.....And passed minus one small fix - Idler Arm had excessive play in it, so they wrote it up. A quick $80 fix, and a 2 day wait for the part.

But besides that, the mechanic was impressed on how much work I had done to the truck, and the condition it is in for its age and mileage.

So, Im relieved. But, my crappy Haynes manual doesnt say much about changing out the idler arm. Any trick? Or is it as simple as it looks? (lock nut and 3 bolts, swap it out?)

I was also told the metal on metal grinding that I was hearing from turning tight was this idler arm. He showed me, and it was pretty damn loose and dry.

Of all the things I checked, I didnt even bother to look at this part, not really knowing what the heck it was.

Pics of the truck soon! woot.

 

I belive you can replace the bushings inside it

 

Thats whats I was thinking, but NAPA didnt show any replacement parts, just one whole unit? Meh, it was $80, and I honestly thought the OOP was going to write me up for a helluva lot more, so I soak it up.

 

ah i hear ya, what part of alberta are you in?

 

the arm is easy to change...i say that the pitman arm is the hardest if its frozen...i hade to grind mines off...haha

 

Grande Prairie, 'the other Fort Mac' lol.

 

I quicly eye balled it, should be able to pickle fork the crap outta her, to get it all out?

 

Get a pitman arm puller. Don't waste time with the pickle fork it costs more and is pretty much useless compared to a pitman arm puller which can be used for most joints in the steering.

The idler arm bushing is $3 from the dealer. The autoparts store near me only stocks the idler arm bushing for trucks '92 onwards. Before 1992(?) the idler arm was smaller.

 

I paid $4 for my pickle fork, and it popped my upper ball joint out. Its going to have to get this job done now too. I'll eventually buy a PA puller, but im on a budget of 0.

This truck is not getting new tools. My 71' Squareback might, but not my winter beater, lol.

I find the dealer is about 2-3 days slower for getting in parts than NAPA is, so Ill just redo the entire arm. I mean, I pretty much did the rest of the suspension anyways, might as well.

 

Huh????

Budget = $0 BUT, you're buying a whole new idler arm when all that could wrong with your current one is that the $3 bushing is shot after 20 years of use?

 

Ill try this again. I cant get just the bushing up here in iglooville.

Sorry, I called the dealership and the parts places available here, and all of them could only get a complete arm.

I cant wait to order in from the states, where it will take more than a week to get (which effectively will void my OOP, and I will have to pay another $170 to have it redone). I own a company, and this truck has to be on the road.

Plus both pivot points are shot. So its a mute point.

 

I know your ordering the whole part but here is a write-up on replacing the bushing. Takes like an hour to do the whole job...

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

 

Takes more like 15 minutes, I didn't even have to pop the PA.

 

Man, wish my computer had've been up and running a couple weeks ago while I was prepping for inspection...I unbolted off frame, folded over and leveraged it...replaced with the one off my new donor...after pulling one off my other ,a '90, only to find they were different

 

Does anyone swap '92 and later Idler arms onto '91 and previous years for extra strength? Or are other steering links also different?

 

Two replacement bushings, Toyota Part Number 90386-19005 for newer trucks, and 90385-18068 for older trucks.

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

Now if your ball joint at the end of the idler arm is shot, then you do need a new idler arm.

 

Its been awhiile since this was posted, but the truck got a new idler arm, for cheap, passed with no problems.