Hello. I’ve been lurking since before I got my pick up (95 SR5 off my dad). He and I have been working on it together and I have been learning a lot. T


his past week we replaced the pitman arm, inner and outer tie rods, and the idler arm. Everything went good except I over torqued the idler arm. It doesn’t sit on the castle nut. It’s about 2 threads too high. I’ve had it aligned and driven around 50 miles to see if it will drop down to the nut, but it won’t budge.

My question is, will it affect the alignment in the future? Will it eventually drop down? How bad did I screw the pooch on this? Thanks in advance for the answers and thanks for the info you all have already shared.

 

Welcome to YotaTech.

I assume this is a 4wd (yes, it makes a difference. Consider putting all your vehicle info in your "signature,", so you won't have to keep repeating it.)

I'm not sure I understand what you did. According to the '93 FSM http://web.archive.org/web/201102060...g/16steer0.pdf , the tightening torque is 43 lb-ft. Then with the castellated nut snugged up, you insert the cotter pin to keep anything from vibrating loose. It looks like you backed the nut off, and with it hanging there, put in the cotter pin. If the idler arm "drops down" to the nut, then it will be loose. (Not good.) I can't imagine anyone would do an alignment and not point this out, but we're all in a hurry.

What am I missing?

 

You are correct. 4x4 and I will. So the issue I had was the torque spec. You can’t really torque without having something to give back pressure.

So I kept snugging up the nut and not getting a “click” (set at 40 pounds) from my torque wrench. I noticed that the nut had gone beyond the hole drilled for the cotter pin. If I would’ve kept tightening it would have gone far beyond the cotter pin hole. So I stopped where I was at and the picture is the final result. Hope that makes sense.

 

Maybe I should take up the gap with washers?

 

You could prob throw some washers on there and be good but something doesnt look right. Seems like if you turned the castle nut all the way in, it would be past the cotter pin hole.
when you back the nut off, it should only be a 1/4 turn or so.
what brand idler arm is it? If its from autozone or something, that might be your problem.

 

You are correct. I think the tension from the cross member and all the other linkage is putting tension on it and not letting it fall. I bet if I disassembled everything it would drop down to the castle nut. I picked it up from Napa auto. It’s their chassis line. I might just put like 2 washers in there and see how it goes.

 

I generally trust Napa parts.
is your suspension stock?
Im having trouble picturing what is pushing it up...I remember having a hard time getting the arm to move into place, seems like yours have gone too far somehow.
does the grease boot look squeezed or collapsed in any way?
You could poke around ace or tru value and might find a taller castle nut. Or put another nut on under the castle nut so the castle nut is acting as a lock nut on the first one.

This is a head scratcher for me. Im trying to wonder whar damage can be done here but if you can pack the grease in, it should be fine.

 

yeah. It’s completely stock. You know how you need a pickle fork to separate the connections when replacing? It’s the same tension holding it up I believe. (I’m still learning about how to work on the pickup. I’m more of a gun guy, and work as an HVAC tech, but I still love learning)

The grease boot looks squeezed, but not compressed. Doesn’t look bad, but I’m a noob. I went and picked up a pack of grade 8 washers today and I’m going to put them in. I’ll take pictures again once they’re in. Thanks for the help.

 

Looking your pics over again.
The other option would be to use a ball joint/tie rod seperator to pop it off. The kind that looks like a claw and has a bolt threaded through. Be careful to not puncture the boot. Then reinstall to the point where the nut seats properly. Just saying this because the grease boot looks squeezed and if your grease starts leaking out, youll have shorter lifespan on the part.
Whatever you decide to do will probably be fine.

 

Last thought. Did you compare the old castle nut for length? I know different parts manufacturers cut different threads but its worth checking if the old one is longer.

 

i vaguely remember another thread about just such an issue. could have been here, or t4r.org. and it might have been a TRE, rather than the idler arm. but the issue was the castle nut was incorrect (ie, too short).

 

So I went to pep boys and picked up some grade 8 washers (7/16 seems to fit the best). I ended up using 2 washers and it shored up the gap. I’m attaching 2 pictures: first picture is the castle nut spun all the way up to meet the arm. Second picture is with the washers installed. Hope this makes sense. Also. Keep the comments coming. It’s helpful. 🤙

 

Washers or a taller nut are indeed the (a good) solution here.

Your gap has to do with a difference in the two tapered parts and the length of the nut.

 

Another possibiity is that they just drilled the cotter pin too low, bad qc?