I was changing to my winter tires last night and noticed that there was a lot of side to side play. After looking further the play is comming fromt he idler arm flexing up & down at the front joint (looking at it from the wheel well.

So the question is - how much play should there be?

And how can I verify if the idler arm is bad?

 

There should be no play. This is a common wear item.

You can rebuild them. The parts are inexpensive.

Tip: when you have it disassembled, drill & tap for a grease fitting.

 

make sure to fix this promptly cause if this thing breaks you're in a would of trouble. i replace mine earlier this year for $90. definitely much cheaper to rebuild it but if it's rusted a bunch like mine was you might want to just replace it.

 

Mine is aftermarket so don't know if I will be able to get replacement parts - it is about 7 years old. The far end of the arm (where it connects to the relay rod) probably moves up & down about 1/2 - 3/4 inch total travel. I am guessing that is too much??

 

It's a LOT cheaper to rebuild it (~$5) vs. replacing it (~$90).

 

I got one from a local guy, he had it for a month before he sas'd his rig. Its whatever cheapo one, I plan on re-building the oem one and getting a brace for it.

 

Rust aside and visible damage to the arm, is there any reason to replace the idler arm vs rebuilding it? Also what does rebuilding it entail? Is it just bushings and grease where it mounts to the frame?

If so, then this should be useful:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/maintenance/idler/

 

I'm not talking about the arm itself; as I clearly stated in my original post, it's WHERE IT ATTACHES TO THE STEERING ROD. This was replaced under recall by Toyota @ 4 years ago & looks like new. There is a TINY amount of fore/aft movement when I hold the wheels & turn the steering wheel back & forth. It's like the link is ROTATING, fore/aft, NOT side to side which would indicate worn attachment & put play into the steering. Could this simply be a loose fitting?