Lower Control Arms Going bad?

Hey there guys and gals...

I have a 5th gen with a 2.5 Bilstein lift. I love her. But we just moved from CO to upstate New York and the type of cold here is different.

2018 4Runner with 140k miles.

I'm finding that when it's below 20 deg there's a really weird creaking sound specifically when turning and hitting bumps. I thought it was my UCAs, I had issues with my SPC UCAs (the bushings went bad) so I had them replaced with JBAs. But the sound persisted. The mechanic thinks it's the LCA bushings gone bad.

I'm thinking about doing them myself as it does not seem like bad job and I'll save $1000, but I was not 100% convinced they are bad. I setup an older GoPro under my car behind the right LCA to see if I could see the bushing showing wear. Wanted to share the video.

It's not great quality and a bit dark. I had to zoom in with iMovie so the video degraded a bit. There are moments when I'm turning that it seems more apparent that they may be going. I see the LCR move in quite a bit. Curious of you all could take a look and see if you can tell. I'm glad to redo the video if I needed.

The middle of the video I'm hitting more bumps. At the 4 min mark I do a turn and it seems like there's some significant movement.




Thanks!

 

Welcome from Wisconsin! The JBA's that you had put on like a silicone based synthetic grease as per recommendation from JBA. It may be the poly UCA bushings, not so much the ball joint but the 2 grease zerks above the bushings, start there, if it persists.. well you got the UCA's greased, then look into the LCA bushings, I hear they can be a handful. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the reply! I'm fairly certain it is not the UCAs. I replaced them in the middle of winter, and they were greased at the onset. Also, the sound was exactly the same with the new ones.

 

at 140k you might need a refresh. I replaced my LCAs on my 2011 sr5 at 167k and it make a big difference.