'89 2WD Pickup Suspension Advice
05-10-2017, 05:46 PM
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'89 2WD Pickup Suspension Advice
Hi:
I've had this little truck about 3 months, and decided she's (now named Latoya) worth putting some real $$ into her and keeping her longer-term. She has 250K miles, and all the suspension and the (manual) steering are a little loose.
Where, in order of priority, would the experts recommend I focus? I've seen kits that come with upper and lower ball joints, all tie rod ends, idler arm, control arm, sway bar link, and center link. And other kits claiming to include all the body and leaf bushings. I'm tempted just to turn a local mechanic loose on all of this, but would appreciate a general idea of priorities, i.e., what generally wears out first, or benefits the most from replacement? And if I had all those things done all at once, approximately what would y'all guess I'd have to spend? FYI, I did already replace the shocks front and back.
Thanks,
Kaleo
I've had this little truck about 3 months, and decided she's (now named Latoya) worth putting some real $$ into her and keeping her longer-term. She has 250K miles, and all the suspension and the (manual) steering are a little loose.
Where, in order of priority, would the experts recommend I focus? I've seen kits that come with upper and lower ball joints, all tie rod ends, idler arm, control arm, sway bar link, and center link. And other kits claiming to include all the body and leaf bushings. I'm tempted just to turn a local mechanic loose on all of this, but would appreciate a general idea of priorities, i.e., what generally wears out first, or benefits the most from replacement? And if I had all those things done all at once, approximately what would y'all guess I'd have to spend? FYI, I did already replace the shocks front and back.
Thanks,
Kaleo
05-18-2017, 05:46 PM
#2
Registered User
Your focus would be on any rubber boots that are torn or even non-existent. Or any part that has excessive play in it.
When I had my 1987 2wd truck, with around 280,000 miles on it, I replaced the bushings in the upper & lower control arms. That corrected the squeaks going on. I also replaced all four ball joints, center link, and tie rods. With the tie rods replaced, you'll have to get the steering aligned.
I did most of the work myself. I fabricated a homemade tool to remove & re-install (R&R) the lower control arm bushings. It worked great. For the upper control arm bushings, I pulled a set from the junkyard, and took it and the new bushings to my local Toyota dealer, as I could not make the proper tool, and had them do the R&R. It was around $100 for "bench labor". From there I just swapped out the "new" control arms.
When I had my 1987 2wd truck, with around 280,000 miles on it, I replaced the bushings in the upper & lower control arms. That corrected the squeaks going on. I also replaced all four ball joints, center link, and tie rods. With the tie rods replaced, you'll have to get the steering aligned.
I did most of the work myself. I fabricated a homemade tool to remove & re-install (R&R) the lower control arm bushings. It worked great. For the upper control arm bushings, I pulled a set from the junkyard, and took it and the new bushings to my local Toyota dealer, as I could not make the proper tool, and had them do the R&R. It was around $100 for "bench labor". From there I just swapped out the "new" control arms.
