Lower control arm profanity.

What's wrong with this picture?


You're looking at the driver side lower control arm pivot from the back towards the front. It's supposed to be held in place by two little flanges. The one on the left has been flattened, allowing the nut and and alignment ring to drift down and left. (The same problem exists on driver-side-front, but didn't photograph well enough to see.)

I found this out today when I was at the shop today to get my alignment post-suspension-install. "Hey Steve, I can't align this truck. Or, I can, but it won't stay. You should come down and look at this...."

Not sure when it happened. I used a crowbar to force the LCA in order to get enough clearance to slide the OME strut into place. But, it needed to be forced!! Nevertheless - I now say: use caution and inspect the LCA pivot point as you're applying that force! Make sure you're not damaging it when creating space to put the strut into place. Maybe the factory steel is just really weak here. The service guy said he's seen this failure on trucks barely out of warranty - but not with only 1500 miles on them. Natch I can't make a warranty claim in this one - not worth the aggravation even to ask.

The shop's going to reposition (easy) and then weld some bead into the corner to reinforce at all four corners. I don't weld, so that's not a DIY for me.

Has anyone else seen this failure?

 

yeah I have seen it but it usually happens when the truck is jumped in the air and used as a prerunner

 

Well that normally happens on LT trucks when they jump like crazy! Weird...

 

Well, I did go over a couple speed bumps at just under 20mph. Ya think that counts? If so, Tacoma loses points from the "tough-enough-to-take-it" column.

Obviously I did *something.* either in the install or not long after. If you look at my install thread, you'll see how I used the crowbar to force the LCA down to make room to slide in the strut.

No matter what - the part seems a little under-designed for its job. My wife the civil engineer asked "So, you're not just going to replace it with another factory part, right?" Smart one, she is.

Suggestions?

Analysis?

Comiseration?

 

How would you fix it? I'm thinking the shop's suggesting to strengthen the flanges is a good one.

 

I have the same problem. I don't know why or when it happened. I just discovered the damage a couple of months ago while doing an oil change. Back in August, I installed 5100's set at 0" with Eibach springs. I took it to a Toyota dealer the next day to have it aligned. The dealership didn't mention any problems while aligning it. Has anyone had luck fixing this issue? By the way, this is on the driver's side looking forward.

 

hammer it back to square and place a bead to reinforce it DMZ tim did mine now it aligns good