Rotating LCA Down For Strut Replacement

I've gotten things loosened up but the LCA is being stubborn; it doesn't want to rotate down after loosening up the front bolt/rear nut. I don't see a great place to pry down other than under the old strut, but I have pretty good leverage there yet it doesn't want to go. Is there a trick to this, or can it get stuck on a 10-yr old Taco that's seen salted roads for a few years?

Thanks in advance!

 

Frozen cam bolts, time for a Sawzall and then hopefully you can punch them out of the bushings or you will be replacing the bushings and or the LCA. Good luck.

 

This…. Nothing easy about frozen cam bolts … safety glasses and a good blade for the saw zaw

 

Ya know, between this and the frozen flare nut in the calipers, I think the wrenchin' gods are trying to tell me something here. I watched the TRQ video on Youtube showing the Sawzall method and even that wasn't exactly easy. I've got the truck in my driveway and it's up a steep incline... something goes wrong and ain't no tow truck coming to my rescue. I'll have to ponder this some.

Sounds like the LCA needs to come out one way or the other and since I'm at 111K, the bushings ought to be done anyway; am I right?

 

Yes, and the whole thing probably isn’t going to be easy.
It seems like a lot of guy have a really hard time replacing the bushings.
Don’t go with the cheap aftermarket cam bolts. Get OEM. I think last I looked, they were sold by the piece. Not in a set. (At the dealership)

Here is a how to - That is, if you don’t just want to say “F*ck it” and go with aftermarket LCA.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...lacement-2005-tacoma-4x4-the-easy-way.437693/

 

Exactly, don't even try to do this job on an incline, if you do, you won't have to worry about fixing your truck. Whatever you do, don't go cheap on this or you will be in for a lot of grief and just be doing it all over again. Good luck.

 

I'm in complete agreement with you here. The truck isn't on an incline, it's just that there's a sufficiently steep driveway that a tow truck ain't going to be in the cards if I get in too deep. So I'm going to button it up and take it to a local shop I've worked with before to get 'er done. No big deal, I bought the truck knowing there was work to be done and I paid accordingly.

Given the mileage (111K) and the past history of salted roads (the frame was just inspected and is okay), I'm thinking to just go through the suspension. LCA bushings and lower ball joint seem kind of obvious, brakes/struts/shocks will be replaced. Anything else I should just bite the bullet on while it's up on the rack? I'll have the shop order the necessary additional parts so the truck won't be stuck on their rack.

I'm going almost entirely OEM but if there's something aftermarket I should consider, I'd be glad to know of it.

 

Stick with OEM and you will be fine. Stock Tacoma is the best Tacoma. Good luck with your truck.

 

Just replace the entire LCA. It's more cost effective, and substantially easier than doing just the ball joint and bushings. If you resign yourself to replacing them, you can also cut the arm right off which makes it easier to cut at the pivot as well.

 

Okay, after reading thru several message threads, I understand the situation with the OEM lower ball joint not being sold separately, and that it appears to be the best of the bunch. A new, complete LCA sounds like the best option.

What's the usual situation with the UCA bushings/joint, tie rod ends, etc. on this age of truck? I'll of course have it inspected when getting this work done but honestly I'm about ready to say "just do it all".

 

The uca are usually okay, but if you are planning to swap suspension and lift, or go bigger tires, you would need aftermarket uca anyway. As for the tre, depends. Sometimes they can get pretty crusty. They aren't expensive or difficult to replace so you could do that as well. Check the inner tie rod at the same time for play

 

I'm aiming to be mostly stock, so the OEM parts are good by me. Just going to get everything in good shape so it's all baselined and then I'll do more driving and less wrenching.

Thanks again for the help and guidance.