1. Welcome to Tacoma World!

    You are currently viewing as a guest! To get full-access, you need to register for a FREE account.

    As a registered member, you’ll be able to:
    • Participate in all Tacoma discussion topics
    • Communicate privately with other Tacoma owners from around the world
    • Post your own photos in our Members Gallery
    • Access all special features of the site

Cam Bolt Gusset

Discussion in '2nd Gen. Tacomas (2005-2015)' started by Tylerinator, May 3, 2021.

  1. May 3, 2021 at 6:18 PM
    #1
    Tylerinator

    Tylerinator [OP] Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2019
    Member:
    #308727
    Messages:
    31
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Tyler
    Vehicle:
    2008 Dark Blue Tacoma TRD Sport
    Needing some advice after taking my rig into the shop.

    Just did a 3 inch lift on my truck a couple weekends ago. Aside from every bolt being rusted and needing to be cut out… when it was done things were great. Took it to a local shop to get an alignment done 4 days and 220km later. Got it back and I was told my cam bolt gussets on my drivers side were completely flattened.

    I have proof that the day after I did the lift they were still there. Shop told me when they got it in they were flattened. Can’t disprove that so I am going to trust them on that. Unfortunately, the way it got done I don’t even have the possibility of welding something on to lock the plate into location.

    I went back in today after thinking about it on the weekend. The obvious thing to me was for them to spin the bolt but keep it in its location. That would require a re-alignment and they just weren’t up to admitting a mistake and swallowing the cost. They offered me a solution that would require another full day of work on my part with $180 in parts and another $160 alignment. Looking for anything that isn’t going to cost me much. Already $3500 in and cant really go for putting more money in.

    Thanks in advanced

    Pictures of my rig and the cam bolt below.

    IMG_0211.jpg
    signal-2021-05-03-181347_002.jpg
     
  2. May 3, 2021 at 6:21 PM
    #2
    Mully

    Mully Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2014
    Member:
    #122907
    Messages:
    5,128
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Chris
    CA
    Vehicle:
    12 DC 4x4 Lifted Sport
    Lifted, Kings, Locked, 295s and more.
    Marlin Crawler HD lower control arm gussets. Installed mine in just a couple of hours.
     
  3. May 3, 2021 at 6:21 PM
    #3
    68vert

    68vert Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 3, 2009
    Member:
    #16722
    Messages:
    1,016
    Gender:
    Male
    AZ
    Vehicle:
    DCSB 4X
  4. May 3, 2021 at 6:22 PM
    #4
    Tylerinator

    Tylerinator [OP] Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2019
    Member:
    #308727
    Messages:
    31
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Tyler
    Vehicle:
    2008 Dark Blue Tacoma TRD Sport
  5. May 3, 2021 at 6:25 PM
    #5
    the.sight.picture

    the.sight.picture Wishes he was in the woods.

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2012
    Member:
    #71180
    Messages:
    7,985
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Nick
    Blue Ridge
    Vehicle:
    2018 QuickSand
    Check out my build thread (Beginning of Money Pit)
    This. They are beef.
     
  6. May 3, 2021 at 6:26 PM
    #6
    the.sight.picture

    the.sight.picture Wishes he was in the woods.

    Joined:
    Jan 22, 2012
    Member:
    #71180
    Messages:
    7,985
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Nick
    Blue Ridge
    Vehicle:
    2018 QuickSand
    Check out my build thread (Beginning of Money Pit)
    Take it somewhere else
     
    JPro and Mully like this.
  7. May 3, 2021 at 6:27 PM
    #7
    68vert

    68vert Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 3, 2009
    Member:
    #16722
    Messages:
    1,016
    Gender:
    Male
    AZ
    Vehicle:
    DCSB 4X
  8. May 3, 2021 at 11:08 PM
    #8
    TacoTuesday1

    TacoTuesday1 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2019
    Member:
    #296781
    Messages:
    6,025
    Gender:
    Male
    SoCal
    it looks like turning the eccentric bolt flattened them
    they are not that strong to begin with

    it always amazes me to see "built rigs" with $10k everything on them, full King suspension
    only to zoom in and see those garbage factory parts still in use
    maybe they don't actually use it/wheel
    or maybe they're waiting for those parts to fail

    your current options include but are not limited to:
    -fab custom metal parts
    -JD Fab lower pivots
    -Total Chaos tabs
    -Marlin gussets

    Not sure how Marlin gussets would go over these since they're meant to install before they're bent. Not when it's already bent. Since they go around the metal. Unless you hammer it back into shape. Which is hard.
    Marlin gussets are said to also be able to work with Total Chaos tabs with some modification. I bet TC tabs are thicker and stronger than the stock ones.

    I wonder if the cheap aftermarket SPC cam bolts had anything to do with it (vs aftermarket)
     
    Heavily Meditated and Torspd like this.
  9. May 4, 2021 at 4:32 AM
    #9
    Torspd

    Torspd Tor-nication

    Joined:
    Sep 18, 2009
    Member:
    #22958
    Messages:
    25,615
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Tor
    The Great America!
    Vehicle:
    MMVI 4.4L 4x4 Access Cab
    Torspd Custom Turbo kit [] Borg Warner 9180EFR Turbo [] Haltech Elite 2500 [] TiAL Q BOV [] TiAL V44 Wastegate @ 15psi [] CP Pistons [] CP Carrillo Rods [] ARP Head studs [] ARP Main Studs [] ARP Header - Head Studs [] Ported Heads w/ 1mm oversized valves intake/exhaust [] Brian Crower Forged Stroker Crank [] Darton M.I.D. Sleeved Block [] Kelford Camshafts [] Torspd 160* T-stat mod [] APR Large Fuel Rail [] Walbro 460 LPH E85 Fuel Pump [] FueLab FPR [] APR T56 Conversion Kit [] KP RACING Built T56 [] McLeod Racing Custom Twin Disk Clutch [] One Piece Aluminum Driveshaft [] MGW Shifter [] Custom lowering kit [] Ohlins Front Coilovers [] QA1rear shocks [] Custom Ron Davis Radiator [] Dual SPAL Electric Fans []
    I've installed these as well.

    I have seen some people whom have taken some flat bar and welded it next to the tabs. That is the super-cheap method.
     
    Balot64, Mully[QUOTED] and SR-71A like this.
  10. May 4, 2021 at 4:49 AM
    #10
    tacoma16

    tacoma16 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2011
    Member:
    #53109
    Messages:
    10,248
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Peter
    Ontario
    Vehicle:
    Double cab SR5 4x4
    Could add poly performances cam delete kit too on top of the cam gussets. I pretty much set my alignment at home and just had the toe dialed in at the shop (could have done that too but meh).
    868BAA70-6B37-4A70-BFEA-89BF1563096F.jpg
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2021
  11. May 4, 2021 at 5:09 AM
    #11
    Naveronski

    Naveronski Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2013
    Member:
    #112501
    Messages:
    8,932
    Gender:
    Male
    Fort Worth
    Vehicle:
    2014 MGM DCSB TRD:OR
    I have a set of the AllPro cam tabs I’d sell, if you’re interested.
     
  12. May 4, 2021 at 7:01 AM
    #12
    Tylerinator

    Tylerinator [OP] Active Member

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2019
    Member:
    #308727
    Messages:
    31
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Tyler
    Vehicle:
    2008 Dark Blue Tacoma TRD Sport

    Looks like my best solution is go this route with my alignment... gonna wait till my alignment goes out a big before I do it. Too damn lazy after the shit ton of work ive been doing on it the last month. So pretty much after my next trip :/
    Thanks for the info!
     
  13. May 4, 2021 at 9:11 AM
    #13
    shaeff

    shaeff Roaming Around

    Joined:
    May 22, 2016
    Member:
    #187639
    Messages:
    547
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Chris
    Hudson Valley, NY
    Vehicle:
    '07 DCSB SR5 6MT 4x4
    This is an issue with many Toyota vehicles, along with the cam bolts seizing to the sleeve in the bushings.

    I've always run a good solid weld bed behind them and been done with it. That said, I don't wheel. Haven't need to do it on my current truck, but all previous I had. I just bend them back straight and burn it in hot. (but not hot enough to melt the tab to nothing lol)

    Adding a small piece of straight cut steel stock behind it is also another good and easy way to weld it solid.
     
  14. May 9, 2021 at 11:33 AM
    #14
    TacoTuesday1

    TacoTuesday1 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2019
    Member:
    #296781
    Messages:
    6,025
    Gender:
    Male
    SoCal
    you can find out what your alignment numbers are. Maybe you will only have a slight pull, slight crooked steering wheel (fixable by toe), etc. that you can mentally deal with for now until deciding how to fix it later.
    For example, a lot of pull will be hard on the arm and get tired. Less pull, not so much.
    Depends who's driving it. You? You know the issue and might fix it. Give it to your wife to drive? She'll see how the steering wheel and truck handles be like "what's going on..."

    If you have too much positive camber, big deal. It will just make the truck look goofy with wheels tilting outward, and as a result wear that outer edge more from riding on it.
    If it eventually gets to the point of wearing more on that edge, the tire can always be flipped.
    Why? Because all-terrains usually come with black sidewall and white lettering sidewall and you pick when first installing them at a tire shop which one goes in or out.
    If you hid that lettering on the inside, and they later on wear, you could theoretically take those tires back off, flip them around, so the letters are out.
    Now that increased wear patch has been move from outside to inside.
    Now you have more tread depth on the outside to fact that increased camber wear happening.

    Is that a pain to do? Fuck yeah
    1. that means finding a way to re-mount the tires (usually costs money)
    2. it means praying to God the bead doesn't rip when you take it off and hopefully the tech uses soapy water or some shit and is careful. Tire beads are meant to handle being installed once when new with soap. Not taken off and on again after lots of heat and miles. They can tear. It's rubber.
     
  15. May 9, 2021 at 6:11 PM
    #15
    winkel

    winkel Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Member:
    #173039
    Messages:
    2,241
    Gender:
    Male
    Corydon, IN
    Vehicle:
    2014 Spruce Mica, TRD Off-Road, 6 Spd Manual
    Sliders, Tailgate Liner
    You should be able to get one more bend out of them, I had to do this on mine. You'll lose your alignment but you can get a chisel behind your stock tabs, bend them up then weld a good bead behind them. They'll actually be pretty sturdy then.
    Again, you'll have to go in for another alignment then but I'd get on it before your cam bolts shift, you lose alignment and then proceed to ruin your tires. Ask me how I know......
     
  16. May 9, 2021 at 7:29 PM
    #16
    TacoTuesday1

    TacoTuesday1 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2019
    Member:
    #296781
    Messages:
    6,025
    Gender:
    Male
    SoCal
    That makes sense
    if the camber shifts it could throw out toe dramatically causing the tire to shred

    I wonder how JD lower arm pivots handles this
    besides them changing caster to allow bigger tire clearance, I get that the tabs and hardware is heavier duty. I wonder how it locks into place and if it also suffers from the same problem of parts moving on you off road.
    People don't seem to like the other "solutions" for that like locking tabs (octagon shaped?) that don't fit well.
     
  17. May 14, 2021 at 4:11 PM
    #17
    cedarpangolin

    cedarpangolin So country I bleed cedar sap.

    Joined:
    Jun 29, 2019
    Member:
    #297836
    Messages:
    383
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Christian
    Vehicle:
    2015 Tacoma Access Cab 4x4 2.7L
    1.5" wheel spacers, 2.5 front and 1" rear leveling kit, AFE Dry drop in filter, Thrush Glasspack Cherry Bomb exhaust, Falken Wildpeak AT3W tires Soon to be: bully aluminum side steps, plastidip emblems
    I have the same friggin problem right now. I just installed JBA high caster UCAs and went in for alignment. Tabs flattened. Gonna have to hit up a buddy Monday morning and hopefully he can bend the tabs back up and lay a weld bead behind them. Is this durable? I just don’t have the cash to dump hundreds more on prefab gussets/tabs. Really at wits end.
    Also - found out UCAs weren’t the clunk issue. Guessing it’s probably the sleeves/bushings of the LCAs now, so I’m using a new Detroit axle set (I know, everyone wants OEM lca’s) but can anyone comfort me that the Detroit ones are decent enough for a year or two? I will grease the crap out of them, hoping they live forever….
     

Products Discussed in

To Top