Attention 2nd Gen owners with over 100K miles or "loose" steering:

I highly recommend performing the maintenance on your idler arm as described on 4x4wire .

I had neglected my idler arm until last weekend. I didn't realize how bad it was until I put the new bushings in and reassembled it. When I first took it off, the arm spun like a propeller and after fixing it, I could barely move it. I noticed a drastic improvement in steering response.

It took me about an hour and a half to do it. Most of the time was spent cleaning it as the arm was pretty dirty and corroded due to the worn bushings.

The parts are cheap--two bushings cost me $4.36 (before tax) and the dust seal was $2.41. I had an alignment done last week and the shop wanted $250 to repair it!

Matt

 

I just ordered a new heavy duty idler arm from Delboy here on the forum. My steering feels fine but that's what I thought too when I replaced my steering stabilzer and was pleasantly surprised with a much nicer handling truck

 

1st Gen Owners (maybe 2nd too?) - if you do this repair and Toyota tells you that you need the bushings #'d 90385-18068 , don't believe them. They're too big! Don't know if the other set (90386-19005) will work or not - haven't had time to try. Let me/us know if you find out.

 

Moved to Maint.

 

or in my case, ordered the bushings and dust seal, and then replaced the entire arm anyway, because even though there was play, there was more play in the stud end. i guess i have an extra set of bushings when this needs it.

definitely reduced the steering looseness and then the new stabilizer helped even more!

to get the stud out, i found that driving the pickle fork from the driver's side out is more effective than going from the tire side , in. and use a BFH.

 

I had my idler arm re-built by a shop several years ago. They drilled and threaded a zerk fitting in the side so I can grease it from time to time. That was 4 years ago. I grease it twice a year and its worked grate since.