Lower control arms

Without spending a fortune, any brand suggestions for lower control arms? I have SPC adjustable upper control arms already.
Thank you
Britt

 

I wouldn’t bother unless you’re going with dual shock or LT.

 

Thanks Christian,
Let me clarify though, I have to get lower control arms, my driver side went bad. I have had a difficult time with my runner after lifting and getting bigger tires and new wheels. Now I got a new diagnostic that my lower control arm needs replaced. Can you give a suggestion on a reliable brand?

 

This is the way.

OP unless you are changing suspension geometry significantly (long travel), finding an OEM LCA from a junkyard is your best bet.

Finding out why your stock LCA went bad should be high on your to-do list. I'm at 100k lifted with stock LCA's and they look fine.

 

I feel like one repair is leading to another. I have less than 37K miles on my 2018 4Runner limited. I bought it used two years ago with 10K miles on it at the time. Heeeelp!

 

factory toyota lca is a very stout piece. i can’t see anything going wrong with it other than failing bushings (which can be replaced). any other type of failure would be catastrophe type events.

 

I was told by my service advisor that when UCA or LCA’s arms go bad (worn bushings) Toyota replaces the whole arm. Very pricey. If yours wore out at that low of mileage, my guess is they were subjected to abnormal abuse.

I put almost 300k on my stock Tacoma and never had a failure of the ball joints, UCA or LCA. Just one driver side wheel bearing.

 

Could be seized cam bolts preventing an alignment from being done. .

I anticipate having that issue with mine, despite bushings being ok.

 

What exactly is the issue with it?

Are they having trouble aligning it? If you live in an area that has a lot of wet weather and uses road salt, it's possible that the bolts used to align it are rusted solid.

In that case I would just go with a replacement arm from Toyota.

 

In regards to weather, I bought it when I lived in Santa Cruz, and now I live in the Pacific Northwest. I have called on my warranty and they said the power train is the only thing covered under my extended warranty. The issue is a inconsistent knocking noise when I turn or am at an incline.

 

That sounds like it could be the upper control arm. I recall seeing some posts talking about them making noise, perhaps because of the adjustable plates shifting, but dont quote me. You might want to research here on the forums about that particular problem on those UCA to see if that matches what the noises you have.

A lower control arm can also make clunking noises of the bolts were not torqued exactly to spec, or if the Lower ball joint is shot. I would think you should be able to feel a bad ball joint by lifting the tire off the ground and pushing in and out on top of the tire.

 

Bumping this old thread since my LCA bushings are shot.

I've had a few buddies replace the bushings since the LBJ was still in good shape. But I've heard some stories about these bushings being pretty stubborn... Had me thinking of just replacing with OEM LCA's or maybe something stronger. Then I came across these... Price is high. But they claim to be fully serviceable.

Thoughts?


https://dirtking.com/products/perfo...VE50Lzeis7SdGqFPQke0hRI5fCLuSBkeJaVVcsH4EJE1W

Also, I've decided to avoid a true long travel setup. I currently have extended length shocks, which is good enough for me and my use. Just looking for a way to beef up the front suspension since the OEM bushings only lasted about 40k miles and a few hard wheeling trips.

 

I would also consider total chaos for this application.

https://www.chaosfab.com/product/20...-Control-Arms-with-KDSS-86555-E-10FJ-KDSS-NSS

 

Hi Brittany! In this thread you'll see the parts you'll need. I got these because I too will have to replace my LCAs. I highly recommend buying OEM/Toyota ones yourself through a toyota dealer website & do local pickup to save money. I believe shipping is free too, but I still do local pickup so my stuff isn't damage in transit.

Here are the prices at my local dealer...

https://autoparts.stevinsontoyotawest.com/products/product/arm-sub-assy-suspen-4806960040
https://autoparts.stevinsontoyotawest.com/products/product/arm-sub-assy-suspen-4806860040

-Toyota Sale ends in 4 days-

 

Brit has been MIA since early 2023...

I bumped this thread since it's relevant. Didn't think the forum needed a brand new LCA thread.

 

Curious about uniball LCA's on a daily. Many people tell me they squeak and require lubrication weekly. Although I'm sure they're very strong.

 

I don't really see the value in either of those if you're not trying to go long travel. Especially the total chaos with the uniballs, those are going to require frequent maintenance and will probably be noisy.

 

Yeah I was under the same school of thought but the OEM bushings are a pain to replace and only lasted me 40k miles with some hard wheeling.

The dirt king LCA's have a serviceable ball joint and delrin replaceable bushings.

This has me curious… I did reach out to dirt king about the part number for the bushings and ball joint. If they are stronger and last longer it may be worth the extra cost…. Especially if I catch them on sale

Edit: Why I decided to not go LT. A true long travel kit will be 10-15k not including doing the Tundra rack swap. I've also driven a couple of rigs with long travel kits and honestly they're not great on the street. My extended travel rears offer enough droop to do some very difficult trails. For me, this is enough. So I've decided to stick with mid travel and beef up everything as much as possible.

 

In case any one wants to order OEM LCAs, I just did from autoparts.worldtoyota.com and I was out the door, shipped to my front door for $604.XX. This was by far the best deal I've seen. This is the way I decided to go in case you @1SilverRunner were wondering.

 

Have to agree with sticking to OEM. You can generally get both sides for $600-ish. And if you can wait til one of those 25% off plus free shipping deals come around again, you can do even better.

 

Those dirt kings look nice but, DAMN!! the price.
I guess you can't take it with you though.

 

Yeah the price is wild. I could go through 3 sets of OEM for the one set of DK's.

But...The DK's are
-Serviceable
-Stronger
-Offer higher clearance

So they would be the last set of LCA's I'd have to buy. Plus they come with integrated skids which is kind of nice I suppose...

I may just put up with my shot OEM bushings for now and wait until Dirt King is running some sort of deal... I'd rather not replace the OEM bushing/ entire OEM LCA every 40k miles.

 

Yes, if you're reasonably sure you will continue to go through LCAs at that rate, it would make sense. Is that a thing though? I haven't really seen much chatter about LCA failure like that...
If you go the DK route I'll be interested in how those skids fare. I went with aluminum armor and it really hasn't held up for me and my type of off roading.

 

LCA bushings lasting only 40k miles is unusual. Do you know if the alignment cams were tightened with the wheels off the ground? Seems like there's something else going on...

 

Honestly IDK. I don't see a lot of people on this forum talking about it. But in the groups running "black" or "4/5 star" trails it's common. So much so that most of my friends running these trails just replace these every couple of years. Along with UCA UBJ's.

 

No they weren't. Shit like this does it.

 

Is there no aftermarket bushings available?

 

There are.
Poly squeaks like crazy.
Rubber seems to go quickly.

Rubber is the usual choice but they only last a couple years of abuse. Whiteline seem to hold up a little longer. W53522 if anyone is interested.

 

Unless the off-road driving you do is outright abusive, I doubt the LCA bushings are going to wear out every 40k miles. What’s more likely is that during the lift install or an alignment, the LCA bolts were torqued without full weight on wheels.

If they are torqued to spec at full droop, you’ll likely tear them up very quickly. The way they move is like how a torsion spring would. If they have any twist on them when the vehicle is sitting on it’s wheels, they cant twist much more when the suspension cycles, and they simply tear.

If your off-roading style is actually the cause of the problem, then I’d say you’re probably hitting things excessively hard, excessively often, or are essentially causing them to experience collision forces that are just shy of bending metal.

 

Those bolts have never been torqued without the weight of the vehicle on them.

It’s not a “style” of off roading that is the problem. It’s the trails. As slow as possible, and as fast as necessary. If it was a “style” issue then I would be the only person in my group tinkering with this. Instead, every rig in the group is replacing them every 2-3 years.

Also, it’s not like these bushings are failing. There’s just a severe amount of deflection. Most drivers would likely not even notice this during normal use.

One could argue any one of these hard trails is inherently abusive. Rock gardens are inherently abusive. Premature wear is normal for this use. I understand that. Just looking to beef it up a bit