Replace lower control arm bushings, HELP!!!

[coinball]

I just went through all this fun over Xmas, but I was lazy and bought entire LCA's with bushings from Rockauto. $55 each (Dorman...I know, save me the flak), I still had to cut the old sleeves out, so it was lots of fun, but the new arms were good to go with some new alignment sleeves from Toyota. Might be an alternative for anyone just wanting to put stock bushings back in (it's cheaper than new Toyota bushings).

 

[Richard808]

For those of you that have been running the poly bushings, do you think they are as good as the OEM rubber bushings or better? If price and the extra work involved installing were not a factor. Which one would you use?

 

[nissanh]

No bushing is good as OEM. If I had to replace the bushings in suspension parts, I'll buy good used OEM toyota suspension arm.

I always believe 100 K miles toyota engine is far superior than a totally rebuilt toyota engine. I have seen the difference, and believe any low miles used toyota parts are the same.

 

[JBurt]

So J-Money after about a year are you still happy with the poly's? I've had poly on my sway bar for about a year and a half and no squeaks from them either.

 

[JBurt]

So I went ahead and ordered the energy suspension poly bushing and the only problem I see is that the inner diameter of the bushing is way bigger than the outer diameter of the cam sleeve.

half melted stock bushing on the left for comparison:

If I install it this way I don't see how the cam is going to adjust the lca for an alignment. Anyone wanna chime in?

 

[a51young]

So I went ahead and ordered the energy suspension poly bushing and the only problem I see is that the inner diameter of the bushing is way bigger than the outer diameter of the cam sleeve.

half melted stock bushing on the left for comparison:

If I install it this way I don't see how the cam is going to adjust the lca for an alignment. Anyone wanna chime in?

How did it work out?

 

[seanxgodfrey]

So I went ahead and ordered the energy suspension poly bushing and the only problem I see is that the inner diameter of the bushing is way bigger than the outer diameter of the cam sleeve.

half melted stock bushing on the left for comparison:

If I install it this way I don't see how the cam is going to adjust the lca for an alignment. Anyone wanna chime in?

reviving this because I just ordered these bushings.. How'd everything end up working..?

 

[habanero]

reviving this because I just ordered these bushings.. How'd everything end up working..?

IIRC he ended up getting some oe bushings and installed those instead.

Edit: Ah yes...from a post of JBurt's:

So I called customer service at Energy Suspension (where I ordered the polyurethane bushings from) and they took some time and looked at it and determined that the bushings I had weren't stock bushings. When you get their poly bushings you have to reuse all the metal parts, and since the bushings I had didn't have the right metal parts, so I went this route:

 

[seanxgodfrey]

IIRC he ended up getting some oe bushings and installed those instead.

Edit: Ah yes...from a post of JBurt's:

Where can I order those? Cause I will call summit and have them refund me so I don't run into trouble .


Edit: I think I have stock ones on so they should work right?

 

[habanero]

Where can I order those? Cause I will call summit and have them refund me so I don't run into trouble .

Anywhere you'd get OE Toyota parts. My dealership tried to tell me they only sell the entire a-arm but it wasn't true, you can get the bushings separate.

Ask J-Money$$$ or curt4x4 about the polys, per their earlier posts in this thread?

 

[05SVRACER]

Is the outer metal sleeve in the lca suppose to be removed when installing poly bushings? We removed the outer metal sleeve when I isntalled the whiteline poly bushings. Ever since the front end feels like it wandering pretty badly, and the passenger eccentric bolt didn't want to engauge the cam to make adjustments (aftermarket eccetric bolts/plates on that side, toyota only had one side in stock). Figuring something is moving on the lower control arms. They wouldn't fit without removing that metal sleeve, but the new ones didn't have an outer like that....any insight?

 

[montana_jeepn]

I just replaced mine when I rebuilt my entire front end after my LBJ type failure. You just need to loosen the bolts on the steering rack in order to get it to move enough to remove the LCA bolts. It can be a PITA but isnt really as hard as it sounds. You do not have to mess with the steering wheel or airbag at all. On the steering shaft just above the rag joint you can loosen that and unbolt the rag joint and have enough room to move the steering rack. Same process for putting a spacer in when you do a body lift. I took mine to the local dealer and paid $150 for them to put the new bushings in. Parts= $160, Pressing them in $150 and that is with me doing the labor to get them off and on truck. Then you have to pay for the alignment again.

I can tell you that only one of my bushings was bad and the dealer told me they never go bad and questioned why I was replacing mine. The one that was bad was on the side that hit the street when the LBJ bolts failed.I wheel very hard and my truck had 230k on it when I replaced.

This is why I just ordered new LCA's from Toyota for $170 each. Unbolt the old ones, slap in the new ones......I'll let you know if it is really that easy! haha.

Also, you always have to figure out how much your time is worth $$$ when working on vehicles.....especially if it is your only mode of transportation.

 

[glenyoshida]

Is the outer metal sleeve in the lca suppose to be removed when installing poly bushings? We removed the outer metal sleeve when I isntalled the whiteline poly bushings. Ever since the front end feels like it wandering pretty badly, and the passenger eccentric bolt didn't want to engauge the cam to make adjustments (aftermarket eccetric bolts/plates on that side, toyota only had one side in stock). Figuring something is moving on the lower control arms. They wouldn't fit without removing that metal sleeve, but the new ones didn't have an outer like that....any insight?

Not sure about the Whiteline polys but with the Energy Bushings, for the lower front control arm bushings, you leave in the outer sleeve.

Cam not adjusting? Strange. There's not much there to stop it from moving if your sleeves are not seized in place. Were you trying to adjust it from the correct side? One side tightens the other side adjusts the cam.

This is why I just ordered new LCA's from Toyota for $170 each. Unbolt the old ones, slap in the new ones......I'll let you know if it is really that easy! haha.

Also, you always have to figure out how much your time is worth $$$ when working on vehicles.....especially if it is your only mode of transportation.

If the old sleeves come out them yep, you can just swap out the A arms. No burning out bushings. It's pretty messy burning out the old ones. BTW lighter fluid for your zippo (naptha) works well do clean up the burnt rubber. Getting out the old A arms is the PITA part. When a press won't work to pull them out then the next best thing I've tried is an air chisel. You pretty much destroy the sleeve into pieces to get the arm to be able to drop out.

I replaced my old bushings the first time with new Toyota bushings. They were trashed again after roughly 20k mi. I'm guessing there is too much flex on the front end for the OEM bushings to rotate that far and that's the cause of the premature failure. This time around I went with the Energy bushings.

 

[TXRick]

Is the outer metal sleeve in the lca suppose to be removed when installing poly bushings? We removed the outer metal sleeve when I isntalled the whiteline poly bushings. Ever since the front end feels like it wandering pretty badly, and the passenger eccentric bolt didn't want to engauge the cam to make adjustments (aftermarket eccetric bolts/plates on that side, toyota only had one side in stock). Figuring something is moving on the lower control arms. They wouldn't fit without removing that metal sleeve, but the new ones didn't have an outer like that....any insight?

Yeah, the LCAs came out for me pretty easy. I was going to burn them out myself but I ran out of propane. I took them up to the local shop and they pressed the old ones out and the new ones in for me. I think you need to use the sleeves, that's probably why its all over the place. The replacement bushings I used were already in one piece and had the sleeve in them already. I have a little bit of info on my build page.

 

[05SVRACER]

Yes, we were making the adjustments on the marked cam. The factory eccentrics were moving the control arm like they were suppose to. Not the raybestos ones though. Looks like that's what is causing the front end to wander. And new control arms will prob be easier, then going through the whole bushing ordeal again. Anyone have any experience with doorman or moog lower control arms? I can get doorman for $80 each with bushings, toyota are $225 each...

 

[danthemanx07]

Yes, we were making the adjustments on the marked cam. The factory eccentrics were moving the control arm like they were suppose to. Not the raybestos ones though. Looks like that's what is causing the front end to wander. And new control arms will prob be easier, then going through the whole bushing ordeal again. Anyone have any experience with doorman or moog lower control arms? I can get doorman for $80 each with bushings, toyota are $225 each...

You are asking for trouble with any aftermarket LCAs. Maybe some of them are ok, but you won't know until they are on the 4runner and causing problems. At that point you are going to be out the cost of the arms and the time. I speak from experience on this one. See this thread: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/151218-problems-after-front-suspension-work-need-some-help.html

I just finished replacing my bushings and plan on doing a writeup. I used Whiteline bushings, and there are several other members that have as well. Results have been great so far (only been in a few days).

Note - with the Whiteline bushings NONE of the factory stuff is reused. Not the metal inner sleeve or the washers on each side of the bushing. This is not the case with poly bushings, both all of the stock hardware must be reused. Writeup to come when I have some spare time.

 

[danthemanx07]

Is the outer metal sleeve in the lca suppose to be removed when installing poly bushings? We removed the outer metal sleeve when I isntalled the whiteline poly bushings. Ever since the front end feels like it wandering pretty badly, and the passenger eccentric bolt didn't want to engauge the cam to make adjustments (aftermarket eccetric bolts/plates on that side, toyota only had one side in stock). Figuring something is moving on the lower control arms. They wouldn't fit without removing that metal sleeve, but the new ones didn't have an outer like that....any insight?

I am trying to understand this post.

Yes - the outer sleeve was supposed to be removed as the Whiteline's had a sleeve on them.

The cam bolt has three parts, right? The bolt itself, a sleeve with a cam on one end (facing outward), and a cam/nut (facing inward - this is where adjustments are made). Which of these are you referring to as the eccentric bolts/plates?

The cams on both sides engage with raised pieces of metal on the frame to move the LCA in or out at that point. SO - the cams are either making contact with that metal point or not. When you turn the nut/cam it should rotate both the inner and outer cams and press them against the raised metal pieces resulting in the movement of the LCA in or out at that point.

What metal sleeve did you remove? Everything up there should fit snugly. I didnt remove any sleeve with my Whitelines other than the one that I burned the old bushings out of.

I type all this assuming you got an alignment after reinstalling the arms with the new bushings.

 

[infamousRNR]

CV boots

Those CV Boots tho....

where did you get those? these red ones look way more beefy than the stock!
any write ups on changing those boots?

thanks

 

[05SVRACER]

When you turn the bolt to make the adjustments, the LCA does not move. on the driver's side (the one with the factory eccentric) it does. It's as if it's not catching internally. I work at a honda dealer, and did the alignment after we replaced the bushings here. I was assuming that because I took out the outer sleeve that would explain the movement in the front end (wandering). Now that I am reading that with the whiteline bushings all is removed, I'm pretty confused at what is going on. Maybe it's just because of the aftermarket camber/caster (eccentrics) not catching? I can't think of any other reason for the front end to feel this way. Unless the rack now has a problem, highly unlikely.

I could try factory bushings with factory eccentrics to see if that solves the problem?

 

[05SVRACER]

Dan,

I am having the wandering and squeeking on dry pavement (turing in parking lots) like the link you posted to me.


I have replaced both lower ball joints with factory ones, CV axles from napa, upgraded to 13WL brakes, poly steering rack and sway bar bushings, rear upper and lower trac bars/control arms, installed panhard bar bracket and replaced the shocks (OME nitrocharger sport) at the same time.