Urgent alignment help with concentric bolts !

S

stevos758

New member
My car is in the shop. They just called and said they couldnt get the concentric bolts on the lower A arms loose for adjustment. Anyone have any advice I could tell them or should I plan on getting new parts ready in case they break when trying to get them loose.

Any help would be great. I plan on picking it up after work in 3 hours.
 
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Best bet is to tell them to hold off on the work. It's better than doing a sub par job on an alignment or them breaking parts. I'd bring it home, remove the skid plates and spray them with penetrating lube. If you've got rust that's probably what they're dealing with.

It's best to let the oil sit and do it's job then take it back and have them try. Chances are they've already used their biggest wrenches, cheater bars and the big guy named Tiny before they called you.

If the oil doesn't help maybe someone can offer suggestions before things need to be cut off of heaten up too much.
 
I told them to hold off. I ordered all of the new parts from my local dealer. The shop I was at wanted $850 to change them out!!!! I am never going back there again. I'll get some oil on them tonight.
 
What did you order? How do you know what you have needs to be replaced? Or did the shop mess things up?

I'd spray your stuff and take it to another shop before replacing or having things replaced.
 
This apparently is extremely common on these rust buckets. I'd never seen this problem in my life until I bought my 4Runner. My shop said they did one like mine that took 14 hours to get the bolts out. No way in hell I'm paying for that much labor. So what I did was soak mine in PB Blaster. I soaked them repeatedly for weeks. Maybe over a month. Then I went to another shop with newer tools and high torque air guns and they were able to finally break them free and do the alignment. You should try that before spending a bunch of money on parts. It's at least worth a shot.
 
LOL...this is funny because i just put a lift kit on my car and went in for an alignment and the guy got the nut loose but the bolt only turned in circles because the flap that the concentric bolt moves around was bent flat LOL.

so now the camber is really not adjustable on my drivers side. sucks but what can you do...the car is old...04 240k miles lol. ill just drive it til it dies and buy something else.
 
If you haven't seen this on a vehicle other than your 4Runner, you must not be looking hard enough. I've had this issue on just about any vehicle that uses cambolts that has seen anything from mild to severe rust.

Honestly WXMan, you seem to just despise your truck and love your Domestics... why not just ditch it for a Durango and be done with it?
:behindsofa:
 
What is quite common on these, as well as others like this, is the corrosion and/or rust that builds up on the inside. the place where the bolt passes through the sleeve in the middle of the bushing. When this gets stuck it is a bear to get them loose. Penetrating oil (as mentioned) as well as some shock can help. Plan on getting a couple of cans of the good stuff like PB Blaster. Don't waste your money on WD-40 for this kind of work. PB Blaster will penetrate very well. Good luck.
 
I have to cans of Kroil. Ill get them soaking asap. I'll report back in a week or two when i get them broke loose. I ordered new replacements for the internals and bolts/nuts. I figure I might as well not have to worry about the old ones when pulling them out.

When I reassemble should I coat them in anti seize?
 
BlackWorksInc said:
If you haven't seen this on a vehicle other than your 4Runner, you must not be looking hard enough. I've had this issue on just about any vehicle that uses cambolts that has seen anything from mild to severe rust.

Honestly WXMan, you seem to just despise your truck and love your Domestics... why not just ditch it for a Durango and be done with it?
:behindsofa:
Click to expand...

I'm not a fan of the Durango. When I need a truck again I'm going with another Wrangler or a Ram 1500.

But... back to the story at hand.. why do people get so butt hurt when somebody tells the truth on this forum? Just yesterday my facebook news feed had a guy with a 2006 Tacoma who has noticed that his frame is almost rusted completely through. He wrote a letter to Toyota USA and they wrote back with "sorry, you're out of warranty".

These Toyotas are rust buckets. I've never in my life (and I've had literally dozens of cars and trucks) had rust so bad that my radiator crossmember is almost eaten through and my shop couldn't do the alignment because the a-arms were frozen solid. WTF guys? You guys think this is acceptable? Seriously?

The point of a forum is not to be all roses and butterflies. People need to tell it like it is, both good and bad, to help others with their issues. I've said plenty of great things about my 4Runner on here, and I've said plenty of bad things about it. Everything I've said is true though, and for that I make no apologies.
 
all vehicles have there problems i fix them all day long toyotas have rusty frames but the rest cant get much better chrysler corp merged with mercedes yrs ago and now use the horrible german biodegradeble wiring and rubber components as well as frame rot problems jeep has major electronic issues as well as frame rot on the wrangler interiors fall apart and wear out in less than 50000 miles fords pour oil out and break valves gm has coolant leak issues as well as oil leak issues and again interior problems. no one makes a perfect car and im thankful for that because it would put me out of work. but back to the original post i just used a sawsall and cut the bolts burned out the rubber bushing and cut out the outer sleeve of the bushing and pressed in new ones and replaced all the bolts. coat everything in grease on reassembly and you should never have an issue again
 
WXman said:
I'm not a fan of the Durango. When I need a truck again I'm going with another Wrangler or a Ram 1500.

But... back to the story at hand.. why do people get so butt hurt when somebody tells the truth on this forum? Just yesterday my facebook news feed had a guy with a 2006 Tacoma who has noticed that his frame is almost rusted completely through. He wrote a letter to Toyota USA and they wrote back with "sorry, you're out of warranty".

These Toyotas are rust buckets. I've never in my life (and I've had literally dozens of cars and trucks) had rust so bad that my radiator crossmember is almost eaten through and my shop couldn't do the alignment because the a-arms were frozen solid. WTF guys? You guys think this is acceptable? Seriously?

The point of a forum is not to be all roses and butterflies. People need to tell it like it is, both good and bad, to help others with their issues. I've said plenty of great things about my 4Runner on here, and I've said plenty of bad things about it. Everything I've said is true though, and for that I make no apologies.
Click to expand...

I agree 100% on telling it like it is and while some people take offense so-be-it. Rust can be an issue with some and it's well documented. I think what bothers people is your blanket statement that "These Toyotas are rust buckets" instead of "Some of these Toyotas are rust buckets."

I've owned Toyota trucks since my Hi-Lux in the 70's so I have some experience. 25 years in MN gave plenty of rust on a few, 12 years in CO and 160K miles and my Runner has no frame rust at all. Before that my '88 FJ62 that I sold with 287K was rust-free as well. Conclusion: Some Toyotas have rust issues that seem to be related to road chemicals. There certainly can be some factory issues but I have yet to run in to any personally.
 
CXS said:
I agree 100% on telling it like it is and while some people take offense so-be-it. Rust can be an issue with some and it's well documented. I think what bothers people is your blanket statement that "These Toyotas are rust buckets" instead of "Some of these Toyotas are rust buckets."

I've owned Toyota trucks since my Hi-Lux in the 70's so I have some experience. 25 years in MN gave plenty of rust on a few, 12 years in CO and 160K miles and my Runner has no frame rust at all. Before that my '88 FJ62 that I sold with 287K was rust-free as well. Conclusion: Some Toyotas have rust issues that seem to be related to road chemicals. There certainly can be some factory issues but I have yet to run in to any personally.
Click to expand...

I have no problem saying as it is, many of the Toyota trucls have had problems with rust and its a known issue. I am surprised that Toyota declined that Tacoma owner's frame though since we have a standing campaign for 3rd gen 4Runners, 1st Gen Tundras & Sequoias. I would recommend the guy fight Toyota on that because it sounds like they're being petty about the warranty (which I have mentioned a few times on various threads is becoming a bit of a problem as of late).

Something I have noticed is that WXMan will rag on Toyotas, but when any one mentions the numerous problems and poor quality in brands like Chrysler, Jeep, GM, ect he's quick to defend them as if there isn't reams of customer complaints, evidence, and horror stories against them. That was more of what I was getting at rather than saying there aren't any issues with Toyota.
 
cleex024 said:
LOL...this is funny because i just put a lift kit on my car and went in for an alignment and the guy got the nut loose but the bolt only turned in circles because the flap that the concentric bolt moves around was bent flat LOL.

so now the camber is really not adjustable on my drivers side. sucks but what can you do...the car is old...04 240k miles lol. ill just drive it til it dies and buy something else.
Click to expand...


I am in the exact situation, just replaced my suspension with Toytech coilover kit and yup, seized concentrics when the time came for wheel alignment
A$$ raping stealership wants $271+tx just for the cams n bolts!
I've attached a schematic of the parts if anyone finds it handy.
05 4runner ltd with 230K here
 

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super2kc said:
I am in the exact situation, just replaced my suspension with Toytech coilover kit and yup, seized concentrics when the time came for wheel alignment
A$$ raping stealership wants $271+tx just for the cams n bolts!
I've attached a schematic of the parts if anyone finds it handy.
05 4runner ltd with 230K here
Click to expand...

you can swap ot all your cams and bolts and bushings for $125
and the new ones are greasable too
doing mine saturday
 
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