Red Wagon

Hi guys, just about to put an order in to 4Crawler for the bronze bushings and idler arm to fix up my sloppy steering after some good advice. I decided against the Total Chaos one for now but will get it if I start bending things.

Besides this and a new steering dampener what else should I get? Everything in the steering components are all still original. I'm up at work for another week and a bit at a mine site so can't go look for certain as to what is borked so we will assume it all is.


I'd love a parts list and good ideas on where to get them from so I can have them ready to install around the time I get home.


A one stop shop would be nice at another shop besides 4Crawler for the steering dampener and any other odds and ends if possible.


Thanks all!!

cambob

Last summer I did the front end on my runner and this is what I replaced: Control arm bushings, pitman arm, idler arm, lower ball joints (uppers still okay, but good time to do them), tie rod bushings (new rods if needed), steering damper (KYB), sway bar bushings. I'd say unless your control arm bushings are rotting out (like mine were) you can skip that experience. All bushings were Energy Suspension, arms and bjs were 555 (Sankei). I bought all my parts on Amazon. All the 555 parts were sold as Beck Arnley and half the price of buying them in a 555 box. Can't remember the total cost, but it was something like $250 for all of it. Also, invest in a tie rod and pitman puller. The pitman puller doubles to pop ball joints out of the knuckle. Tie rod puller beats a pickle fork any day. Buy those tools from Napa (lifetime warranty) or somewhere similar. Even after days of PB blasting, I broke the pitman puller 3 times before getting it off. Overall, by replacing almost everything, the steering went from a 2 or 3 to a 10.

Red Wagon

Thanks so much for this list buddy!


I'm writing it down and will start looking up the best place to get them from.

Which work was easy and which will take the most time? I have limited time at home before I fly back to work so I'd like to do the easy bits myself and take the 4Runner to the shop to get the difficult stuff done there.

I had my truck on jackstands for a month recently due to me being new at my own vehicle repairs and don't have time for a repeat before I go on a long road trip.


Thanks again bro, really appreciated.

cambob

By far, the most time consuming thing was the control arm bushings which required a couple days and lots of trial and error. With the ES bushings you have to reuse the inner sleeves, which requires finding some way to remove them (MAPP torch and a screw driver). If you skip those, its a few hour job to do ball joints, tie rods and the steering arms. Almost all the work is just trying to get the old parts off, like any job on a 20 year old truck. Good luck!

digitaldisciple

Good list! Very relevant.

I just organized my order to freshen up my steering components and thats pretty much the exact list I had but my total came in closer to 500 bucks so definetly shop around!