My Experience Rebuilding Control Arms

I have a 2007 double cab 4x4 Sport with ~280k miles that has become hard to maintain alignment and needs new ball joints. In my internet searches and talking with coworkers, the task of rebuilding the control arms seems daunting and not worth the trouble, especially compared to buying OEM replacements. I went round and round with which way to go and eventually decided to give rebuilding a try. I figured I'd create a post on my experience to help others make an informed choice.

Considerations

1) Price

New OEM control arms (2-UCA's & 2-LCA's) from McGeorge Toyota. Total $1048.91 plus tax and shipping.

For this rebuild, the following items were purchased

1. 2- Moog upper ball joints K80811, and 2- Moog lower ball joints K80827. Total $106.48
2. 2- NAPA bushings 267-3784, 2-NAPA bushings 267-3783. Total $277.58. These are bushings for the LCA's only as I did not see it necessary to replace the upper bushings. The rubber on the UCA bushings is still pliable and the inner sleeves were perfectly centered. I originally purchased a poly bushing kit from Energy Suspension but decided to go with rubber bushings for a couple of reasons. One, I don't like the thought of possibly having to re-grease the inner sleeves periodically to combat squeaking, especially when I am not an "offroader", and would probably never appreciate the performance of poly. Two, I didn't like the requirement of Energy Suspension's kit of having to grind the OEM washers off and re-swaging them back on to the inner sleeves. Rubber bushings seemed to be the better route for my situation.
3. Astro Pneumatic Tool 7897 21 pc. ball joint press kit. Total $131.99
4. 2.5 x 6" steel nipple. Total $33. I had to purchase this because the ball joint press kit didn't have a suitable size cylinder to properly press the larger of the two LCA bushings in. The closest size in the kit started to deform the flange of the bushing, and I didn't have anything on hand that would work.
5. 9/16"x 36" and 3/4"x 36" grade 8 coarse threaded rod with two grade 8 nuts and two hardened washers for each. Total $82. This was used to pull the bushings into the control arms. One has a ID for 3/4" bolting, and the other has a ID for 9/16" bolting.
6. Harbor Freight 4 ton bottle jack. Total $30. This was used to press the old bushings out of the control arms. Perfect size for the task.

Other tools you need/may need that I already had

1. Torch to heat control arms up while pressing out the bushings
2. A bench vise. Not absolutely necessary but is extremely useful while pressing and pulling.
3. Wrenches for all-thread nuts (7/8" and 1-1/8" in my case)
4. Large 1/2' drive breaker bar OR impact for using ball joint press (7/8" socket for my specific press). I used a breaker bar and it wasn't horrible but an impact would have been nice.

My total $661.05

2) Which parts?

New OEM control arm assemblies are appealing because they are... OEM.

Unfortunately, it is a little complicated to source OEM ball joints but it can be done from what I understand (sourced from Japan for a Hilux). OEM bushings are readily available, and are cheaper at McGeorge Toyota than what I paid at NAPA, for Doorman's I believe. Looks like they are $220.84 plus tax and shipping for all lower control arm bushings. I messed that up! With my mileage and use, I don't doubt that the NAPA's will last the life of the vehicle.

The Moog ball joints I installed have grease zerk's which I like the thought of, but have no experience with the long term durability. I do know that the OEM ball joints served me well.

3) Is it manageable and worth you time and labor?

I have worked with my hands for the majority of my adult life and am currently a maintenance technician at a nuclear power plant. I personally wouldn't consider this a difficult job, just take your time and be observant while pressing and pulling. I have no doubt that if you are somewhat mechanically inclined, you can successfully complete this job. For me, it was well worth taking on this project as I saved money compared to buying complete OEM LCA and UCA assemblies. Another way I see it is I gained a ball joint press kit, a jack, and some threaded rod that could be handy for another project down the road. If I had to estimate my time spent, I went slow and I'd say it took me somewhere around six hours to do, spit up over the course of a few days. One more thing to add is I am in the Arizona desert where our vehicles are not subject to lots of water and salty conditions. I'd imagine if I did have that kind of exposure, it could have made things a little more complicated.

You Decided to go for it!

1) Start off by taking pictures and/or matchmarking the ball joints and bushings on the LCA's/UCA's for later reference. I'd hate for you to install the parts in the wrong orientation going back together.

2) Bushing removal. Place LCA in vise (if applicable) and then put the 4 ton jack in between the arms. Put some force on the bushing but don't get too crazy. Evenly heat up the socket of the control arm being careful not to get it insanely hot where you start melting the rubber or catching it on fire. What you are trying to achieve is heating the socket up so it expands while minimizing heat transfer to the bushing outer sleeve and bushing rubber. After its fairly hot, apply more force on the bushing with the jack, and in my case it popped loose. If it doesn't pop at this point, apply more heat and force. When mine did pop from being fully seated, it was easy to fully remove it by grabbing it with pliers to avoid being burned. I saw this method somewhere in this forum but can't seem to find it, and was pleasantly surprised how easy this part was. Repeat for the remainder of lower bushings.


3) Ball joint removal/installation. The Astro press kit I purchased had adequate parts to remove all ball joints. I did find that there wasn't and "ideal" piece to meet up with the upper ball joints to press out. What I ended up doing is placing the eye of the clamp on the flanged portion on shank to press it out. If you have a piece of 1-1/4" steel pipe, you could use it to sit on the land of the ball joint body to press it out. For installation first CHECK ORIENTATION! You will have to monkey around with the pieces to make it work, but this kit is suffice. I again had to use the eye of the clamp, where I pressed the lower ball joints in, due to not having room and an ideal piece. As previously stated, I used a 1/2" breaker bar for the install, and it took some muscle to make them move. It did seem that the clamp would slightly deflect under heavy torque, where the ball joint would start to get a little wonky. To mitigate this, I simply reoriented the clamp as close to 180 degrees out. An impact would have been nice but I suppose that manually pressing it made it a slow and more controllable evolution while ensuring the ball joint is evenly moving. If you do it manually, I would say you definitely need a vise.


4) Bushing installation. This is where I used the threaded rod to pull them in following a link in another thread provided by @DrFunker. https://www.suspension.com/blog/how-to-install-a-bushing-without-a-press/
CHECK ORIENTATION! Remember, if they are oriented the incorrect way, a bottle jack will not be able to press them out. The only thing I can add to this is I had to use the 2-1/2" steel nipple to properly seat on the larger lower bushing flange. The Astro ball joint kit doesn't have a great size for this, and the closest one in the kit started to deform the flange.


When I get the control arms back on I opted to try the octagonal cam bolt kit purchased from @ForestRunnerFrank99 at KP Offroad. After my alignment is complete, I will add my experience with this product.

All-in-all it wasn't a bad job. Hopefully this consolidated post helps those considering taking this task on, and makes your hunt for information a bit easier. If there is something that isn't clear or you have questions, let me know and I will do my best to clarify or help.

 

Nice job.
Thanks for the excellent DIY.
I am sure this will be helping for other in the future.

 

Great write up! Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the alignment kit

 

Nice work. I took the easy way out last summer. UCA new 3rd gen takeoffs $100 and LCAs from McGeorge about $650. Swapped in a couple of hours.

 

Definitely a more expedient method. Luckily I have a commute vehicle and can afford to work at a slower pace. I'm confident if I had everything lined up properly, I could remove, rebuild, and reinstall the CA's in a long day. Of course, the stars don't always align on the first go-round.

 

Great write up.

 

Other good tips:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/redneck-lower-control-arm-lca-bushing-press.134846/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-lca-bushing-replacement-2005-tacoma-4x4.176250/

I went with all Mevotech parts, less than $200 for bushings and BJ’s, but that was pre-covid prices. Used heat and a bolt from my BJ kit to pop out the bushings. Only had to buy a coupling nut and some large washers to complete my removal tool kit.

 

Good write up dude..nice work

 

Can I have your old bushings?

It's a long story, but I want a set of OEM inner bushing sleeves.

And thanks for a great writeup!

 

You got em. Send me your info.

 

Awesome write up!

 

I'm looking at buying that almost exact ball joint press kit, my question: is there a reason you opted to use the bottle jack method instead of the ball joint kit itself to press out the old bushings and press them back in? Fitment/adapter mismatch, not enough strength?

Reason for asking I just watched a Chris Fixa vid where he used the press kit to extract old bushings, but they were far less beefy control arms than the ones in our Taco's.