Cam bolt stripping easily

I have been struggling to find the root cause of a clunk/pop that I am hearing at full lock in reverse and I have found the component that is causing it.

Yesterday, I went to get an alignment and the tech said my driver rear cam bolt was stripped so I went to Toyota, bought a new one and installed it at home. I tightened it down with my 25" breaker bar and took my truck for a drive. Tested in full lock reverse scenerio and the popping was quieter so I got back underneath the truck and tightened it some more. As expected, the popping was very subtle now. So I got back underneath and tightened a bit more... and i noticed that the nut just keeps spinning with out increase the thread count so it isnt tightening anymore.The cam bolt can move in the tabs with easy now. The passenger side is tight and I physically cant tighten it anymore. The popping is definitely on the driver side so I am pretty confident that this stubborn cam bolt is root cause.


My questions are as follows...

1. Why is a brand new OEM cam bolt stripping so easily by hand?
2. Why is the brand new OEM cam bolt not fully tightening?
3. Any recommendation on how to fix this problem?

New parts (less than 6mths old)

• Steering rack with poly bushings
• tie rod ends
• LCAs
• CV
• wheel bearing and hub assemblies
• brakes
• rotors
• front diff with 4.10 gears
• front outer axle seals

New parts but over a year old

• ToyTec Suspension
• SPC UCAs

I am providing the parts list to help build my case that basically all of my front end driving components are new. Thus, the popping has to be the LCA shifting due to the cam bolt being loose.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Part #16 on the provided diagram is the cam bolt in question

 

it's not clear that you replaced the bolt AND the nut? maybe the nut is the problem?

edit: apologies if my reading comprehension sucks

 

I replaced cam bolt and nut.

I just installed a new cam bolt, nut, and cam tab. I also hammered in the back side of the LCA mount and straightened up the tabs. SO FAR, SO GOOD. I will report back tomorrow after another alignment

 

weird that the new one stripped so easily. good luck

 

my guess is that maybe the mount was bent a few degrees and preventing a strong, tight lock on the lca

 

The popping is back... I am thinking my tabs have filleted open again. I will reinspect tonight and think about welding a bead behind them

 

update - I have welded a bead behind the cam gussets to prevent them from filleting open. I have also rechecked the torque on all the bolts. Since this procedure, there has been no popping. So far, so good!