How-To: Lower Control Arm Bushing Replacement on a 1st Gen Tacoma

Hmmm. My initial thought was to just snug them up and call it done, but I think you’re not going to want to snug them up that much - that’s a lot of space to make up.

I went back and looked at my pics from last year and it loooks like my whitelines had spacers included. Does the manufacturer of your Bushings provide any drawings and/or packing lists?

 

Ok. The amount of slop didn’t seem right either. To the best of my knowledge everything is straight as I took a caliper to it. I removed the original lca/bushing and took a caliper to the oem bushings as well. That picture is kinda misleading. What your seeing is the cam bolt. It’s not the bushing sleeve. The bushing sleeve is ever so slightly shorter then the bushings. I’m really thrown off. I emailed senora. He said just tighten the bolts but I feel it really has to bend the mounting brackets to do that.

 

I thought the same about the gap and sucking it up. Just looks like a lot. No washers and supposedly not needed with this kit. No drawings/instructions. Did email the dealer. He said just snug it up but I’m not super comfy with bending them and in theory it would be uneven pressure as it wouldn’t bend as tight on the frame side

 

I would advocate for using spacers vs. tightening to the point of bending things. If you think about it, the gap wouldn't be present if the bushing were a tiny bit thicker or if a spacer were included; this space can easily be taken up. The only case for tightening that I can make is if the old bushings were so worn that they allowed for excess movement, thus spreading the tabs a bit from all the clattering around. Since the gap looks even (top to bottom), I don't think this is the case.

 

Nicely said. This is what I was trying to say as well, but you've said it much better.

 

I'm not near my truck at the moment, but based on the pictures, the mounting points look quite stout. Based on the gusseted shape, I think over-torquing the bolt would cause them to deform at best, rather than evenly bend, if the gap closes at all. Additionally, there is the potential of damaging the bolt/threads from excessive torque.

Maybe you can help me word this a bit better, if it even makes sense in the first place: it's possible that the LCA itself bent a little during the pressing (depending on the method), so the gap is absent on one side, and rather pronounced on the other. If the gap was evenly distributed across both sides, perhaps it wouldn't be so noticeable.

 

thats exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for the input!

 

I completely agree. Glad I wasn’t over thinking it. Also, the gap looks un even atleast in my opinion as I had that temporary washer/spacer on the other side (yellow) in the back end which had pushed the arms forward a tad if that makes sense.

 

As of now I’ve removed the spacer washers and torqued it down. I’m not sure how I feel about it. It definitely bent in the lower/outer un supported side which obviously was going to happen. You can tell it’s not even pressure/tightness on the bushing. I did this as I emailed Steve at Sonoran steel who’s selling this kit. This was his recommendation. I guess we shall see? Hopefully worst case is it eats a bushing or drives bad? And I have to yank it and throw spacer washers in or go another route? I’m hoping it won’t forever torque in the mounting brackets and I won’t end up having to straighten them later. I like the idea of these but I’m tempted to get some whitelines coming

 

The whitelines use two thick washers per bushing. They're kind of a pain to keep centered as you put in the sleeve/bolt.