Am I an idiot?

so i went to put my front 5100s on today.......went to take the strut off so i could take it to the shop and have them use their spring compressor switch them out for me. the LCA won't swing out of the way for me to get the strut out? I took the 2 bolts out of the steering knuckle, loosened the lower bolt for the shock, the 3 nuts on top and i still can't get it out.

the only thing i didn't do (because they wouldn't budge) is move the alignment cams. is the tension on the LCA from the cams holding it to where it won't swing down and out of the way?

please go easy on me.....
I can rebuild an engine in an RMZ450 but i can't handle this I guess.

 

The LCA bushings are binding. Also, sway bar?

 

Use a pry bar to pull down on the lca.

 

There is only 1 bolt one each side(outside)of the lower lca that loosens. The other 2 are for alignment adjustment. They should be the 19mm on the outsides that loosen. Don't use the bigger socket to go over all of it

 

Oh. And mark the alignment tabs before you loosen it so you'll know if the go out of spec

 

Just the one my finger is touching on the outside
One on each side of the LCA

 

hmm...sub'd for reference later. good to know info

 

Ya I loosened both outside bolts the 19mm ones (one bolt and one nut) it definitely seems like it's binding. and there isn't a sway bar connected to the LCA. there was nothing at all connected to the LCA it was just binding up.

and I did try to move the alignment cams as well with no luck. which blows my wig back because I only have 36k miles

 

The sway bar connects to the spindle which connects to the LCA.

Oh, so you unbolted the hub assembly from the LCA? It's definitely the bushings that are binding than.

 

Tacomas don't have struts.

 

Oh. Did you take out the 2 bolts out of the bottom of the spindle to release the bottom of the LCA? I'm not sure if that's what you were referring to with steering knuckle

 

These 2? And I just realized my lower BJ is leaking. Nice

 

I did that on my truck when installing mine. Removed those two bolts, marked the tabs with a sharpie, loosened them up and they swung freely. There shouldn't be anything holding them there.

Once you get them to swing free, you should bolt them back up and use this method instead of paying a shop. I did it and it was SO easy.

 

Yup took those out also

 

So I do need to move the alignment cams? the LCA won't swing out if it is aligned?
And they wouldn't budge, is there something special I'm missing or am I an idiot ?

 

Strut, shock, spring, cool over, pogo stick, call it whatever you want but you know what I mean

 

I've never had to touch anything on the LCA when removing the shock. Maybe I missed it, but did you unbolt the uca from the knuckle?

 

My lca on all 3 trucks pretty much just pushed down at that point. That would be some bad binding if it's not moving at all. You can try to move The lignment tabs to see if that helps loosen anything and try to push up on the uca to see if you can get the clearance(mark the tab alignment first). I don't know what else to tell you without looking at it. Sorry bud. Good luck

 

They are, in fact, struts.

The problem you are having with the LCA cam bolts means that your bushings are seized. You will have a very difficult time getting decent alignment numbers. I just replaced my LCAs and all of the hardware because of this.