Front End Clunk - 2018 Off Road

Just as a reference, the front and rear LCA cam bolts should be orientated to this postion give or take counter or clockwise adjustments.

 

Toyota truck/SUV four-piston floating front brake pads are known for clunking back 'n' forth as you slowly go forward and reverse, reverse and forward. O.E.M. or aftermarket pads, it doesn't matter. Over the years, I've learnt to just tune it out.

 

Ive found it more to be a click then a clunk when the pad shift under certain conditions.

 

The jury's still out whether it's better (less work) to replace the LCAs rather than just the bushings (if you can find just the bushings).

 

Thanks for this!

 

i second this

 

That's what I was finding when I was doing some research yesterday. It's surprisingly hard to find LCAs also without getting into the more expensive aftermarket ones. I don't offroad enough to justify an expensive pair either.

I'm in Canada and it looks like I can get one Moog LCA from Monkey Wrench online. Thinking i'll give it a shot! I'm not seeing any locally.

 

There was a member here on our forum selling a pair a few weeks ago. Do a search and see if they are available.

 

He just sold them I think…I was eyeing them up for a long time since I think I probably have frozen cam adjusters and may need to cut mine out in the future. I’m just trying to delay that verifying that lol. Denial is not just a river in Egypt haha. By the way, does anybody know if it’s true that the steering rack has to come out to replace the LCAs???

@OffRoadBertie2018 I don’t think I noticed the LCA bolt moving in that last video. It just seems like all the movement is in the LCA bushing. They move a lot normally, but the movement in your vid looks a little but too much and too fast…it could be they’re torn. Replacing bushings sounds like a pain in the ass, and you’d think that would also be a good time to replace the ball joint, which is even harder from what I’ve read. By the time you think of all the work to rebuild the lower control arms, brand new OE LCA (with brand new bushings and ball joint) might seem like a deal.

There have been threads here discussing the merits of aftermarket “off-roady” LCAs that have harder greasable bushings, versus just sticking with OE. For sure the OE have very soft cushy bushings that probably do wear out with a lot of hard wheeling action. But it’s also what probably contributes to a nice quiet comfortable ride…and the softness may protect other components from hard hits or vibrations over the long term. But OE is expensive no doubt.

 

Any chance either of you commented on the thread so I can cross reference your histories? Either i'm inept at searching or the thread is buried in the trenches and not coming up when I search.

@McSpazatron It's not the bolt, but at this point i wouldn't be surprised if it was seized - they're pretty rusty so will likely replace them while I'm at it (i've already replaced everything else, why not?).

When I watch the video, this part of the bushing moves at the same time I hear the clunk:




I also just replaced the lower ball joints during the whack-a-mole process of trying to figure out what was clunking.

I do a lot of highway driving to get to work during the week, and I take it to some more remote hiking areas in British Columbia other weekends. I'd be happy to get mid-grade (even if that puts me back to OEM).

 

If you replaced the lower ball joints, does that mean you’ve already removed the LCAs? If so, then that probably means your cam bolts are fine (or at least they were when you did the job). It also means that pressing out the bad bushings and putting in new ones will probably be a walk in the park for you lol. If the LCA cam bolts come out again, I would honestly just press in some aftermarket bushings.

So, if you removed the lower control arms already, did you have to mess with the steering rack to do that?

 

This was the thread we were talking about. https://www.4runners.com/threads/fs-colorado-springs-co-lower-control-arms-oem-new-350.43427/

 

Try putting a caliper spring on the top as well. This solved my brake slap.

 

I saw that thread also, but didn't suggest it because I found out they were gone. Thus the value of a for sale poster, i.e. @TRoosevelt, editing the thread title to include SOLD. Keeps those who need these from having to read through the thread only to find out they sold some time back and are no longer available..

 

No, we were able to press the ball joint out without removing the LCA - if only we had removed them we might've noticed the sloppy bushing

I've found a Dorman LH LCA for $233CAD on parts avatar. To get just the bushings it would cost $226CAD + my sanity.

Just debating whether I should get cam bolts while i'm at it. SPC is $152CAD and Moog is $115CAD. Until I have the LCA in hand I don't want to disturb the cam bolts and won't know if they're seized or not.

Thanks for finding the thread!

 

woooooooo!

I totally forgot about this, but when I checked everything before my trip, my shop guy said 2 of my cam tabs were upside down.

nevertheless, at least you figured it out!

 

I know what you mean, that anti-rattle spring. I'm sure I have some spares stored away. I'll give it a try next time.

 

i went with Moog lca on my 2011 SR5, no issues after 18k+

 

the cam bolt lobes are upside down as well.

 

SPC geta my vote

 

I don’t think it’s bad to disturb the cam bolts…they’re probably not in the right position anyway, and your alignment doesn’t mean anything anymore, considering the LCA is basically flopping around anyway.

If you take off the nut, and you turn a cam bolt and it feels like you’re just torquing the bushing, then I think that pretty much means that the cam sleeve is stuck to the tube that’s vulcanized to the bushing.

Nobody seems to have any luck getting it off once it’s stuck. The bushing absorbs the energy from hammer blows, and heat will probably just melt the bushing. I think most have to resort to using a sawzall to cut the bolts through the slot between the bushing and the LCA mount tab on the frame.

 

I had to cut them out on my 2011. Make sure a generous amount of anti seize is used on the old ones if you can get them out oe the new ones. You thank yourself later

 

I ended up ordering the Dorman LCA and MOOG cam bolts. If I can get the old bolts out i'll clean them up and save them as extras!

 

Were you able to put the new cam bolts on without messing with the steering rack?

 

yes i was able to. Not sure why you would ever need to mess with the steering rack for anything with the LCA

 

Previous generations required removing or at least loosening the steering rack in order to remove the rear cam bolt. The rack itself is not in the way, but the inner tie rod is right behind the cam bolt, and didn't allow it to come out all the way.

A video I watched shows the rack/tie rod is not in the way on a 5th gen, however.

 

I had no issues on my 2011 or 2022 with rhe cam bolts as the tie rods and rack are above the bolts as shown in the pic