LCA Question

I've got a question to those who waited to lift until around 70k miles or later. Ever since I put on my Eibach coils, the truck has some some highway wander. Townfair Tire has aligned the truck 3 times and gotten it within spec, but always a lower caster number than I wanted. I finally broke down and took it to Toyota this morning and told them exactly what I wanted, higher caster. The tech looked at the truck and had some surprising news... The tech said the LCA bolts have never been touched and, if he attempts to loosen them to make the adjustment I requested and they're siezed, I'm now on the hook for replacing the LCAs since Toyota doesn't replace just the bushings.

My options:
1) Roll the dice, let Toyota do their worst and pray the bolts aren't seized.
2) Go proactive and replace the LCA bushings/bolts, then let them do the alignment.
3) Deal with the shitty highway ride.

 

I never did replace them before, but it probably isn't to difficult. I'd be willing to lend a hand.

 

Here's a DIY for cutting them out if they can't be pressed out.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/su...-replacement-2005-tacoma-4x4.html#post3691528

 

I forgot to mention, I would guess I'd be cutting them out like Boyd did in that thread so not a quick bushing replacement.

 

Thanks, I'll let you know what I end up doing! I can't be the only needing new bushings!

 

The DIYs look pretty good, so I'd be tempted to try it myself IF I had the time and a buddy to help. Otherwise, I'd probably just bite the bullet and let the dealership give it a shot.

Sucks too that you had it in three times for an alignment and they never touched the LCAs.

Good luck

 

first off ..are you sure they are seized?
it takes 5 mins of your time and a 19mm to find out.....

 

Not yet, I hit it with the PB Blaster when I got home from the stealership and I'm going to get under it tomorrow to find out for sure. I couldn't loosen it with a regular wrench while under the truck. Tomorrow I'm going to do it the intelligent way, jack up the front end, remove the wheels and see what's what.

 

YEA ITS REAL EASY TO DO....mark them first then loosen the nut and turn if it dont budge get a 1/2 breaker bar with cheater bar and try that......
if they are not seized take them out and grease them before you get an alingment
g/l

 

3 out of 4 are free. The last one, the bolt is seized to the bushing. I soaked it with penetrating oil, tried the 2' breaker bar and tapping it with a hammer but no luck. I soaked it again with penetrating oil and will keep working it to see if it frees up.

 

Get ahold of an air hammer. Just be carefull not to damage the bolt if you intend to reuse it. Or, have another one on hand before destroying it. A bit of heat on the bolt would help too, just don't burn the bushing.

 

I might give that a shot. I'm not worried about the bolt, more so the bushing. I think that it being seized inside the bushing takes the use of heat out of the question. I don't know how I'd apply the necessary heat to the metal inside the bushing without toasting the rubber.

 

Thats why I said a bit of heat, and to the bolt. Its a fine line though, if unsure, leave the heat out of it. An air hammer alone will probably do it if the other 3 came free for you.

 

I soaked the hell out of it with Panther Piss (Read PB Blaster) and am going to give it another shot tonight. Unfortunately, I don't have an air hammer (no air tools yet) so I'm going to be using a 2' breaker bar and a hammer (to tap the end of the bolt).

I checked into new bushings and they're almost $200. Really hoping I can free it up!

 

Air hammers come pretty cheap if you know anyone with a compressor. Just in case your next attempt doesn't work, hopefully it will. Heck, you could rent a compressor and buy an air hammer for less than 1/2 the price of bushings. Good luck, keep us posted. Oh, BTW, weasel piss is better than panther piss.

 

The bolt is seized metal to metal. Even if heat toasts the rubber you'll be better off then you are now because you don't have to cut the cab bolt out (that's a PITA). 3 of my 4 were seized and needed to be cut out. Use a grinder if you need to cut them out - even good metal cutting sawzall blades coated in wax cook in a couple seconds.

All in all if your not anal and repainting everything like I did the swap could take an afternoon at worst. The problem is you don't know what you need until you get them off and check for rusty pits in the metal. Thats the other reason my truck was down for so long. I had another DD and wanted to save cash so I didn't order any parts until I knew what was needed.

Ill keep an eye on this so ask away. I ran just about every option through my head before I did what I did.

 

I'm actually set with the compressor, I have a new Bostich sitting in my basement that I bought for roofing (came with an air nailer). I'll stop by sears or Harbor Freight this weekend and see if I can pick up an air hammer.

Thanks Boyd! If I replace the bushings, I'll be doing the same thing, remove LCA, strip them down, paint, replace bushings and reinstall. No sense in doing all the work for nothing! Hell, I took the skid plate off to get to the LCA bolts and it's already stripped down and primed in my basement

Unfortunately, my alternate mode of transportation is a motorcycle and the weather isn't consistantly nice enough to make that a viable option. If it was, I would have gotten a little more frisky with the bolt.

It sounds like the bolts are pretty high strength bolts... I might give it a shot with the 4' breaker bar to see what happens if I put some more pressure on it. I don't want to snap it but it seems like they're pretty stout.

 

If you snap it your the Hulk lol. They take 110# torque rating or something like that so they are stout. I say PB with heat and keep a fire extinguisher close

A impact gun would be great if it's the front cam bolts. The rears are pretty much inaccessible with the gun I have.

What one is seized? driver/passenger front/rear? I have some old bolts laying around in case you snap one but they are side & front/rear specific

 

I don't think I could snap the bolt just with my wrenches but with the big ass pipe I've got to slip over the end I'll bet I can get enough leverage on it to snap the MF'er (this is why I've stuck to the 2' breaker bar so far).

It's the passenger rear that seized so yeah, an impact would be useless. I'm thinking with some PB Blaster and an air hammer to push the bolt out, that might be my best bet. I'll try some heat as a last resort but I have a tendancy to 'kill it with fire'. Tonight, I'm just going at it with a hammer and the breaker bar to see if the PB blaster freed it up over night.

Does the $180 for the bushings sound about right from what you paid? I'm assuming you went with OEM bushings as I'm unable to locate any other options.

 

So you got the nut off? just need to push it out?


Ill check tonight when I get home from work. I know I have a receipt somewhere in the pile of truck paperwork.