren't leaking but the bushings in the strut lower eyelet are very worn. (Bolt sits at the top rather than centered.)

My plan was to get new:
Bilstein 4600 shocks/struts
Toyota LBJ's
Whiteline/Energy/Toyota LCA bushings

Problem is I'm getting wildly different info from the shops I've contacted to do it all.

One local suspension shop wants to use all Moog parts and quoted 7.5 hours of labor for the lca bushing replacement alone. (Ridiculous?)

Another well known Toyota 4x4 shop said they won't do 3rd gen lca bushings at all because they've had too many problems with warping. They will only put on new Toyota arms. They advise leaving it alone unless the bushings have separated. (I don't know what that looks like.)

Any advice? I thought this would be pretty simple.

Photos for reference: https://imgur.com/a/0cR1b

 

[phattyduck]

The LCA bushings may still be fine. While installing the new front shocks, have them test the LCA bushings... 4600's will be fine if you are staying at stock height.

Make sure to use OEM on those lower ball joints. I would suggest buying them yourself and bringing them to the shop if you aren't doing it yourself.

-Charlie

 

[Nate_GB]

I bought a 99 sr5 4x4 this year. It needs an alignment and I'm pretty sure the lbj's are original along with the lca bushings. The shocks/struts are ugly looking Rancho's that aren't leaking but the bushings in the strut lower eyelet are very worn. (Bolt sits at the top rather than centered.)

My plan was to get new:
Bilstein 4600 shocks/struts
Toyota LBJ's
Whiteline/Energy/Toyota LCA bushings

Problem is I'm getting wildly different info from the shops I've contacted to do it all.

One local suspension shop wants to use all Moog parts and quoted 7.5 hours of labor for the lca bushing replacement alone. (Ridiculous?)

Another well known Toyota 4x4 shop said they won't do 3rd gen lca bushings at all because they've had too many problems with warping. They will only put on new Toyota arms. They advise leaving it alone unless the bushings have separated. (I don't know what that looks like.)

Any advice? I thought this would be pretty simple.

Photos for reference: https://imgur.com/a/0cR1b

How many miles on the truck? Lower control arm bushings are probably fine unless you are getting a funny wear pattern on the tires or the truck had a rough life prior to your ownership. Lower ball joint replacement and shock replacement probably has a book time of around 4 or 5 hours. So 7.5 hours including LCA bushings isn't unreasonable. I would go with only Oem ball joints though.

Edit: just realized you said 7.5 hours for only LCA bushings. That's pretty high. I'd look elsewhere.

 

[gamefreakgc]

I've heard horror stories on here on trying to replace LCA bushings. And yes, it is simpler to replace the entire lower control arm. I think that quote was from a shop that got surprised with how hard it was and basically never wants to do it again.

 

[Lastplace]

I had an old Volvo, it was easier to just buy new control arms instead of trying to replace the bushings.

 

[fourfive]

The few 3rd gens that I've replaced the front lca bushings on went pretty quick and easy using the bottle method and I didn't have to use any heat BUT the ones I worked on didnt have any rust or seized in place. Shops quoting you different rates ranging across the board is pretty typical. If at all possible, you should look into doing the work yourself. Would probably be good to learn diy stuff on any older car you might own.

 

[Vansnxtweek]

The few 3rd gens that I've replaced the front lca bushings on went pretty quick and easy using the bottle method and I didn't have to use any heat BUT the ones I worked on didnt have any rust or seized in place. Shops quoting you different rates ranging across the board is pretty typical. If at all possible, you should look into doing the work yourself. Would probably be good to learn diy stuff on any older car you might own.

I just did all on this and more on my T4R. It was definitely not bad and there is some noticeable rust on this one. Went oem with everything and it was a night and day difference after doing all the bushings and such. Go for it.

 

[mtbtim]

Use these 3 videos [MENTION=102606]infamousRNR[/MENTION] and I made and do all the work yourself. If you have a buddy that wrenches, buy him some beers and treat him to lunch for his help. You can easily knock out this work in a half day doing it for the first time.

For the LCA bushings, there is a chance one or more of the cam sleeves could be rusted in place, but since you're in Irvine, I'm thinking you're probably ok. But, if do run into this issue, you'll have to cut the cam sleeve out with a reciprocating saw and some good blades. In the video description, I give information for good blades to buy.

Also, for the LCA bushing part of the job, you will be disconnecting the steering rack and pulling it back to make room to pull the rear cam sleeve bolts out. In the video, we remove the driver steering rack boot to make room for the bolt but it's not necessary. By disconnecting the power steering line bracket on the inside of the driver side frame rail, you can pull the steering rack back far enough to get the bolt out without removing the boot.

And finally, with the steering rack disconnected, this is an opportune time to replace the steering rack bushings as well. So, I provided a link to our Steering Rack Bushing video as a bonus.

A shop is going to charge a lot for this work so I encourage you to take up the challenge and do it yourself. You can rent tools for free at auto parts stores like O'Reillys. You can get the spring compressors for the front struts. You can get rent pullers to break free the outer tie rods and lower balljoint. You can rent a balljoint press and sleeves for the steering rack bushings. Good Luck!

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[Cogs87]

[MENTION=120071]mtbtim[/MENTION] I just followed those videos last weekend to install white line lca bushings. The job isn’t too hard but you will need an extra hand and about 8 hours if it’s your first time doing it.

Thanks for putting together those videos. They’re really helpful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DerKaiser]

How many miles on the truck? Lower control arm bushings are probably fine unless you are getting a funny wear pattern on the tires or the truck had a rough life prior to your ownership.

237,000 miles and running pretty strong. If I can get away with not replacing the bushings I'd be happy. I'm just reacting to what the mechanics who've looked at it have said really.

Thank you all for you expertise and advice. I have some basic tools and I've done minor maintenance items on my dd. Problem is space.

I'll keep at it.