Ok ive done the research and ask some other people about my situation, and have only gotten close to the answer I needed, so here I am on the path to yota salvation!

I know I going to need to replace the Idler arm, and im going to upgrade to the Duralast FA504 (second gen idler arm), but is there anything im missing? will I need to replace anything else?

Im trying to get it fixed BEFORE December 7th (Christmas Tree Run), and ive already been out on the trail (snow runs) with it like this because the last couple times I went I heard a clanking noise on the bumps.

Anyways here are a couple of pictures,


And it can be compressed probably the clanking noise ive been hearing.


The leafs are from the parking lot being cleaned and being blown around haha.

 

Is it not got a nut on the bottom? That steering bar should be snug up against that thing. Try tightening it up

 

I havnt tried the tighten the nut yet haha, I can do that when I get off work, but just for the sake of preparing for the worse, what if the nut is tight or there isnt one there?

 

If it moves like that then the ball joint is dead. The hammering probably unseated the tapered stud. There's a reason they are designed with castle nuts.

Don't drive it til you replace it!

 

x2, that joint should be fully seated on the steering link, then the castle nut gets a cotter pin so the nut can't physically back-off unless the pin gets removed or sheared somehow. I see a nut, but no pin.

 

Ok so then its back to replacing it with the duralast FA504, because the ball joint is on the idler arm if im not mistaken?? and the pins I can get from autozone aswell.

And thanks all for being patient with my, still learning the ropes, thats kinda why I bought this awesome 4runner, so I could break it and fix it haha

 

Yeah I see the nut after looking twice. That thing should be fully seated. Either way you should replace it. But to get by check and see if the nut is loose. Tightening it up will be a temp fix until it's replaced. But I'd only use it for farm work. Don't exceed 20 mph if it's junked. I was driving down the road and mine broke on me. It's a scary issue when you can't steer. Search my name and you will see a thread that I created when mine broke

 

Do not drive it at all! If that thing lets loose the best case scenario is that you need a tow home. Worst case you crash into a busload of kids! Steering failures are nothing to mess around with.

The part you need from Autozone is FA5040. I think you are missing the last zero.

 

Yeah your truck has multiple BallJoints. But when talking about the Ball and Joint setup on the Idler Arm. That little silver stud that you can move up and down has a ball on the end of it that sets up in a joint. Thus creating a pivoting ball joint. If it falls out. it can be bad. But you may just need to tighten it up. If the nuts loose then your idler arm may be fine ya know. You just need to tighten it up then jack your front end off the ground and check to see if you have play in your steering linkage. Do this by shoving one tire in and out watching for play. If you shove the driver tie in the passenger should go out if there's no play. However if something's bad then your driver mY turn in but the passenger may only barely turn. Do not use the steering wheel for this as you can't watch to see if the TieRods or such things are bad
Edit: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...-scary-265717/

 

Haha that actually made me laugh! and thanks for the part number, in hind sight I know ive been driving offroad at 30 MPH and onroad at 70+ MPH NO BUENO

 

I got the idler arm fixed last week, amd jacked it up after it was installed... nice and tight now so all is good

I did go with the FA 5040 if you guys wanted to know

 

Good to hear it's better. If/when the bushings wear out you can upgrade to the brass bushes for replacement.

 

Keep in mind that the main reason for using the FA5040 idler is not only for the larger shaft diameter it has but that you can install bronze bushings in place of the plastic bushings, making it that much better. SDORI sells the bronze bushings for this upgrade for like $35 and you can do it any time.

http://www.sdori.com/SDORI_Theory_Of_Operation.html

 

Ya thats in the process

 

Now that it's all fixed and good, I'd definitely consider placing a Downey Idler Arm brace on it (google for pics). They don't make them anymore, but can sometimes be found used. I have one and have had no issues with the idler arm since, even with a front locker.

 

Blazeland makes a brace. Check it out at www.blazeland.us