Upper Control Arm Movement

I have a 2020 TRD OR SB w/4k miles. Seems like most of the time the alignment feels okay. But at other times, the steering wheel isn't centered and it pulls slightly to the right.

The dealership aligned it once, didn't do a good job so I decided to just get the Firestone lifetime of the vehicle alignment package (per recommendation of some threads here). They aligned it once and the numbers looked good, but still felt like it doesn't track right (walks the road a little). Took it back this morning and the tech told me that it's straight but my upper control arms move. Said he has never seen them do that, to take it to Toyota. Either I just never paid attention or don't know any better, but I don't recall ever seeing an upper control arm move laterally (driver and passenger).

Can any of the experts here chime in on this? Is it by design?





Here are two video's. (Easy to replicate in the driveway)

https://youtu.be/RYxiRumT2OQ

https://youtu.be/CztcdwgtjQk

 

That movement can't be good. Looks like either a bad bushing, or someone improperly installed an eccentric bolt.

I would take it to the dealer and have them inspect. They will have the play specs and will be able to correct.

 

I also don't see how it could be good. It's the same (lateral) movement on both sides, driver and passenger. If the bushings aren't bad yet, I don't know how long they would last without lubrication. Yeah, need to get it to the dealer.

 

i had this happen on my LCAs. a tech stripped the alignment cam bolt threads and hid the fact. it would align on the rack with the vehicle stationary, but as it would see dynamic forces off the rack it would shift out of alignment again. then go back depending on the forces. 4 shops and over $2k to figure it out because nobody was willing to validate that the problem was deep and required full disassembly to find it, and it's a few dollar part. not sure this is your problem but if you identify or suspect something deep, don't spin your wheels doing more alignments.

 

Ah, gotcha. Makes sense. Dynamic forces might be what's causing it to pull to the right, then look fine on the rack as you mentioned. Thanks!

 

Yeah that’s... not kosher

 

Took it to the dealer this morning.

Looked at the few still in inventory and one that was up on a lift. Tacoma's and Tundra's both have a small gap between the bolt and bushing on the front and back UCA mounts (shown in the picture in the first post). The technician used a pry bar on the truck that was on a lift to show that it moved too (same as in the videos I posted).

Lateral Upper Control Arm movement is legit. Although, again, I have never seen it on any other vehicle.

I asked what the clearance specs are and if it should be lubricated since there's movement. He said that he couldn't find any documentation, but that in his years as a Toyota tech he has never seen a failure attributed to it or anything related.

 

Toyota’s engineers are baffling to me