Replacing UCAs and have a question.

I'm not saying it won't be catastrophic. I'm stating that I have yet to hear of ANY cases of the UCA bolt coming undone, be it installed forwards or backwards. I just think people blow it out of proportion in regards to installing it backwards.

 

I cut and replaced as well. Much easier

 

Maybe if more people take your advice you'll get to hear it lol.

 

Good luck man, hit the spots with the ole' rattle can if you bite through the paint. (hold off rust.....at least a bit longer)

 

I heard of one report of someone loosing a UCA nut in the Mojave on a 4Runner. Was not on TW, possibly ExPo. I'd link it, but can't remember when/where I read this.

I can tell you from a lot of research that what causes bolts and nuts to come loose is not vibration in of itself. It's vibration which causes the surface that is perpendicular to the nut / bolt face to move. Knowing this, and looking at the Tacoma I can tell you that the UCA bolt / nut does not fall into that category. So it's very unlikely that it would come apart if torqued correctly. However, all that said, installing the bolt upside down is not a smart move, because the risk is great if it does come out during vehicle travel, and moreover, it's completely avoidable by moving some metal out of the way.

 

I'm in agreement that if the bolt falls out, that nothing good will happen. I just believe that if torqued properly with red loctite, the chance of it happening is so negligible, that it is nothing for me to worry about. I am curious about what causes nuts and bolts to come lose though, as I'm bored at work and could use some reading if you have any links.

 

Sure. Good place to start: www.boltscience.com

And this too: http://www.boltscience.com/pages/Why_nuts_and_bolts_can_self-loosen.pdf

 

Now I’m checking the uca bolts & nuts every time I get in ffs...thanks

 

I'm just about to upgrade my UCAS. So is it an access problem to undo the bolt/nut or to pull it out? And what's other possible speed bumps of replacing UCAS?

 

Buy some paint pens. A white one works best, or yellow. Clean the nut and then paint a line on it and the washer. That way at a glance you'll know if the fastener has moved after you torqued it proper. My whole truck is this way since just about every friggin thig has been modified or replaced.

Example: Red paint on shackle/leaf nuts

 

UPDATE:

Alright folks...we had a long day yesterday but I think we accomplished everything we wanted. Today I'll get an alignment.

So below this is how we dealt with the UCA bolt issue I originally asked about. It did not involve cutting the sheet metal, removing the battery or cutting off the bolts.

For the driver's side inner fender we grabbed a pair of flat jaw lock grip pliers and simply had one person flex the inner fender metal while the other routed the bolt up and out. No cutting the metal or cutting the bolt. We did not have to remove the battery but did move the cable harness next to it (highlighted) out of the way. Easy.





Now, the passenger was more of a pain. Flexing the metal did not work, we actually had to bend it as far us as we could get it and getting leverage was a problem. Even after bending it as far as we could, the flange on the bolt head would not let it come up. Its flange would hit the curved part of the sheet metal, an area we just could not bend. So we ended up getting a chisel and hitting it steadily from the bottom until it came up and out. There is a cable cover (highlighted) we had to move out of the way.





Now to get it the bolt back in we knew the flange was going to be a problem so we ended up dremeling off just one section of the flange bolt and bingo! That allowed it to be re-inserted with no fuss. I then bent the sheet metal back and plan of spray painting it to prevent rust, but honestly there was not much marring due to the use of the flat jaw lock grip pliers. I highly recommend using them.

 

I'm surprised you didn't want to show me running the dremel without eye protection...

Glad we got it together and setup properly. I'm still a little sore 3 days later.

 

HF Pipe lock piers and like 4 or 5 pulls and you bend the sheet metal. Won't come through by hand but if you use lock pliers and a buddy with a little hammer on the back side it comes out easily. Piece of mind for the correct installation.

 

I wanted to save you from the harassment, TW can be a cruel place.

 

Well, you know what they say... The worst accidents are the ones that were easily preventable. AND the 4th leading cause of death in the united states are from accidents. Just saying!

It's also a great place to learn from others.

 

I'm well aware of the risks and usually do take precautions but it was getting late and I was getting lazy.

 

I’m a huge proponent of eye protection. This is @Subway4X4

 

@DoubleRGirl ’s favorite pic of me.

Took a hard hit with the pointy end of needle nosed pliers.

Tore the outer covering of my lower eye.

Opthalmologist has to super glue the edges together to heal correctly.

 

My neighbor about lost his eye removing a spring clip on a boat a couple months ago. Still has a couple surgeries to go until he gets his "bionic eye" as we like to call it. I'll be sure to wear my safeties next time and will be sure @remgu2000 gets a picture of me wearing them for documentation purposes.