So my unusual and annoying suspension issue has finally been identified (after two years or so) by an excellent and reputable suspension and alignment shop (amazing that mulitple other mechanics could not id this issue).....apparently the right (and left) rear lower control arm bushings are shot...especially the right side where he said the arm can wobble back and forth freely on the bolt within the housing. If you're curious, this has contributed to:1) pulling on acceleration/deceleration 2) road wandering and 3) side-to-side rocking (as if the shocks were bad) on the freeway at high speeds.

My question is this..the guy says that the arm must be replaced entirely and that they don't make replaceable bushings any longer. My 4-Runner is 1999 and i called the dealer and yes, you can buy the whole arm, but they also sell the bushing as a special order item.

Does anyone have any sense for whether it's best to replace the whole thing or will it all be good if i just replace the bushings? Also, what is entailed with such a job and do i need any special press tools (other than a socket and bolt) to press out and replace the bushings?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I searched threads for this but most were old and unfinished and no one talks about total arm vs. bushing-alone replacement.

Thanks

 

Start with the basics. How much is the complete arm and how much is just the bushing. I dont know the 1999's at all... but is the balljoint included in the arm? Is your balljoint shot or almost shot??? I've never replaced bushings on a toyota, but I would imagine you're going to need a press to press the old ones out and new ones in.

 

dowload the factory service manual using the link in my signature....

 

I guess i should have added that i'm speaking of the REAR lower control arm, thus no ball joint. There are a lot of horror stories of guys talking about replacing the bushings on the front control arms but the rear one actually has a factory bushing replacement...so just curious if anyone has undertaken this and what it might entail.

thank you for pointing out the service manual....downloading it now. I have the Haynes at home and boy is it terrible!

 

I finally took my runner on the highway for the first time and I am suffering from horrible side to side rocking... like blown shocks... but the shocks are new Looks like I've got to do this myself How much are the bushings.

 

gc 4 - definitely check out your rear lower control arms on both sides. Ideally, you should have the suspension unweighted (get tires off the ground) and then either pulling by hand or using a big screwdriver, see if you can get each mount (front and rear for each rod) to wiggle....mine move a lot but you would never even know just by looking at it.

You can get the bushings (for my year anyways) for $28 apiece from Village Toyota (online). The question i have is: what is required to replace the bushings? to answer your question above, each rod new is ~$130. So if you can do the pressing yourself it's worth it. If someone charged you say $75 per side, then it probably wouldn't make sense.
I still want to know what it might require.

by the way i looked at the factory manual and it didn't give much more info...it just said to have the bushing pressed it.

 

for $28 a piece I think I'll just made my own I've got a few energy suspension kits for hondas that work quite well