Lower Control arms and why I went with OEM

Pay shipping and you can have mine. 49,133 miles, one bad ball joint

 

I know this is old but I Just thought I’d add to the thread:

I replaced my driver side LCA this last weekend (leaking ball joint). I had read the horror stories about seized bushings etc. and I was prepped with new oem hardware and a new oem LCA from McGeorge Toyota (best prices I could find ~$340 all in, my dealer wanted $625 to change it out). It took about 1.5 hours total (working slow and hanging out with my dad). Super easy.

I was ready to go with carbide tipped sawzall blades and everything - only to have the sleeve and bolts come out with a light tap of my dead blow. Like literally a test tap. I am keeping the old hardware (looks brand new) in case I need to do it again but I won’t buy new stuff the next time.

on the flip side - it took my big sledge to knock the ball joint loose from the knuckle connector piece. Go figure.

I put a medium coat of marine grease on the inside of the bushings and the cam sleeve and bolts. Adjusters were left dry of course.

On a side note- the aftermarket hardware that I have seen DOES NOT compare to the OEM Toyota cams/adjusters/bolts. I highly recommend spending the 60 bucks on OEM stuff.

 

Still got them? I'll take you up on that! I just bought a 2013 with a 6" rough country lift that I'm taking off.

 

currently running $30/ea aftermarket LCA's

Zero Issues

 

Zero issues for how many miles? Report back to us if they last anywhere near as long as your OEM originals. That's the real test.

 

Can someone tell me how many
Cam shifters and cam bolts are needed for replacing the lower control arms as well as replacing the suspension.

https://wholesaledirect.moderntoyot...5PTIwMDgmdD1wcmUtcnVubmVyJmU9NC0wbC12Ni1nYXM=

 

Still have pair of OEM LCAs?

 

Lol no. The post was 3 years ago

 

Hey! How'd the $30 ones go for you?
Thinking of foing some MEVOTECHs as I've had fantastic experiences with them on other vehicles buuuut the cheapies are always tempting.. looking at TRQ LCAs too

 

I'm using Mevotech Supreme Lower Control Arms (left & right side). I only have 20k miles over 2.5years, and so far they're holding up fine. "Limited lifetime warranty" on these, but take that with a grain of salt.

Maybe useless info, but my truck has a Eibach Pro Lift stage 1 kit, and 18x9" 0 offset wheels. The offset on the wheels really does put more stress on arms and joints and steering. So I always check the bushings and do a ball joint shake test at every oil change since I'm just as concerned as everyone else with the quality of aftermarket parts.

 

At 70k miles in 2017, I changed the suspension on my truck. Cam bolts were seized. Took it to my mechanic, big and costly mistake.
Now, with 131k miles, I was charging the suspension again. Noticed my ball joints were getting bad. I found new(300 mile) lca's for $250.00. I figured, why not, new ball joints and new bushings.
Cam bolts came out easy, because last time I told the mechanic to cover them with anti seize.
Before you start mark your cams and take pictures, so you get the alignment real close.
In case your wondering, in 2017 I replaced the stock suspension on my 2013 with the TRD Pro suspension when discontinued the Bilstein kits that they used in 2015. I went to Dobinsons system.
The Wisconsin TW crew encourages spending money on our truck.
After adding more weight I needed the heavier coil spring. That's when I noticed my ball joints.

 

I have the standard MevoTech's on mine after my OEM LBJs failed. I've had them on for maybe 25-30k miles with some pretty aggressive wheeling here and there. No problems so far, but we'll see.

 

Not good. Some of the dimensions seemed wonky like bushing diameters and supposedly one was too short, messing up alignment. Ball joint and bushings might not have been good quality but didn’t run them long enough to find out.
I had too much positive camber on one side with the adjusters maxed out. At first thought it was from lift height but it was not max height. Was probably caused by that LCA.

ended up finding a used worn out OEM takeoff set and replaced it with new bushings and LBJ’s from RockAuto and repainted them.

learned the hard way at least once why folks recommend OEM brand new. Also heard some people reinforce OEM with welding.

I really don’t know how the Moog or Mevotech bushings and LBJ I have installed in my LCA compares quality wise to a whole new arm from the dealer.
They are greasable (LBJ zerk). Eventually one started squeaking. When I greased it the squeak stopped.

not sure how poly bushings compare either.

a few companies do have welded steel LCA’s in stock width for non long travel, or one company’s that shifts wheel position forward 0.75” to clear bigger tires - they’re just expensive. I forget which is which but I think Solo Motorsports, Dirt King, BTF Fabrication, maybe more.

 

I also swapped to a Dobinson rear suspension and after a bit noticed my LBJs seeping grease. Might be a thing, maybe additional pressure on the front end with such heavy springs. .