I took my 95 4x4 Pickup to the shop a few weeks back to get the upper and lower control arm bushings replaced and I noticed a couple things that looked out of place –

First off, there's a gap between the metal bushing housing and the upper control arm itself. The lower control arm bushings are more or less flush to the control arm, definitely don't have gaps as significant as the upper ones.

Second, there are two castellated nuts holding the driver side bushing in place, one jammed on top of the other. There does not seem to be a cotter pin in the lower one and I can't get to an angle to see if there even is a pass through on the bolt for a cotter pin. I can't really get a good look at the passenger side one since it's obscured, but from the angle that I can see it, there's definitely a similar sized gap between bushing and control arm. When I reach in and feel it, it feels like a capped nut; definitely not castellated, and definitely just one not two nuts.

My thinking was that the bushing wasn't pressed deep enough into the control arm, thus the amount of threads was shortened which would cover the hole for the cotter pin. As a way of making sure the first castellated nut wouldn't back off, the mechanic added a second one (?). However, after some asking around and researching on the internet, I'm hearing different things – that the spacing between the bushing and the control arm is normal on GM's and other trucks; and that there shouldn't be a castellated nut at all since there's no cotter pin pass through on that bolt. In theory, I understand how the doubled up castle nuts would work as a jam nut kind of configuration (that's probably something I would do at home if I didn't have the proper fixture), but seeing as how I paid professionals to do this job I expected professional results.

Driver side angle 1


Driver side angle 2


Passenger side angle


Any insight would be appreciated

 

That nut arrangement is definitely not right. The original nuts usually get destroyed on the upper arms when doing a bushing job because they are staked and torqued to approx 135 ftlbs. The correct nuts need to installed, torqued properly, then staked.
The front bushing sleeves will extend out some from the control arm, but hard to tell from pics if yours were seated properly. Including pics of what they should look like and what a Toyota upper control arm nut looks like.

Nut (4 total)^^^

upper arm rear^^^

Upper arm front^^

 

I'd be absolutely furious if I paid a shop and they half assed like that. Might even be worth bringing it up to the shop owner or manager so they can correct the problem. If an employee is cutting corners on your car, they're probably doing it on every car they work on.

 

Double castle nut?
Wtf is that. can you take it back to the shop, I really want to know how they explain that.

 

From an engineering stand point the that's not unsound. The uncut section of the nut has more threads than a jam nut, and sometimes you can't drill a new pin hole because the end point of the torque puts the two holes too close together such that you don't have at least a pin width between the holes.

 

I can see how it might be the best thing at the time, from someone in their garage or as a temporary fix but from a shop?
id hope theyd at least say: we can do this now and get your truck back on the road or you can wait a week for the right part to come in.
but for them to send the truck out like that without mention is unprofessional.

 

I recently did this work on my own machine. To a higher standard than this, I might add.

Curious to know what they charged you to bugger your truck up????