UBJ, LBJ, ITR, OTR (OEM) Replacement - missing anything?

DK327

Member
About a month and a half ago I pulled the trigger on a 2000 T4R with 230K miles. Since then I've been doing maintenance on it. Now it's time to address steering and I'm ready to get some OEM parts... From past experience (OEM front sway bar end links for example) did NOT come with any bushings, washers or nuts so my question is, what else would I need to order along with the below OEM items that I would need to complete the job? I do NOT want to reuse anything I'm taking off the truck (nuts, bolts, washers, bushings, etc.) that's been on there for 230K miles.

2 x UBJ: 43310-39016 (Same for both sides)
1 x LBJ: 43340-39465 (Driver)
1 x LBJ: 43330-39585 (Passenger)
2 x ITR: 45503-39075 (Same for both sides)
1 x OTR: 45047-39215 (Driver)
1 x OTR: 45046-39335 (Passenger)
2 x OTR Boot: 45535-35030 (Same for both sides)

I was told by another member here to get new (4) bolts on each side for the LBJ's and new alignment nuts for the OTR's... Does anyone have info on what the part number or specs for these are?

Thanks in advance!
 
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Upper and lower control arm bushings would be the final steps to fixing everything. But they may not need it if the rig hasnt been wheeled hard in its life.
 
OTR boot? That comes with the OTR. Do you mean the ITR Baffle?

Agree with [MENTION=50342]JayRolla[/MENTION], front bushings are the biggest PITA to do but will make the truck drive like new again if they are even close to going.

Dealer OTRs come with jam nut, at least mine did. I just cleaned up my 4 LBJ bolts, put high temp urea grease on them and good to go. Can replace if you want.

Shocks/struts been replaced?
 
OTR boot? That comes with the OTR. Do you mean the ITR Baffle?

Agree with [MENTION=50342]JayRolla[/MENTION], front bushings are the biggest PITA to do but will make the truck drive like new again if they are even close to going.

Dealer OTRs come with jam nut, at least mine did. I just cleaned up my 4 LBJ bolts, put high temp urea grease on them and good to go. Can replace if you want.

Shocks/struts been replaced?

The boot I'm talking about is the ITR/OTR boot, comes up as BOOT, STEERING RACK with the part number. The reason to replace both these is because the passenger side on mine, the clamp broke off after the plastic end was damaged so I don't want any debris to get in there...

I too heard about the bushings being a pain, I might as well replace the upper and lower control arms if that's the case and be done with it, although I'm not sure how much these parts are nor do I have a part number... If the bolts and nuts are viable, I might clean them up and reuse them but i'd rather not, unless I already started the job and don't have what I need..

Shocks/Struts have NOT been replaced yet, I'm looking to do those at the same time. I want to get the whole assembly for the front and am looking at Monroe Quick Strut, Gabriel Ready mount and a couple of others from Moog, Sensen and FCS... I will NOT be lifting this truck, just want to restore original ride characteristics. The rear shocks were replaced recently before I bought the truck but I think springs are still the originals. My biggest concern with replacing the front struts is the ride height will be lower or higher than it is right now as both front and back are pretty much at perfect level where they are...
 
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The boot I'm talking about is the ITR/OTR boot, comes up as BOOT, STEERING RACK with the part number. The reason to replace both these is because the passenger side on mine, the clamp broke off after the plastic end was damaged so I don't want any debris to get in there...

I too heard about the bushings being a pain, I might as well replace the upper and lower control arms if that's the case and be done with it, although I'm not sure how much these parts are nor do I have a part number... If the bolts and nuts are viable, I might clean them up and reuse them but i'd rather not, unless I already started the job and don't have what I need..

Shocks/Struts have NOT been replaced yet, I'm looking to do those at the same time. I want to get the whole assembly for the front and am looking at Monroe Quick Strut, Gabriel Ready mount and a couple of others from Moog, Sensen and FCS... I will NOT be lifting this truck, just want to restore original ride characteristics. The rear shocks were replaced recently before I bought the truck but I think springs are still the originals. My biggest concern with replacing the front struts is the ride height will be lower or higher than it is right now as both front and back are pretty much at perfect level where they are...

The baffle (AKA steering rack boot) covers the ITR. Not a bad idea to replace. You will need the special clamp tool to put the new one on.

Yeah, your coils on the rear are worn and need to be replaced, which is easy. Struts and coils up front too. I have heard questionable things about the Gabriel shocks/struts. I believe you can get Bilstein shocks / struts to ride at stock height which come OEM on Tacomas that's the way I would go.

If you research enough about the bushings and how to do them, it's worth it because one lower control arm is > $200 and I wouldn't go aftermarket on those. Bushings were $40 for the set for 2 LCA and 2 UCA. After I did 3 of them, I had the 4th bushing out in no time.
 
The baffle (AKA steering rack boot) covers the ITR. Not a bad idea to replace. You will need the special clamp tool to put the new one on.

On YouTube I saw some guy just use industrial zip ties or stainless steel hose clamps for the boot, can I just do that?

Yeah, your coils on the rear are worn and need to be replaced, which is easy. Struts and coils up front too. I have heard questionable things about the Gabriel shocks/struts. I believe you can get Bilstein shocks / struts to ride at stock height which come OEM on Tacomas that's the way I would go.

Thanks for the pointer about Gabriel, they were the most expensive of the pre-assembled struts I was looking at and almost went with them... I don't want to have to mess with compressing the spring, etc so that's the main reason why I'm looking for a complete assembly.

Bushings were $40 for the set for 2 LCA and 2 UCA. After I did 3 of them, I had the 4th bushing out in no time.

Do you think these will work?

https://bilsteinlifts.com/shop/toyo...it-for-95-04-toyota-tacoma-and-96-02-4runner/

2FEEofm.jpg
 
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On YouTube I saw some guy just use industrial zip ties or stainless steel hose clamps for the boot, can I just do that?

Sure, not familiar with longevity and the tool is about $9.


That's the kit, saw that they are for the front.

If you have a 1/2" air impact, no reason why you can't compress the spring. You could take the whole assembly to a place like Firestone (I have had bad experiences with Firestone) and pay them $20 to compress the spring and mount the strut inside.

You will need a bench vise, and rent the tools from AutoZone. If you need any help, let me know. The biggest help is lots of heat to get the old bushings out, like 2 torches at a time.
 
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I'd replace lower control arms or bushings while you're there since everything is apart anyway. You can get new OEM arms for $175 each, or just do the bushings. Your call.

OTRE does not come with a new jam nut, I had to reuse mine. Do a little searching and you can find the part number to order it. It's cheap. Also get new LBJ bolts, do a little searching and it will come up also.

I would do steering rack bushings as well and sway bar bushings with poly. If you replace all that, and springs/struts you should be good to go for a long time!
 
Always replace the 4 bolts with the LBJ's. They dont cost much & this is not the place to skimp. The old ones stretch/rust & do not hold. If they fail at 70 mph you will die.:smokin:
 
Always replace the 4 bolts with the LBJ's. They dont cost much & this is not the place to skimp. The old ones stretch/rust & do not hold. If they fail at 70 mph you will die.:smokin:

I like it, short sweet, and to the point.

Also, OP, check out Amayama for some of those parts. OTREs are much much cheaper there even after international shipping if you can wait a couple weeks to get it all done.
 
Always replace the 4 bolts with the LBJ's. They dont cost much & this is not the place to skimp. The old ones stretch/rust & do not hold. If they fail at 70 mph you will die.:smokin:


Do you have a part # for those / what have you used to replace them with?
 
I like it, short sweet, and to the point.

Also, OP, check out Amayama for some of those parts. OTREs are much much cheaper there even after international shipping if you can wait a couple weeks to get it all done.

Agree with [MENTION=116387]Unner[/MENTION], Amayama is a good known site for cheaper OEM parts, especially TREs as seen in other threads. You could get TREs and ball joints through them, control arms may be too much to ship internationally. . . .

Also agree that if you are going to do LCA bushings, you have to undo the rack bushings anyway, so replace those. Energy Suspension also makes a kit, I think it was $13.
 
I'd replace lower control arms or bushings while you're there since everything is apart anyway. You can get new OEM arms for $175 each, or just do the bushings. Your call.

I found OEM LCA's (not including bushings) for $136.38 but shipping is $77.51 so I'll keep looking... Also need to find the part number for OEM LCA bushings.

OTRE does not come with a new jam nut, I had to reuse mine. Do a little searching and you can find the part number to order it. It's cheap. Also get new LBJ bolts, do a little searching and it will come up also.

Thanks for that, I will do research over the weekend and find out part number for both and add it to the list!

I would do steering rack bushings as well and sway bar bushings with poly. If you replace all that, and springs/struts you should be good to go for a long time!

Right on, I already have the steering rack/sway bar bushings on hand, ready to install. Just trying to decide on spring/strut combo... I just might get them separate like [MENTION=48234]stir_fry_boy[/MENTION] suggested and pay a bit extra for a shop to assemble them, will have to call Tires Plus and see what they say.
 
So I just finished installing a TC upper arm on the drivers side. I was getting ready to do the lower balljoint on the driver side, but the first bolt I was loosening was not backing out. It was just spinning. I'm still new to 4runners, so should I be worried that my knuckle is toast? I'm assuming the knuckle is threaded, and the threads seem to be ruined.

So, replacing the passenger side UCA with the TC one tomorrow. Also replacing the cv axle (new napa part), and will be installing a 1" front diff spacer. Anything else I should replace while I'm there? OTRE's look good, not sure about the inners. Still waiting on my coilovers. Going to mexico next weekend! Not sure the 4runner will be ready for it. :ybrick:

Thanks
 
So I just finished installing a TC upper arm on the drivers side. I was getting ready to do the lower balljoint on the driver side, but the first bolt I was loosening was not backing out. It was just spinning. I'm still new to 4runners, so should I be worried that my knuckle is toast? I'm assuming the knuckle is threaded, and the threads seem to be ruined.

So, replacing the passenger side UCA with the TC one tomorrow. Also replacing the cv axle (new napa part), and will be installing a 1" front diff spacer. Anything else I should replace while I'm there? OTRE's look good, not sure about the inners. Still waiting on my coilovers. Going to mexico next weekend! Not sure the 4runner will be ready for it. :ybrick:

Thanks

The bolt is stripped then, depends on if the bolt is harder than the metal of the knuckle. Try to drill out the bolt, if that can't be done then replace the knuckle and LCA which could be sourced from a junkyard. I would try as hard as possible to get that bolt out, undoing the LCA will probably make the truck undriveable after putting it back together. You will need an alignment when you are done as well.
 
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The bolt is stripped then, depends on if the bolt is harder than the metal of the knuckle. Try to drill out the bolt, if that can't be done then replace the knuckle and LCA which could be sourced from a junkyard. I would try as hard as possible to get that bolt out, undoing the LCA will probably make the truck undriveable after putting it back together. You will need an alignment when you are done as well.

I left it as is, I only tried loosening the one bolt before saying "screw it". I have to replace the lower bj, but its not critical like the upper bj was (joint was flopping around in the socket).

Its not my main vehicle, so I'm replacing parts as I'm going. I guess I will plan to have the 4runner down for a few days when I actually try to replace that lower balljoint. This 4runner (at least on the outside) looks like it lived a hard life. Thanks for the info, hopefully the bolt is stripped and not the knuckle.
 

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