Please help with where to cut lower control arm bolts for removal

Hey fellow brothers and sisters. I'm one of the lucky ones to have my lower control arm bushings seized into my alignment cams. I bought used alignment cams and control arms off of a couple of wrecked 14 and 13 tacomas. I went to start the job tonight and got a little worried on where I should cut the bolts. The easiest spot is inside of the frame mounts and into the rubber bushing. If I go on the outside I risk cutting the tabs or damaging the frame cradle for the lower control arm. Can you guys give me some guidance? I want to do this tomorrow morning. I plan on using my recip saw. Thx for the help.

 

Fire

 

So what are you saying, torch the bushings while connected to the truck? My plan was to just cut them free and install my new lca's. I'm worried that if I cut inside the cradle, I'll still have a hard time removing the the lca and alignment cams on the outside.

 

When I did mine I cut inside the LCA cradle on the frame, between the bushing and frame. Then used a BFH to get the LCA out.

Once you cut the bolts on both ends ita not too hard.

 

Thanks Articlef. I'll try that. I noticed I have one set of alignment tabs that are bent over too. Tried to bend it back but it's hard with one person. The tabs just want to seperate from the frame.

 

Good luck.

Total Chaos makes a set of replacement tabs. If you can weld its an easy Saturday job by yourself.

Moog makes a greaseable bolt, what I have on mine.

You can guess how I know these details

 

I'm in the same boat. Can't seem to budge the sleeves. Every bolt came out like it should have now I have 3 sleeves stuck in the LCA, I wanted to save $ and do it myself, now It looks like I will be buying new caster camber kit. its a shame because everything else is great.
Any ideas to get sleeves out are welcomed

Cheers
Paul

 

Mine were all seized in there too. I looked for a wrecked newer tacoma so it wouldnt have the issue. I got my parts, lca's and alignment cams and bolts from a low mile 14 truck for $300. Way cheaper than dealer prices. I decided not to do the job myself since I'll need my tabs welded. The alignment shop tried to align my truck with the seized cams and bent the tabs on my drivers side. I got all the bolts and cams lubed up with marine grease. For those who have used it, you know it doesn't wash off with water. I'm hoping it won't cost too much for the install. Good luck with yours. A recip saw with good blades "Lenox Gold" was my plan.

 

Thanks for the info, will a 2014 camber castor set work for a 98 tacoma?

 

I'm not sure on that one. My guess would be no, but you could cross reference part numbers on a toyota parts site.

 

Soak them in Pb Blaster and then use a press/BFH.

I torched the inner fitting out of the bushing, and re-built them with urethane bushings. To get the inner metal apart we soaked them for 48 hours, then made a redneck press with some grade 8 hardware. Then we alternatively heated, beat on and tightened until it broke free.

The junkyard or buying new LCA route would have been much easier

Good Luck,
AE

 

Looks like I'm three years late to the party. I bought my 2010 taco about a month ago from Maine, and Ive been plugging away at various modifications and upgrades. I had the same issue when I tried to change the lower control arm. I even got the nut off the bolt, but still couldn't get the bolt out! I tried a pneumatic air hammer until I mushroomed in the end of the bolt, a ten pound sludge hammer, swearing, torching it, trying to get it to turn with a 750ft/lb pneumatic wrench, and even asking nicely. I finally cut the bolts from the insides to preserve the outside brackets. It takes forever and about two blades per cut (four per bolt). I bought a new cam bolt kit from Wheeler's Off-Road for 25$ per side, about 65$ for both sides with shipping. If you contact them through this forum, they will get you a discount. My take on this stuff is that for $65 I would rather have the piece of mind knowing my hardware is solid than questioning the integrity of my truck.