Daily driver, no lift, but with KDSS. Budget, but not crap front UCAs, LCAs, tie rods?

Looking at Rockauto, Moog, MVtech, etc. Forum posts are all over the place in terms of reviews. If the consesnus is that biting the bullet and getting OEM is the only way to go, then where are the best prices?

thx!

 

Any details of year/mileage/reason for replacing all these? With no lift, I don't see any reason for UCAs unless yours are completely shot. Same with the others, I suppose...

 

Since this is in 5th gen section I would assume its a 5th gen Trail / ORP with KDSS.

Is it to buy Parts?

I would only buy from Toyota dealership. Ton of fake parts out there. Would only trust dealership for parts.​

Is it to modify?

My personal take is to go to a 4x4shop that only do Toyota & Lexus mods and discuss the needs. Been a daily driver I would try my best to keep factory UCA and LCA by keeping the lift under 2.5in, preferably 2in max. Try to spend extra $$$$ for high end suspension set with adjusters so can adjust the comfort level to your personal needs vs how it came from the manufacturer / adjusted my 4x4shop.

Depending on the lift I would (the shop most likely) do a full droop test and check if rear KDSS bracket hit the panhard bar. If so recommend DRKDSS or similar manufacturer correction kit whether its a spacer or a pan hard bar with curve thingy to avoid the KDSS braket.​

 

2016 , 112k miles. Bought it from a dealer in WA, but the truck came from Canada and had/has rust. The WA dealer sprayed everything with undercoating and I was stupid and rushed the process and didn't look closer. Later, I sued them for diminished value and fraud and won $5k (max in small claims). It's a dog/kid taxi with occasional light trail offroading, so I'm on the fence whether I want to throw money at it or just get rid of it, and take $ hit, but get a 22 or younger 5th gen.

I have play in one UCA ball joints, play in inner tie rods on both sides, and one of the LCA attachement points has alignment tabs rusted off completly, on top of doing the arms, I would need to weld on a replacemement alignment tabs.

 

Just go with OEM.

Having no lift there is absolutely no reason to depart from OEM on any of those components. Aftermarket part options and their respective quality will be inconsistent.

Compare prices at different dealers and get them from a reputable source. Not scAmazon or fleEbay.

Save yourself the headache.