Clunk When Steering - Lower Control Arm

Tacoma World...Hello.

Lets get some facts out of the way first....

2002 Tacoma, just lifted it ( 3'' OME 881s, and AAL) - work was done by 4wheel parts - this is key.

when they did the work, they knew the lower control arms would be seized up, so they said they would burn/cut the old ones out and be replaced by new shiny ones - expensive, but- its a 15 year old vehicle... F#*k it...

so the lift was done and I couldn't be happier.

2 weeks later

clunking while steering and stopping. Actually causing the truck to shift a little...scary. Can't be the control arms I say... they are brand new!!!!

IT IS!!!!!

Video here is the passenger Lower Control Arm, rear mount ... its clear something is up.




let me hear it guys~

ill call them and see what i get.

 

Oh, and they burned both of my Inner Tie Rod Boots...

cool.

 

If you can drive and capture that would be better. you are putting a lot of load directly to the LCA by cranking the steering wheel left and right. you will definitely get movement. almost sounds as if the noise isn't there and somewhere else.

try driving down your street or a back road and get the "scary" movement. plus what's that around the cam bolt washer? looks like part of the bushing?

 

Steering rack bushings/worn rack

 

i replaced my steering rack bushings 3 months ago -

if you look closely, you can see the LCA move fast, just when the "clunk" happens

ill mount a camera around there while driving and see what i get.

4wheel parts is cool about it thought - im bringing in the truck today to get it looked at - no questions asked.

 

What bushings did they replace them with??

 

Haha. I don’t know

Probably took some styrofoam from the trash man.

Just dropped it off - every time I go there it’s like I’m an inconvenience - only one solid dude in that entire place

 

I replaced all of my bushings with energy suspension a few months back and they have almost no motion at all with the wheel being turned back and forth. That looks like a bad bushing to me.

 

for the record - they re-torqued the LCA and no problem since -

although now i need to replace the lower ball joints because they are leaking a little now

 

I have an 03. My cam nut and bolt looks totally different.

 

i mean - i just got a lift and they said it was "seized" so they replaced everything new.... it cost some money but hey..

now im having issues with my wheel bearking i think

 

It looks like maybe they didn’t replace it with an actual cam alignment assembly.
It should look like this:



There’s a sleeve the bolt goes through. If they just put any old bolt through it all the torque in the world won’t make it work.

 

re-watched the video on full screen. it did seem like the washer was moving on the inside causing the noise. These do need to be torqued correctly to help keep the cam-bolt assembly from rotating. however that washer should be part of the bushing (washer - tube - washer), the washers are "peened" or "pressed" onto the tube that goes through the bushing

aftermarket is always shiny and smooth

It is an oblong cam sleeve, I can see it on the video. It's not a Toyota one with the markings though.

 

Ah! That makes sense!

Sorry OP I hope I didn’t scare you.

I recently had an incident where the alignment shop I went to didn’t re-torque the alignment bolts. The truck was driving all kinds of crazy. I stopped to check it and discovered the front nut was gone. The only thing keeping the bolt from falling out was the skid plate. The other nut was super loose.
The best part was I was in the middle of nowhere in Mexico. I cobbled together some washers to fit over the sleeve and found a bolt with the help of a local mechanic. I drove it that way 700 miles to the nearest toyota dealership to get an new nut. Totally ate my tires. I had to rotate them after 250 miles because my alignment was so off.

I don’t have much trust in shops at the moment.

 

Didn't you post about this adventure on here while it was going on? (If it wasn't you, someone else just had this happen about a month or so ago) I'll have you know, this story has me buying an OEM set of alignment bolts to go in my truck tool kit before I go on my next off road excursion.

 

Yeah, that was me.

 

thanks for all your input - the control arm seems fine now. and i do have that sleeve. everything seems fine now except for the lower ball joint..

 

Did they replace your steering boots. I thought you said they burned those. If those have holes in them, that could cause expensive problems down the road.

 

they did replace them - no charge of course for the work... which there shouldn't be.

anyway- everything with that is good to go - too cold today to take a video of me spinner the wheels for a wheel bearing noise example.

maybe tomorrow

also - my CVT mt. Bachelor tent arrives saturday

 

Dude, thanks for this video. I've owned this truck a year and half and have always had this clunking sound. Have had three alignments done at different shops and none of them have held. The steering wheel would always go out of center.
Just checked the torque of the LCA cam bolts. Three were way under the 96 ft/lbs and one was finger tight. Now the clunk as complete gone away.
Cheers