How to tell if lower control arms are bad

The lower ball joint is a pretty easy job so long as the LBJ bolt and Tie rod end bolts aren’t totally rusted. The job was super fast on my Tacoma that I got from Washington, but not nearly as easy as my Tacoma that lived its whole life in Wisconsin. Either way, it’s a good entry into suspension work and is a DIY job.

 

pretty sure you DONT have to remove rack....even if you RR inr/otr tie rods

good tip is do ONE side at a time(dont try doing both at once....doesnt save time)

if my 1st time, i would plan for one day for each side....slow and steady.....take a break when you start turning into The Hulk!

 

The rack is in the way for removing the rear LCA bolts, so the rack has to be unbolted and moved out of the way. Shouldn't have to disconnect anything other than the rack mount bolts to get enough room though. So you don't have to worry about PS fluid lines or the steering column, just 3 bolts and a nut iirc. Its a good time to replace the steering rack bushings though since you'll be in there.



Heres a great write-up on the full job OP to see if you feel up for it
https://adventuretaco.com/guide/ste...ement-on-a-1st-gen-tacoma-or-3rd-gen-4runner/

Sometimes the best way to learn is to just jump in head first. I'd make sure you have a way to get to work on Monday in case you get stuck on something though

 

One side at a time is a great tip. I did upper and lower ball joints, UCA bushings, replaced LCAs and inner and outer TREs in one shot. One side took a day the other side was about half that. FWIW I could not get the UBJs out of the knuckles to save my life so a local garage did or for me for like $20

 

120,000 - not bad for a 21 year old truck

 

Great link thank you I'm leaning more and more towards giving this a shot. I got an old Subaru I can drive around town until the truck is put back together

 

Also here is some gifs of the vids my mechanic gave me for their justification of replacing the the LCAs again they are referring to the bushing specifically but after looking at the tutorials and stuff I understand why they wanted to replace the component it's basically the same job.

 

Here is the other

 

Curious what you all think

 

Lots of play
An alignment would never ‘take’ with that much movement

and that is prying against a bolt on shield

 

Maybe I'm naive but I was thinking since he's prying on the the skid plate it isn't that bad. Like most of those pry attempts it looks like the shield moves more than the bushing. I guess the real question is - is that much play worth $2200 dollars in repairs? That's what they were asking.

 

Honestly the thing drives fine had I not taken it in I would've never noticed. No clunks and stuff when going over bumps that seems to be common symptoms of control arm issues. I check tread wear/depth once a month everything is even so far at least

 

For myself, I would say next time you do major suspension work address the control arm bushings one way or another. in and of themselves they aren't a safety issue.

I'd say the line between replacing the bushings & the entire control arm is a personal judgement call. I like adding nice tools to my collection and enjoy working on my truck for its own sake. You may not be like me. Or you may have a friend with a press, in which case pressing out the old bushing is just a matter of extra time, and the $$$ savings are a lot bigger.

If you want polyurethane bushings (I wouldn't go for it unless you're building a race truck, or otherwise really need the upsides of poly bushings), of course, you're going to need to go the bushing route.

Whichever route you go, check the steering rack bushings & put in new ones. You'll have done 90% of the work in getting to them.

 

What he's actually prying on is the area above the plate where the a-arm comes close to the frame. He's just bending up the edge of the skid plate to get to it.

When I had mine checked I had just repainted mine and they bent it all up doing this. It may be industry standard but IMO damaging another part to check the play is just bad work. There's 6 bolts holding the plate in.

As I mentioned I was quoted $5K just for the LCA's, $2200 is almost reasonable considering the labor time i but it's really a waste if you don't address the other suspension issues that are surely wearing out.

Honestly knowing what I know now, I could have waited as well but it's good to know I'm set for another 20 years or so LOL . . . overall yeah those bushings are shot and it needs to be done, how long you wait to do it is your call. Keep in mind worn parts tend to put more stress on other parts and wear them out as well, it is what it is.

129K is super low mileage, almost broken in. Mine is almost 87K.

 

man it’s all about how long you plan on keeping the taco
It needs to be done but as long as you keep checking for irregularities in tire wear…..you could “put off/bugdet” for the future repair

 

You've clearly never done this repair.

 

Much thanks for the input all. Probably going to save up some dough for awhile this beast won't be going off-road until June/July when the snow all melts in the mountains around where I live - really doesn't get many miles on it until then I maybe drive it once or twice a week until the snow melts. Before the first off-road sesh of the season I'll get them repaired.

I'll probably attempt the job myself in the meantime and if I can't get the truck back together well then they'll be getting repaired at the shop earlier lol

 

I know everyone active on this forum probably big time cares about their trucks but I often wonder about if the average person out their not maintaining their tacomas has all kinds of problems like this and just continues to beat the hell out of them.

Honestly before buying one a good question might be "do you use tacomaworld" lol

 

I thought the 12 and 6 check was for the wheel bearing

 

You be livin' that 5lug life there, buddy