Lower Control Arm camber / caster eccentric adjustment frame tab broken

I took my truck to the dealership to get it aligned after installing an OME kit. 885's, shocks, and LR UCA's up front. The dealer took 2 hours aligning it, and then came to inform me that "they couldn't get it in spec," and that I needed to take it to a specialty shop. I told them I did not feel like I should pay for the alignment if they couldn't get it done correctly. They also seem to have installed the eccentric washers upside down. I got out for $49.

This morning, I took it to an off road shop that does alignments on lifted vehicles all the time. They explained their alignment procedure, it sounded solid, so I left it there. They called me a couple of hours later to say that they pulled the skid plate off to do the LCA adjustment, and that the tabs were bent preventing them from being able to adjust the eccentric fittings to complete the alignment. I told them to take pics and send them to me, take the truck off the rack, and I would take it to the last person that touched the LCA (Toyota dealership,) and see what they said.

Basically Toyota says that the other shop did it, that "This is a common problem, and our guys know not to do it. You have to loosen the adjustments from the front, if you do it from the back it will do this."

Anyway, according to Toyota, they'll just try to bend the tab back in place, and if it breaks, they'll "send it over to the body shop and get it welded right up."

The off road shop said the same thing, but they said regardless of if it breaks or not, they want to pull the LCA so that they don't melt the bushings when they weld right next to where they mount, then put a bead on either side of the tab, and grind the interior surface flat so that the eccentric washer sits flat. I'm no expert, but that sounds like the correct way to do things.

Any pointers or tips?

Pics below:

 

The bead is the best solution for this fix. Check out BJmoose's full install on the OME lift kit. He had the same issue.

 

fairly simple fix shouldnt be too much a shop bent mine over, went to DMZ and tim hooked me up!!

 

I think they welded mine "in place."

You'll blink when you see the shop rate labor estimate to remove-repair-reinstall both LCAs.

 

Same thing happened to mine. Bent back and shop said if it happens again he'll just put a bead on it.

 

Any worry about melting the bushing? Or did they just do a series of tacks to keep it from heating up?

 

Shop didn't mention anything about the bushing, and I wasn't there to observe their technique, sorry.

I got hit for three hours labor total, IIRC. So it's possible they pulled each bolt and bushing separately before welding down the bead.

 

There any way you can go under and take a picture of how they bead yours.

 

Thread revival!

For those of you who have had this fixed with a bead, was the bead run on the outside of the tab after bending it back into place?

I am taking mine to a welder here in town and I want to make sure we are both on the same page when I tell him what needs to be done.

Thanks.

 

Yes on the outside of the tab.

 

At first the ecentric bolts are all frozen and nothing wants to move so the cams on the camber bolts want to jump the tabs. The solution is lift the front tires off the rack and get everything moving. Then set it back down. If they set the tires on plastic grocery sacks they will silp into place easier than without. I didnt put anti seize on the bolts, but when i take my truck in to have the alignment perfected im going to take anti seize with me and have them apply it to the camber bolts.

I did not have to weld my tabs, but you could see the cams were wanting to jump over the tabs when the tires were on the ground.

I lost my positive camber angle when i replaced my front struts and the tires were wearing on the inside. The shop that works on my truck was 3 days out so i tried to set the camber using a bubble and digital level. We used a string to true the front wheels to the back wheels and a tape measure to set the toe (1/8" in, in the front). The digital level was on my android tablet and didnt work so good so we used the bubble level and eye sight and the string looped over the back end of the back springs. (Other people (on you tube )used 4, 5 gal buckets and 2 strings and a tape measure to square the strings).

Because the caster setting is set with the camber bolts it makes it very difficult and maybe imposible to set the caster angle at home. Someday... with a little more practice I should be able to work on my front end and then set everything back up without loosing tread on my tires.

 

I don’t have a Tacoma but my 2017 fj150 gx460 with only 9k miles on it has this problem currently but is not bent completely, I work constantly so I couldn’t look at the truck my self for about two weeks, I heard this clunking noise while I pulled in and out of my garage after the truck was aligned at my closet Lexus dealer, I took it back in for service 3 times and explained to the service advisor what I was hearing took him for a ride he heard the noise and put it in for service, I get the truck back and I’m told it’s a normal characteristic of the fj150 and that the noise I’m hearing is the brakes unloading and shifting in the caliper, at this time I have to control my self because not only working on cars myself for 5 years before my current job and being Ferrari certified, I know what brake pads shifting sounds like and that noise is not it! I took the truck back in after not driving it for 3 days explained I wanted my u joint and lca bolts checked and was told by the dealer that the truck was deemed safe and they would no longer look at this issue. So I look my self and within 5 minutes and the light on the back of my iPhone I find the issue (see pictures) improper tightening of cam bolt resulting in eccentric depression of outer sub frame tab. If anyone has a clunking or loud click when shifting weight I would suggest to give your lca bolts a check and make sure your eccentrics are straight with the spec line.

 

I had the same issue on my Tacoma. Found this online and installed it myself, haven't had any problems since.

http://www.chaosfab.com/1996-2004-Tacoma-Lower-Control-Arm-Cam-Tab-Gussets-59960

 

I too, had the same problem happen to me today. Is it worth getting the $100 tabs or just get the bead weld?

 

I think its worth it to do the tabs if you wheel hard enough to bend the stock. I would say chances are you'll bend more of them as time goes on. I replaced the bolts/bushings while I was in there as well. And then I went SAS haha

 

I agree, thanks!

 

Mine are bent pretty bad. since I just got a welder for myself, this is going to be one of the next mods for myself

 

I’m looking to adjust my caster with my nonadjustable TC UCA’s. Hoping I don’t run into this issue...