Front & Rear Bushing/Suspension Questions

Hello all,

Got some noob questions here. I'm experiencing some clunking when I turn left at low speeds and went to examine my front suspension and noticed some leakage and other issues.

1. My inner tie rod boot is cracked and leaking PSF. Guessing this means my steering rack is failing and needs to be replaced?
2. All my bushings (pics below) look to have gunk meaning they are cracked and need to be placed too?

Can a cause of this be from worn out struts? I installed used struts/shocks to get my lift (I know I should've gone new).

Regarding rear suspension, I installed heavy duty leaf springs and bilstein 5100s. I no longer carry a bed rack/accessories and tent. Should I replace the struts with longer ones now? I believe it's riding stiffer in the back because of this.

Any input is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

Bump. Sorry if too soon, don't know minimum time I can.

Any help would be great or links to similar issues.

Thanks!

 

It can be really tough to find the source of a clunk or other noises. If it were me, and I planned to keep the truck a long while, I'd hunt for the clunk but most likely just do a fairly full front end rebuild. Looks like there are tons of worn, but not yet failed, parts on your truck. With that being the case I like to cast a wide net rather than replacing one part at a time. Plus, the labor is a lot less if you do it all at once.

Those are not bushings, they are ball joints / rod end boots. Most of the time the boots will fail, leading to dirt/water intrusion and then the joint itself will start to wear and eventually fail. But you can also have a failed joint with a good boot. And I've also had failed boots which, even after many, many miles, never lead to a joint failure. Basically, every situation is different and you can't confirm the condition of the joint by looking at the boot. That said, when the boots fail it's a good idea to replace the joint or if you catch it early, and mileage isn't too high then you'd also have the option to just re-grease and replace the boot. For all the ball joints and rod ends I'd personally just replace them all so I'd be starting fresh. Same with the sway bar end links.

You can search online for how to test your ball joints for play - there will be countless videos on youtube about this. And if you're not comfortable doing it yourself then take it somewhere so a pro can check. Either way, you can't diagnose a bad joint visually, it needs to be physically manipulated to check for slop.

I don't have much experience with racks on Tacoma's so I can't help much there. I will say I just had my rack replaced because it was leaking. A local member with extensive experience with Toyota trucks saw the leak and recommended I replace it. Last thing I wanted was to lose power steering while out on a difficult trail.

Worn struts won't cause any of the wear you're seeing. But changing the ride height can 100% lead to boot failures. Your truck spent 100k or 10yrs or whatever sitting at stock height with all the bushings resting in a certain place. When you lift it, all the suspension geometry changes leaving the joints at new angles which can cause old, firm rubber to crack.

Longer shocks in the rear won't help unless you're literally topped out due to the springs and no weight. But even then, you're just going to end up with a really high rear that is still stiffer than you need. The correct fix here is to get the correct leaf spring for your situation.

 

Hi Clenkeit, thanks so much for taking the time and explaining your thoughts and experience regarding my issues. I'll most likely replace everything in the front myself. Unfortuntaely just lost my job, so I'll just accumulate the parts until i got most of them and do the work myself. Thanks again man