New control arms?

Im about to complete my order for the full suspension package from Wheelers w/ OME/bilstein 5100. I also ordered a set of the energy suspension steering rack bushings...My rack wobbles all over the place. Today I will also be ordering some upper ball joints from somewhere and some OEM lower ball joints and inner/outer tie rod ends.

My question now is whether or not it would be worthwhile to go ahead and order new UCA and LCA from somewhere like rock auto. I don’t off-road my truck. It’s a pre-runner with 260,000 miles and really just needs new rubber like EVERYWHERE. Seems like the easiest way to do that is to replace the whole arm. Any recommendations on what to do? Or any other parts I should take a look at while I’m playing around in there. Am I in way over my head in trying to replace these?

 

Buy after market uppers, the sealed icon ones look nice but I have camburgs, and new stock lowers will be good especially with new LBJ. However, ONLY BUY TOYOTA MADE LOWER BALL JOINTS! I cannot stress this enough. The after market UCA will help with alignment.

 

Just went through the same build up on my TRD. I went with JBA UCA's. They come with there own ball joint and are not very difficult to install. Alignment guy said the truck aligned very easily with the lift and new UCA's. The JBA's have some caster built in to accommodate lift. I went with new Toyota lower ball joints also and went ahead and did tie rod ends to make it all fresh.

 

I went with SPC UCA and Yota LBJ. As stated above, for peace of mind, go with Yota LBJ's!

 

If you’ve never broken a LBJ take it from someone who has, you will be crippled

 

Just get bushings. No need to get entire control arms. Upper control arms are just if you can’t get it aligned after lifting it. I say wait on those until after you determine if you can’t get it aligned.

Dealers and mechanics put lower control arms on because they are lazy and it’s easier to have you buy the entire control arm with preinstalled bushings (that’s like a 20 minute job for them), rather than have to press in new bushings.

So, read up on how to replace the control arm bushings and have at it. Since you’re getting engergy suspention, they make control arm bushings, too... those are a diy replace, no press needed. You burn out the rubber, clean, and push in the poly bushings. Easy peasy.

 

If you don't mind a challenge I would get lca bushings and press them in. Just hope your cam adjusters aren't frozen. I'm sure I'll get flamed for this but I recommend moog lower ball joints. The last 2 sets I got are made in Japan and cost about 100 for the pair shipped from rock auto, plus they are greasable. Uca I would replace the entire arm.

 

Cool. This is the type of response I was looking for. Did you do anything as far as replacing your LCA or it’s bushings?

 

The prices for all of these control arms are outrageous. Even the budget friendly options like some you guys have mentioned seem to be $450 or higher. Seems like a company could manufacture/sell a good part for half these prices if they had the notion to.

 

Definitely buying Toyota lower ball joints. I promise. I haven’t been able to justify buying Toyota tie rods though.... surely other brands are adequate?

When I jacked up my truck two days ago to test my tie rods I swear that the wheel literally had over a full inch of play left to right. I was fully expecting there to be some ball joint play, but those guys were solid as a rock after all this time. They’ve never been replaced before, and they’re 17 years old now. Nevertheless, the boots are cracked so they’re getting trashed along with everything else.

 

When it comes to safety components, I want the stuff that won't break, period. I'm willing to pay for the peace of mind.

Tires, brakes and suspension components, I will not cheap out.

 

I did not. My bushings were still in good shape.

 

Do not, Do not , Do not buy Rock Auto LCAs. You'll be sorry. There's been documented cases of cheapo aftermarket LCAs ripping apart. Stick with your OEM LCAs and just replace the bushings. If you really want aftermarket UCAs buy a quality set like from Total Chaos, Camburg or SPC. But, these UCAs are expensive so I'd recommend just doing the bushings. I have some videos for you to reference.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/YywcR0E9bM4

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bfLvtEnX9qk

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kmaZNBp1gZM

https://www.youtube.com/embed/6FzEHygizoI

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_lZbAd1_EUM


You could use the following video as a reference for the front part of your lift and replacing the upper balljoint. We did have a full lift video for a 1st Gen Tacoma but my buddy dropped the external hard drive and we lost all the footage.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yXjioXyZa_M


Hope this helps.

 

I did energy suspension bushings in the upper and lower control arms and have been very pleased. It took me an afternoon to
Complete but was well worth it. They are a little more firm than the factory rubber and also give a little more feedback from the wheels to the frame, but I’m fine with it.

 

Yup. Exactly. Steering, suspension all of it. It just lasts.

Order online from Toyota Dallas or Camelback Toyota.

 

I am currently in the middle of doing basically this same work to my truck. I have and probably always will be a NAPA auto parts fan. Anyway, I got everything from Napa and I’m replacing everything with the front end except the spring itself and the lca’s. Uca’s were just as cheap with the new bushings installed, so that’s the only reason i am replacing them. I used all of Napa’s premium parts and the only joints that came without grease fittings were the upper ball joints. Being the person that I am, I practiced on the old upper ball joint, but drilled the new upper ball joints, tapped them and installed grease fittings. Cleaned everything up with different magnets and finally flushed the joint with grease after installing the new grease fittings. It’s a slow process for me because I can’t get all the time to work on my truck like I want. I’m a professional equipment technician and I’ve been doing stuff like this for a long time. I’m not scared of any reputable manufacturer on suspension parts. I’ve always been a fan of grease fittings, so I always go with them when possible. Im replacing the lca’s bushings with the original rubber ones, even though I have nothing against the energy suspension bushing kits either. I’ve got 247k miles on my truck and this is the first time this is all being done to this truck. It’s become more time consuming than anything, but I’m also taking time to clean and paint parts as I’m moving along. My lca’s adjustment cams were frozen, and that’s been the most aggravating part so far.

 

Thank you for taking the time to put all of this into one post for me. I’ve actually seen a few or your videos and they’re very good. I was planning to follow along with your instructions during my install, haha. I’m am NOT a mechanic. I’m a woodworker. I’m comfortable working on whatever but a lot of the terminology tends to escape me from lack of experience. Your videos have helped me already and I haven’t even started the install! Thanks again.

 

Let me know how it all works out for you. It sounds like we are in exactly the same boat with high mileage and absolutely zero maintenance from previous owners.

A lot of these posts are convincing me to just attempt the energy suspension bushing swap. I guess if everything goes to hell I can just order some new control arms.... or swallow my pride and bring my failure to a mechanic or friend at a machine shop to have them pressed in.

 

I think all of you guys are convincing me to do this instead. I honestly don’t know what my truck should feel like with tight steering and nice bushings bc it’s always been sloppy since I bought it haha. Do you have a recommendation for spare parts to order to keep on hand for this install? I read somewhere that there’s a point in the install that can really eff you if it is seized, but I can’t remember the specifics. I think it had to do with cam adjustments or something for the LCA? (I bet timmy’s Video covers this topic)

 

I had one cam bolt that was seized. I just hammered it with a 1/2” impact until it broke then knocked it out with a punch. Also get some blue loctite for your bolts when you are reassembling everything.