LCA bushing replacement - bottle jack

mtbtim said:
I'm going to politely disagree with you. I have a 20 ton Harbor Freight press but I'd honestly still use the bottle jack technique. The press technique obviously works because I've seen a video of it but I don't like the fact that you can't get the LCA perfectly centered on the press. When you press the bushing out, the application of force is off center which I don't particularly like.



Sure you could farm out the press work to a shop but why give up some of your hard earned money when you can do the job yourself with a bottle jack and torch?



Like I said above, if you're careful with the application of force with the bottle jack and you use sufficient heat, you won't damage your LCA. Now, if somebody is careless and just cranks away with the bottle jack and uses little or no heat, sure, they're going to potentially destroy their LCA. Put a 20 ton press into the wrong hands and I'm sure they could mangle their LCA as well.



If I thought the bottle jack technique had a good potential to destroy the LCA, I wouldn't have made a video of it and shared it on YouTube.
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I definitely watched your video several times before doing mine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I posted this in another thread but since I started this thread specifically about pressing out bushings with a jack, I’ll update this thread too.

I bent both of my LCAs pressing out the bushings using the factory bottle jack, a lot of heat, and what I thought was a small amount of pressure. Given the headache this caused, if you don’t have a shop press, just buy new LCAs from Toyota. I spent more time ****ing with pressing bushings in and out and then wrestling with getting the LCAs in than I did taking the truck apart and putting it back together.

One side was still usable but I had to buy a new drivers side LCA.

You can see there’s not a huge difference but it was enough that the old LCA wasn’t going in the brackets with the washers. Thr old bushings were pretty well rusted in place, so if your truck has lived its life in Southern California you might not have any trouble with this but even if not, it saves so much time to just replace them with new parts. Seriously.

I should add that this isn’t a jab at Tim or Sean, since it’s hard to judge how much force you’re applying with a bottle jack with a video. Their videos have helped so much with this repair and others so I don’t want to come off as saying they’re wrong. Just that if you need to drive your 4Runner to work the next day, the peace of mind of having new parts is worth the extra cash.
 

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mtbtim said:
I'm going to politely disagree with you. I have a 20 ton Harbor Freight press but I'd honestly still use the bottle jack technique. The press technique obviously works because I've seen a video of it but I don't like the fact that you can't get the LCA perfectly centered on the press. When you press the bushing out, the application of force is off center which I don't particularly like.

Sure you could farm out the press work to a shop but why give up some of your hard earned money when you can do the job yourself with a bottle jack and torch?

Like I said above, if you're careful with the application of force with the bottle jack and you use sufficient heat, you won't damage your LCA. Now, if somebody is careless and just cranks away with the bottle jack and uses little or no heat, sure, they're going to potentially destroy their LCA. Put a 20 ton press into the wrong hands and I'm sure they could mangle their LCA as well.

If I thought the bottle jack technique had a good potential to destroy the LCA, I wouldn't have made a video of it and shared it on YouTube.
Click to expand...

Hey Tim I did figure out if you add a plate below and get about 1/2” of extra height you can get the LCA bushings perfectly centered. I shot the vid before I figured it out. Maybe next time.
 
sleepydad said:
Hey Tim I did figure out if you add a plate below and get about 1/2” of extra height you can get the LCA bushings perfectly centered. I shot the vid before I figured it out. Maybe next time.
Click to expand...

Good to know. Maybe I'll try it out with the press. I haven't had any issues with the bottle jack technique though but maybe it's because our rigs are from California and we don't have the rust issues.

I'll probably be replacing LCA bushings on my 98 when I get around to installing my lift.
 
mtbtim said:
Good to know. Maybe I'll try it out with the press. I haven't had any issues with the bottle jack technique though but maybe it's because our rigs are from California and we don't have the rust issues.

I'll probably be replacing LCA bushings on my 98 when I get around to installing my lift.
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Rust is a major factor for us poor bastards in the salt zone. where I live a 20 year old daily driver does not really exist. you can get about 15-18 years out of a car/truck because the salt eats them by that point. Our purpose is to provide engines/transmissions for the rest of the world.

I pulled both my uppers and lowers, removed the bushings, sand blasted the arms and powder coated them. pushing new Toyota bushings in took very little force on the press.
 
sleepydad said:
Rust is a major factor for us poor bastards in the salt zone. where I live a 20 year old daily driver does not really exist. you can get about 15-18 years out of a car/truck because the salt eats them by that point. Our purpose is to provide engines/transmissions for the rest of the world.

I pulled both my uppers and lowers, removed the bushings, sand blasted the arms and powder coated them. pushing new Toyota bushings in took very little force on the press.
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We need a pic of that press. HF 20 ton special?

My cousin lives outside Minn/St Paul and said she had to seel for parts her 2008 Impala in November due to the frame looking like swiss cheese.....
 
How expensive are new, stock style arms?

When I wanted to do LCA bushings on my Volvo, I just bought new arms with the bushings already installed.

WAY easier than messing around with drilling, torching, or pressings the bushings in and out.

Granted, it cost more than just bushings, but the time and aggravation it saved me was priceless.
 
Horsethief said:
How expensive are new, stock style arms?

When I wanted to do LCA bushings on my Volvo, I just bought new arms with the bushings already installed.

WAY easier than messing around with drilling, torching, or pressings the bushings in and out.

Granted, it cost more than just bushings, but the time and aggravation it saved me was priceless.
Click to expand...

$195 each ordered online and shipped to my local dealer.
 
thezentree said:
$195 each ordered online and shipped to my local dealer.
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Damn, my Volvo's were only like $85/each from FCP Euro, and they're solid cast aluminum - they're really nice!

I'm gonna check RockAuto for kicks and giggles...

EDIT: They're like 80 bucks/ea at RockAuto. They don't call them "stealerships' for nothing.
 
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LittleCaesar said:
That is a beautiful build; quite jealous of all the working space you have. :jump:

Can't believe you have somone local who sandblasts for $20. I'd have to add at least another zero for that type of work here....
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Thanks just picked up the supercharger off eBay today so... excited about that. Think I will tear off the plenums this week end and get ready.

The only problem with the sandblast guy is he is a 30 min drive each way. Every time I do something now I blast and coat it. First world problems.
 
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