LCA Bushings: OEM, Energy Suspension, Whiteline

the lower bushings on my truck witl a little over 270k were fine a little dry rotted but still intact, not deformed

the uca bushings were wrecked though

 

Same here, these threads remind me to service stuff quite often but keeps me rolling. I’ll probably buy oem again when I’m do mine I’m @ around 270 also.

 

Not only that but the rack and pinion is in the way and you have to wrestle the damn thing.

 

I'm pretty much convinced that the only "30min" job is adding washer fluid....

 

And checking tire pressure, and if you get lucky and compressor is already aired up you might be able to add air to the tires in that 30 min block. Otherwise throw another 30 min block on to the task time

 

after the 4th time you get good at it trust me

 

dude i plan to go at it 2 more times and thats with new bushings

 

Jumping into this thread as I think this is probably the best place to ask...

Cam sleeves are definitely fused solid on mine.

Has anyone who had to cut their cam sleeves replaced them with OEM cam sleeves or gone with aftermarket? I'm a cheap SOB and am having a hard time justifying spending a lot of money on essentially a few chunks of Toyota branded metal.

 

Didn't have to cut mine; having said that I have a new set by SPC if you want for less than new.

Bought them about 2-3 months ago when I replaced my LCA bushings.

 

Don't waste your time and money on the SPC cams. They won't hold an alignment, and will strip out sooner than later, and not allow it to be aligned at all.

 

You could also hit up a salvage yard and see about finding a Tacoma or a 4Runner to strip the cams out of.

 

I would... except i've planted the car where it currently sits. She's only got two wheels on her at the moment and has only storage insurance until the end of September.

Nearest decent salvage yard that I know of is a good hour's drive away at least.

 

Yikes.

 

We're biting the bullet on this one boys. Buying OEM replacements. Considering all the money I've saved doing other jobs myself, I think I'm still well in the green.

 

Seems like a lateral move for those of use whose truck won't align already

 

Totally understandable. Do yourself a solid and toss a little anti-seize on the new set for good measure. Can't hurt!

 

Yota Jim's has a big bin of them for $5 a pop.

 

Gonna post this here hoping it helps someone in the future - not sure if a similar how-to has been posted elsewhere... Open to feedback and comments on how this can be improved.

I've been working on my UCA's while I wait on my replacement parts for the LCA's.
For Energy Suspension, you need to recycle the outer sleeve of the original bushing. ES supplies a new inner sleeve for UCA's alongside the new bushing.

From what I've seen in other threads, many people make it sound like a headache to remove these things.
Here's my hack to get the rubber and inner sleeve out of your UCA very cleanly - with little cleanup required afterwards. You also avoid a lot of fumes from the burning rubber. Each bushing took me maybe 5-10 minutes tops. You might be able to apply this to LCA's with some tweaking.

Here's what I used to complete the job:
Ball joint press
Propane torch
Bench vice (to hold UCA)
1/2" drive socket wrench (my ball joint press works with a 22mm bit)
Optional - breaker bar
Steel wire circular brush for power drill
Emory cloth
Optional - Dremel

1) Line up and tighten the balljoint press onto the inner sleeve. No receiving cups, no press bits - nothing. We're going raw baby. You should have it set up so that you push the bushing towards the other bushing. Picture for reference. With the outer sleeve's design, you won't risk removing it along with everything else this way.


2) Now start cranking. Do this while the bushing is still COLD ! I did this by hand with a normal 1/2" drive wrench until I couldn't I couldn't turn it anymore. For added measure, I gave a couple turns using a breaker bar as well. When you get to this point, you should have something that looks like this (see below). Note: There's normally a rubber lip of the bushing that sits over the metal lip here. Most of mine happened to just crumble and crack off , so the majority of it is removed here. At this point the inner sleeve should be making its way out the other side. You get some pretty amazing lateral travel thanks to the rubber.


3) Now it's time for heat. Bust out that propane torch and get cooking. Even coverage of heat is key here. Here's where the "hack" comes in. Because you're only heating up the outside of the UCA, the layer of the rubber bushing that's fused with the outer sleeve will heat up first. Pair this with the fact that the rubber is already stretched out. It wants to revert to its normal shape. Once that layer of rubber melts free of the outer sleeve, the bushing is basically pulling itself off trying to return to its normal shape. You're going to start here cracking and popping as parts of the bushing start snapping free.

4) After aboot a minute of cooking - jump back on that balljoint press and keep tightening. You should find the tension has eased off and you can keep driving it in with very minor resistance. Eventually, you'll "feel" the bushing pop out the backside and everything will get very wobbly. Loosen the balljoint press.

5)At this point, you're probably looking at the rubber bushing wedged into receiving end of the balljoint press. What a mess! Swap out the UCA with the balljoint press in the bench vice. Be sure to wear thick gloves when doing this. You're UCA is going to be very hot.

6) Start driving in the balljoint's thread again and push the bushing out the back of the receiving end. It should come out with a satisfying "POP!" and go flying!

7) The inside of your UCA's should look hopefully something like this. Mine were left with a very thin layer of rubber on the inside. Maybe less that 1mm? Almost looks like a dusting of rubber. You can kind of see the metal underneath. I did a quick pass with a very small circular metal wire brush on my drill and they came out sparkling. (1inch diameter, but I had to grind and wear it down against a rock for it to fit inside). I'm sure the same can be achieved by hand/dremel with some Emory Cloth/sandpaper, it will just take a little more time.

 

lol my sleeve fell out of the bushing right after removal

 

The inner sleeve?! She must have been pretty loose!