Upper control arm bolts?

Same as what Toyota corporate does when they need to replace UCAs on their development vehicles:



If you go off road, the nut will loosen over time regardless of orientation, because it's a rotating joint. I replaced the factory nut with an M14 nyloc. Did the same at the lower shock bolt and front leaf hanger bolt after seeing them loosen on the trail.

 

I had to cut & bend the passenger side too , I really wonder why people say not to reinstall the bolt the mor convenient way from the back pointing forward

 

thanks!! Just what i wanted to confirm. These people who think gravity will make it fall out must lose sleep over the oil drain plug / transmission pan bolts / driveshaft mount bolts etc etc too I guess

 

Really, if you off road any meaningful amount, you should be re-torquing your bolts occasionally. Common knowledge in the Jeep community. No idea why people think Tacoma bolts are going to stay in forever when they abuse their truck. So this is a complete non-issue.

 

^Hell I even had my sunvisor screws loosen, causing squeaks. Might have to put Loctite on them

 

The nut will not loosen and it does not require thread lock or a nylock nut. Most suspension applications use distorted thread nuts, which from a quick glance look like normal nuts, but the nut is usually pinched after threading to give it an elliptical shape that prevents it from loosening with vibration or rotation. Do you honestly believe Toyota would just slap a normal nut that would loosen with regular use on a critical suspension member?

 

^You're thinking stover nut or jet nut / k-nut. Those could not be run down by hand. Sounds like you've never turned a wrench in your life. The OEM nuts used on the UCA pivot, lower shock bolt, and front leaf hanger all could be run down by hand, and they all loosened on the trail.

According to all the promo videos, Toyota thinks off-roading is inherently dangerous. That's why we have various "day one" upgrades to make the trucks off-roadworthy: diff breather relocate, air dam delete, PCV catch can... now add nyloc nuts.

 

I've done plenty of suspension work before and every vehicle that I have worked on in the past has used distorted thread nuts on critical suspension members.

Admittedly, I haven't worked on my Tacoma yet. Seems like an odd design choice, especially considering the manual shows the bolt going both directions.

 

It seems like by cutting it can be done alone with out help?

 

Yeah, a reciprocating saw and a fine tooth blade. Cut half way, rotate cut other half. Put some plywood between you and the engine block so you dont cause damage

 

Anyone recommend replacing the bolts. Been riding couple thousand miles with play on my bushings. Going to do the install today but I just thought maybe the bolts could have some warping? To my understanding uca are not responsible for weight of the truck so I don't see how they could have been damaged

 

^Did you check if the nut had loosened? That would cause play.

The bolt shouldn't bend unless you jump the truck, in which case there are weld-on double-shear kits sold by Total Chaos et al.

 

Everything was torqued I have those famous X axis SPC bushing that give out with in months. Determine it was the bushings... going with JBA will attempt the install today in a few hours wish me luck.