DIY LCA Bushing Replacement 2005+ Tacoma (4x4)

I did mine with Energy Suspension bushings. What a pain in the ass it was. If I had to do it again I would either do rubber bushing replacements or full replacement of the arm. To much feedback with poly bushings. Makes for a somewhat harsher ride. But I do like the steering response from the poly.

 

What did you use to press in the new bushings?

 

I had Napas machine shop do it for $40

 

The passenger side rear lca bushing seems worn prematurely. Had the truck parked today with the wheel turned right, kicked the passenger tire and found lots of movement and I could see the rear bushing moving/compressing easily. So, I'm going to evaluate all bushings soon and will report back, but I'm certain at least one is done, 16k miles since I posted this, +/- a few. What a bitch. Think I might press them out and throw them at the napa dude.

 

Terrible to hear that. Sorry for the trouble. And thanks for reporting back.

 

No sweat. Are the Whiteline bushings holding up? Thx.

 

@White Bear They are installed in my refurb LCA's, and they are ready for install. Waiting on some other front end parts before I go in there.

Picture here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...gen-tacoma-today.6499/page-4790#post-12971195

Just yesterday mtopp, installed the Whiteline in his, over here:.https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-4x4-the-easy-way.437693/page-2#post-13022642

 

Thanks Crom. I'll check out the link when time permits.

 

One thing I thought about with the harder polyurethane bushings, how will that affect alignment adjustments? For instance if your front adj is at 3-9 o-clock (adjusted outward), and the rears are at 6 o'clock or less (adjusted inward). The way mine are adjusted currently (similar to example above), I can see where the rubber bushings are pulled off center/stretched by the differing axis of the adjustments. Just a thought. (edit added)

 

Well shit.

 

meh. I wanted the solid poly due to all the weight of bumper, armor, etc.

 

Good point, my thought above might be a non-issue.

I'm going back with MOOG bushings.

 

I installed the moog bushings this weekend, the napa were shot, and cost more than the white line bushings. But ol napa dude gave me a refund since they didn't last 18,000 miles. The moogs are solid rubber at least, they went in really easy though which worries me. We'll see if these are worth a shit.

 

You may have to tack weld them into place. Just a few tacks in case years down the road you have to change them out again. But mine were "loose" when pressed them in. 10 miles down the road they started popping out of place. But ever since I put a few tacks on them, they haven't made a sound or moved in over 6 months.

 

I have found two people using aftermarket arms now.

• @O906 is using Mevotechs arms which so far he has reported as good.
  
• @ItalynStylion is using Dorman arms I believe, and AFAIK, still good.

Thanks for the feedback.

I am still waiting on front end parts before I swap in my refurbished LCA's with the Whitelines.

 

The Dorman arm was fine so far as I could tell. However, I wanted to go back to OEM so I pressed the ball joint and threw it back on. Essentially, I just used the Dorman LCA to buy me some time till I could find a place to press out the lower ball joint and replace it. The price on those LCAs was low enough to make that possible. I ended up selling them to a member on here who's essentially going to do the same thing. I like to think of it like paying it forward...use the LCA for a bit and then send it to another member who needs it!

 

Thanks bro.

 

Installed Energy in mine recently. Use a MAP gas torch (yellow bottle), not LP (blue bottle). Makes a world of difference in ease of removing old bushings.

 

Update, couple thousand miles on them now and they are holding up just fine, bushings are good and in place, no knocking.

 

Moog are shit. As you saw they go in too easy, which means they come out easy.

https://youtu.be/s-Ub2rUdqEI