Charles Bronson
Member
My wife's 2020 4runner has developed a nasty squeak/creak from the front passenger side of the truck. I've pin-pointed the source to the upper control arm. About 2 years ago, the truck was involved in a light impact that required replacement of the upper and lower control arms along with some body work. I removed the upper control arm and inspected it. It turns out the shop used an non-branded aftermarket replacement OEM-like control arm and ball joint (my guess is Doorman...eeek).
I inspected it and all the bushing look fine. The one thing I did notice is that the control fits very tightly to shock housing which has the pass-thru pipe welded to it for which the upper control arm bolt slides thru. The control arm requires a bit of effort to get it into position on that pass-thru portion and once in place, it holds itself in position and drags a bit. I find this a bit odd as on prior cars and trucks I've worked on, the upper control arm doesn't fit snuggly to these pass-thru pipes and is made in such a way goes into position but you have to hold it there as you work the bolt through.
Can anyone verify that the OEM control arms don't fit so snuggly? I'd buy a Toyota one but you have have to buy the arm, the bushings, and the portions of the ball joint, all in costing around $300.
I lubed up everything and the sound is gone, but I do have to wonder if the aftermarket control arm shouldn't be fitting so tightly. If it's not, I may take it off an removing a fraction of metal from the bushing edge.
I inspected it and all the bushing look fine. The one thing I did notice is that the control fits very tightly to shock housing which has the pass-thru pipe welded to it for which the upper control arm bolt slides thru. The control arm requires a bit of effort to get it into position on that pass-thru portion and once in place, it holds itself in position and drags a bit. I find this a bit odd as on prior cars and trucks I've worked on, the upper control arm doesn't fit snuggly to these pass-thru pipes and is made in such a way goes into position but you have to hold it there as you work the bolt through.
Can anyone verify that the OEM control arms don't fit so snuggly? I'd buy a Toyota one but you have have to buy the arm, the bushings, and the portions of the ball joint, all in costing around $300.
I lubed up everything and the sound is gone, but I do have to wonder if the aftermarket control arm shouldn't be fitting so tightly. If it's not, I may take it off an removing a fraction of metal from the bushing edge.
