Which Front LCA?

thebrandon

thebrandon

New member
Hello everyone

I thought I bought some whiteline LCA poly bushings but the company emailed me and let me know they were on back order for 6-8 weeks, but I need these sooner than that. Everywhere else does not have them in stock, and whiteline will not sell me a pair because they would be competing with their distributors that either don't carry the product, or don't have it and wont have it for a long time. Kind of a weird situation considering they sell many of their other products on their website and claim to have these in stock, but I'll move on.

In my search for LCAs I have found that buying direct from Toyota is not very cost friendly.

Are there any reliable aftermarket companies like MOOG etc that I can trust when it comes to front lower control arms and the longevity of the rubber used in their bushings?

Thank you for the help.
 
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thebrandon said:
Hello everyone

I thought I bought some whiteline LCA poly bushings but the company emailed me and let me know they were on back order for 6-8 weeks, but I need these sooner than that. Everywhere else does not have them in stock, and whiteline will not sell me a pair because they would be competing with their distributors that either don't carry the product, or don't have it and wont have it for a long time. Kind of a weird situation considering they sell many of their other products on their website and claim to have these in stock, but I'll move on.

In my search for LCAs I have found that buying direct from Toyota is not very cost friendly.

Are there any reliable aftermarket companies like MOOG etc that I can trust when it comes to front lower control arms and the longevity of the rubber used in their bushings?

Thank you for the help.
Click to expand...
unsure if the lca's are the same for the 4runner and 2nd gen tacoma
but i was using the moog bushings in my lcas' "on my taco"
they seemed fine and cheap $50 for all 4......
 
thebrandon said:
I believe they are the same. How long/how many miles have you had them on?
Click to expand...

before i totaled it maybe 20k
i will be using them in my 4runner when i replace the front end.....
just don't buy their greasable cam bolts as they do not work...they only work in the fronts....
they sell whiteline polys on fleabay
i know a member who purchased them there

when i cross reference the lca bushings for a 4runner and a 2nd gen taco i get diff part #'s from rock auto.....so idk
 
I haven't been able to find the white lines for the 4runner on ebay, or did you literally mean the fleabay website? lol. I was almost positive the taco and 4runner control arms were the same.
 
thebrandon said:
I haven't been able to find the white lines for the 4runner on ebay, or did you literally mean the fleabay website? lol. I was almost positive the taco and 4runner control arms were the same.
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yes i meant e bay
i will check if they are the same as the taco they are there.....

and i checked tc website and their arms say same as 4runner and taco
so idk why rock auto has diff. bushing part #'s
 
Because they're different vehicles. Hence different part numbers.

OP, you said you were looking for LCAs. Are you looking for LCAs or just the bushings?

FWIW, Toyota never designed the LCA bushing to be replaceable. You're supposed to get a new LCA. Granted, I know people have changed the LCA bushings before, and have had success, but it's a massive PITA from my understanding.

IMHO, if you're pulling the LCAs off, why not just go with an aftermarket LCA?
 
Doc2012 said:
Because they're different vehicles. Hence different part numbers.

OP, you said you were looking for LCAs. Are you looking for LCAs or just the bushings?

FWIW, Toyota never designed the LCA bushing to be replaceable. You're supposed to get a new LCA. Granted, I know people have changed the LCA bushings before, and have had success, but it's a massive PITA from my understanding.

IMHO, if you're pulling the LCAs off, why not just go with an aftermarket LCA?
Click to expand...

its not that hard at all
i have done it twice....
and personally know many many people who have done it....
its a common problem with toyo not greasing the cam tab bolts.....

that being said toyo does the least amount of labor.....
you can replace the bushing the upper and lower ball joints all with no problems....
toyo chooses not too.....dont know why but all they do is replace the whole assembly
 
I was originally looking for a poly bushing to replace the factory ones on the lower arms. Are there after market replacements that are the same length etc as the oem arms? I just went to TC uppers, if I could find something similar that was the factory length I wouldn't mind considering it. I wasn't able to find the original bushings I wanted, so I figured a whole lower arm swap would be best but didn't know who made reliable parts for this.

Doc2012 said:
Because they're different vehicles. Hence different part numbers.

OP, you said you were looking for LCAs. Are you looking for LCAs or just the bushings?

FWIW, Toyota never designed the LCA bushing to be replaceable. You're supposed to get a new LCA. Granted, I know people have changed the LCA bushings before, and have had success, but it's a massive PITA from my understanding.

IMHO, if you're pulling the LCAs off, why not just go with an aftermarket LCA?
Click to expand...
 
There is no reason to go with an aftermarket LCA.

Camelback Toyota Online Parts sells Toyota LCAs for $170 / side (complete) and just the bushings for $40-ish / side.
 
One reason would be price. You can get LCAs online at Rockauto for $57-132.

This is the main reason I was asking if anyone had used aftermarket OEM style arms, and what manufactures, if any, were worth looking into and reliable.

BrianSD_42 said:
There is no reason to go with an aftermarket LCA.

Camelback Toyota Online Parts sells Toyota LCAs for $170 / side (complete) and just the bushings for $40-ish / side.
Click to expand...
 
ive got about 10k on my whitelines and i love them, that being said i would not buy anything other than a whiteline or toyota oe... i dont trust any aftermarket "cost friendly" alternative... too much risk for headaches... and trust me when i say $170 a side is a good deal, for loaded LCAs. i spent over $800 extra, chasing a problem caused my a discount part that if i had simply ponied up the coin initially i would be $460 richer right now, and a few less grey hairs and ulcers... dont cut corners when it comes to steering and suspension its not worth the hassle.
 
I can tell you this right now... DO. NOT. PURCHASE. DORMAN. LCAS.

I went through this whole debate in my head early last year, and in doing my research I got some positive recommendations for Dorman aftermarket LCA's. One of those recommendations was from a member on here ( [MENTION=45449]coinball[/MENTION] ) and another was from a trusted mechanic, who told me that they had seen good results when replacing worn factory LCA's/bushings on several Tundras with Dorman arms.

I looked into them and they were available on RockAuto for about $70 a side. That made them cheaper than replacing just the bushings with Toyota parts, and much cheaper than buying new Toyota arms.

Fast forward a year, and about 10K miles... The handling on my '97 4Runner is now a little scary. It darts around when it hits bumps and ridges on the pavement. Under heavy braking the steering wheel will pull one way or the other. In straight line situations it wanders excessively. And the real kicker? The almost NEW set of Yokohama Geolandars that I had on the rig when I installed the Dorman arms are now horribly worn in the inside edge. They are feathered badly and the inner most tread block is worn down twice as much as the rest of the tire. I've rotated them in the meantime, so all 4 tires now have this kind of wear. After I noticed it I stopped rotating and just let the front tires take the brunt of the damage, and at this point they are throwaways.

Keep in mind, my last set of these tires went 65K. The Dorman arms wrecked these ones in less than 10K.

The problem with the Dorman arms is that the rubber in the bushing is excessively soft, so the LCA's deflect when the vehicle is in forward motion and the alignment ends up toed out. In turns, the outside front wheel goes positive camber and the inside wheel goes negative. I noticed the softness of the rubber when I inspected the arms, but having no point of reference other than the old, torn, and crusty stock bushings I wasn't sure if it was normal or not.

When I park at a gas pump, especially if I have turned the wheel while pulling up to the pump. The front tires will be way off camber once I straighten the wheels out. Once the rig rolls forward a few feet, they go back into spec. That as all due to deflection in the LCA bushings. I've had it aligned TWICE by the very best alignment tech in ABQ, and each time it shows up IN SPEC.

So now I'm deciding between poly bushings and new Toyota arms. I'm leaning toward new OEM arms just to avoid the hassle of doing this a 3rd time, and paying another $60 for an alignment.

If I were to do it over again, I'd just buy new Toyota LCA's from the get go. You can bet that's what I'll be doing when it's time for new ones on the '01.

PS... Prior to replacing the LCA's, I had installed new Toyota LBJ's, ITRE's, OTRE's, steering rack guide, rack bushings, and had an alignment done. The whole front end was new, so I can 100% attribute the problem to the LCA's.

Also, Coinball has since experienced the same problems, as he confirmed to me via PM. He ditched his Dormans and listed them cheap in the classifieds on here.
 
BigFishAllDay said:
I can tell you this right now... DO. NOT. PURCHASE. DORMAN. LCAS.



I went through this whole debate in my head early last year, and in doing my research I got some positive recommendations for Dorman aftermarket LCA's. One of those recommendations was from a member on here ( [MENTION=45449]coinball[/MENTION] ) and another was from a trusted mechanic, who told me that they had seen good results when replacing worn factory LCA's/bushings on several Tundras with Dorman arms.



I looked into them and they were available on RockAuto for about $70 a side. That made them cheaper than replacing just the bushings with Toyota parts, and much cheaper than buying new Toyota arms.



Fast forward a year, and about 10K miles... The handling on my '97 4Runner is now a little scary. It darts around when it hits bumps and ridges on the pavement. Under heavy braking the steering wheel will pull one way or the other. In straight line situations it wanders excessively. And the real kicker? The almost NEW set of Yokohama Geolandars that I had on the rig when I installed the Dorman arms are now horribly worn in the inside edge. They are feathered badly and the inner most tread block is worn down twice as much as the rest of the tire. I've rotated them in the meantime, so all 4 tires now have this kind of wear. After I noticed it I stopped rotating and just let the front tires take the brunt of the damage, and at this point they are throwaways.



Keep in mind, my last set of these tires went 65K. The Dorman arms wrecked these ones in less than 10K.



The problem with the Dorman arms is that the rubber in the bushing is excessively soft, so the LCA's deflect when the vehicle is in forward motion and the alignment ends up toed out. In turns, the outside front wheel goes positive camber and the inside wheel goes negative. I noticed the softness of the rubber when I inspected the arms, but having no point of reference other than the old, torn, and crusty stock bushings I wasn't sure if it was normal or not.



When I park at a gas pump, especially if I have turned the wheel while pulling up to the pump. The front tires will be way off camber once I straighten the wheels out. Once the rig rolls forward a few feet, they go back into spec. That as all due to deflection in the LCA bushings. I've had it aligned TWICE by the very best alignment tech in ABQ, and each time it shows up IN SPEC.



So now I'm deciding between poly bushings and new Toyota arms. I'm leaning toward new OEM arms just to avoid the hassle of doing this a 3rd time, and paying another $60 for an alignment.



If I were to do it over again, I'd just buy new Toyota LCA's from the get go. You can bet that's what I'll be doing when it's time for new ones on the '01.



PS... Prior to replacing the LCA's, I had installed new Toyota LBJ's, ITRE's, OTRE's, steering rack guide, rack bushings, and had an alignment done. The whole front end was new, so I can 100% attribute the problem to the LCA's.



Also, Coinball has since experienced the same problems, as he confirmed to me via PM. He ditched his Dormans and listed them cheap in the classifieds on here.
Click to expand...


I have also herd this about mevotech or whatever they are called

I see no problems with moog or even raybestos
As they make lca bushings
Whiteline is the way to go as they are poly
At least if you go moog or whiteline you can upgrade your bjs to a greasable one
Just my .02
No way in hell i would pay for stock toyo arms
 
I'd like to know what caused you guys to want new LCAs in the first place.

I'm still original on my LCAs and UCAs @220k with no apparent sloppiness.
 
I was wondering how BFAD's Dormans would hold out in the long run. I suspected such may happen.

The only non OEM stuff I run under my 4runner is ITRs and CVs.
 
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