Front end bushings? Wrapped it up yesterday.

No special prep, just hit it quickly with a wire brush by hand, nothing major at all.

And definitely no grease. The outer metal of the bushing went into the arms dry.

 

I guess I'll have to see what the shop says tomorrow.

Had I been able to get those in successfully, I would have finished up today and been ready to take it in for an alignment

The removal of the LCAs went off without a hitch.

 

The shop that fouled up the skid plate installation is going to press in the bushings today. I'm supposed to get a call later.

 

Pressed in?

They just took a little finesse but went in fine.

 

Yup. No 'finesse' I tried would get those suckers in. Big vice, rubber (and/or plastic) mallet, nothing. Thus, the trip to the shop. They're in there now...

 

I wanted to follow up and thank all who contributed to this thread, from those who encouraged me to even try this project to those without whose input I would have never been able to finish it.

The job was replacing bushings in the steering rack, lower control arms, and new lower ball joints. I was quoted by two shops for just the bushing replacements, one @ $1300, the other $1500. After I got those quotes and decided to take it on myself, I figured while I had it all apart it made sense to do the lower ball joints at the same time. It took me Saturday, Sunday, and half of today, but other than fixing the mounting holes the shop messed up replacing my skid plate, the last bolt is turned and torqued as of this evening. I still need to take it for an alignment, but it drives perfect, and the blasted suspension squeak is finally gone - apparently it was the lower control arms after all.

What a difference the new steering rack bushings make - tighter steering, no slop, and little effort.

Again, thanks for pushing me over the edge to take it on. It ended up costing me a little over $220 in parts, and my time.

The only question I have now is how does an alignment shop torque the rear cam bolts with the outer tie rods right behind the bolt...?

 

I bet most alignment techs use large wrenches in those areas and go by feel for what is good or close to the torque spec.

 

Congrats on doing the tough work!

Most alignment shops won't touch the lower arm unless the camber/caster is way out for the very reason, that it's super hard to get a torque wrench on that bolt.

The "right" answer is- flared crows foot wrenches:


which allow you to get on the bolt, and attach your torque wrench with a little offset.

 

I did see those mentioned earlier in this thread, but had never heard of them. After researching, it makes perfect sense, as the 24mm one could be used with a torque wrench below the outer tie rod.

 

Yup- you got it. They aren't that expensive, and the smaller sizes come in handy for the brake, fuel, and power steering lines.

 

At the moment, I only need the 24mm. Do you have a link to the pictured set?

 

It looks like the ones I got are "unavailable"... but just search Amazon. Just pay attention to the "flared" aspect of them.

 

Found these two:

$55 Neiko 03324A Crowfoot Wrench Set 1/2" and 3/8” Drive, 15 Piece, Metric Crows Foot Wrench Sizes 8mm-24mm, Chrome-Moly Flare Nut Wrench Set

https://smile.amazon.com/Neiko-0332...,B005VNLG18,B0002KO1SK,B000SOX9EM&srpt=WRENCH

$29 HFS(R 3/8" and 1/2" Drive Crowfoot Flare Nut Wrench Set, Metric, 8mm to 24mm | 15-Piece Set, Cr-Mo Steel

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08LVBZZC9?smid=A2QSX0WT38UK5G

 

Either look fine. Whether or not the lack of reviews for the cheaper one justifies the extra price is up to you.

 

I ordered the Neiko version. $12 didn't seem like that much difference, and I like that the sizes are etched into each. Without the case, you'd be hunting around for the correct size.

Thanks for the tip.

 

A few last minute items to complete this job - I goofed and didn't remember to torque the rear cam bolts before reinstalling the steering rack and torquing all those bolts (hence the need for a 24mm crowfoot wrench); removing/reinstalling the 8 lower ball joint to knuckle bolts with red threadlock, and attempting to rethread the skid plate bolt holes the shop messed up. Anyone know the bolt size/thread pitch of those 5 bolts? The shop lost them.

 

I only used blue loctite on the 8 ball joint bolts, torqued to 59 ft lbs.

I’m not using the original skid pan bolts because they got abused over the years, as did the threads they go into. Can’t help there.

 

Thanks for the tip on the loctite. I'll clean up the bolts and use blue.

 

I have another question if anyone has input on this - on some suspension threads, it states to torque the lower shock bolt and/or the LCA cam bolts with the tires on and the truck sitting at ride height. I did that when I replaced the struts on my 2019 4Runner, but most of the videos about 1st gen Tacoma LCA bushing replacement show torqueing the bolts while reassembling everything while the truck is still on jack stands (one video said to torque the sway bar link bolts at ride height, nothing else)...which is correct?

Without the truck sitting on ramps, I don't know how one would get a torque wrench on some of those bolts with the tires on...

 

I torqued mine on the ground, but I was also doing my own alignment, so the wheels were back on and the truck sitting on the ground.