Any tips outside of the manual on replacing upper control arms and lower ball joints? Pickle fork or ball joint press? Special service tool? Should i be lubricating any bushings? Also i need to grease the zerks on new joints?
Any tips outside of the manual on replacing upper control arms and lower ball joints? Pickle fork or ball joint press? Special service tool? Should i be lubricating any bushings? Also i need to grease the zerks on new joints?
New Febest upper control arms and OEM lower ball joints in.IMG_20170505_101857.jpgIMG_20170505_101715.jpg
Nice, looks good!
I have the exact same part combination and job on my list. Any tips or advice from your experience? Was it a brutal battle getting the old stuff off?
Was the alignment shop able to dial things in? I'm very interested to know the dimensional accuracy of these aftermarket Chinese parts. Tim
Edit 5/8/17: Forgot to mention that I didn't follow the FSM to a tee. I didn't remove the hubs or steering knuckle. Took me long enough without doing that..Originally Posted by mistershmi
One of the more brutal parts was separating the lower ball joint body from the knuckle. Not talking about the tapered bore you use a fork or press for. Talking about the flat mating surface. Both sides of the van were very fused together, i didn't really foresee this. Took a bit of hammering. There's not a lot of access here and the knuckle wants to move around sucking the force out of your hammer hits. Hopefully yours are easier, see the picture.
Tim I haven't gotten an alignment yet (van is still parked) because one of my tie rod end boots is ripped and i'd like to replace both. However, I cant get the outer tie rod to unscrew because its really rusted tight, see second picture. Maybe I will pay a shop to do that job and give me an alignment.
I have the front stabilizer bar off and all the bushings ready to go, but i am having a hard time attaching the ends to the lower control arms. Its really hard to flex the bar and get the mounting bolts in for the bracket. Any ideas here would be appreciated. Thanks
Last edited by LightBlueToy; 05-08-2017 at 11:22 PM.
Strategically using a jack doesn't do it? Not exactly sure what the issue is, but I will usually use jacks, pry bars etc and typically don't have too much trouble with that. I certainly understand about the frozen tie rods though (not an uncommon issue). Use penetrating oil, heat, and a big pipe wrench. If that doesn't do it, nothing will. Tim
Yeah I tried levering it and using a jack but then it was lifting the whole van up. Think I need to put the wheel back on and jump on the front bumper to work the suspension first.
Edit: that did the trick.
Also got that stubborn tie rod end off. Propane torch heat, pb blaster, hit and watch the rust dust come off, pipe wrenches with cheaters on them (one braced in the wheel well). Repeat.
I got some moog tie rod ends, part no: ES2989, on closeout from rockauto. Unfortunately they are not as beefy looking as the toyota oem's. I have added some photos for comparison.
Last edited by LightBlueToy; 05-08-2017 at 05:25 PM.
They were able to do everything but the 2 front cam adjusters because they said they were too rusted. The alignment feels better, but not aligned. I guess I need to order some new adjusters/bolts and hopefully get the old ones out.
Bump......FYI, I check Amazon every few months and I just discovered these upper 4wd A-Arms are available again (1st page of this thread). They are $59.95 (right or left) and they had 6 of each. I just bought one of the rights, so at the moment of this post they have 5 rights and 6 lefts.
Upper left control arm w/ball joint #48067-28050
Upper right control arm w/ball joint #48066-28050
Ebay has them too...........same price with free shipping. Tim
Bummer, I broke down and paid $100 for the passenger side shipped from Europe when I didn't see them on Amazon for a long time. I can't possibly think I'd need a second back up set??
1987 4wd 5spd Cargo van (uncut)-modding in 3,2,1
And as of this post, they are now down to 2 rights and 3 lefts 'cuz I ordered two of each, and someone else snagged one of each before I got there.
Gwen
1985 5-speed window cargo van set up for llama haulin'; 345K ("Trustyvan")
1989 4WD 5-speed DLX; 410K and an odd sense of humor ("Skylervan")
I ordered one of each last night as soon as I saw Tim's post. I was going to order two but decided that seemed greedy. Not that I'm pointing any fingers.......Gwen. Just kidding of course.
I'm actually thinking with an extra set around to use to make a jig I may see what I can fabricate for a more serviceable and possibly modifiable part. Thinking along the lines of tubular with replaceable ball joints, possibly slightly longer to offset for a lift.
Something along the lines of this. In my abundance of spare time of course. LOL
I just took a set as well!!
JDM
BTW, the last time they ran out it took a little over a year to restock (Amazon ran out towards the end of 2016), so if anybody else wants some you better move quick.
Got my set too!
Thank you Tim for the head's up!
LG.
"perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." A. de St Exupery.
I just checked and see that all the Amazon rights are gone now but they still have 1 left side. For anybody else interested, Febest USA and what appears to be the same seller from Amazon (Finest auto parts) also has some eBay listings here:
Left side:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Left-Upper-...BadHwU&vxp=mtr
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Left-Upper-...hac0IG&vxp=mtr
Right Side:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Right-Upper...dadHwD&vxp=mtr
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Right-Upper...9sMNfA&vxp=mtr
Note: at the time of this posting, the Febest USA Right arm is only $50.88 and still has free shipping. Tim
They also have some at https://www.carid.com/1989-toyota-va...er=1&sub-model[DriveTypeName][]=4WD+%28Four+Wheel+Drive%29 but take a pill before you see the price
LG.
"perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." A. de St Exupery.
I am looking for the lower ones, as mine look like the french pastry called "Mille feuilles" a thousand layers of rust held together by thin air
LG.
"perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." A. de St Exupery.
I am looking for the lower ones, as mine look like the french pastry called "Mille feuilles" a thousand layers of rust held together by thin air
check out posting #64,65,66 in this thread. The part numbers are listed and when I just checked the part is still available
JDM
Thanks VANMAN, I knew of the ball-joints. What I need is the complete lower control arms for 4WD. My van comes from a snowy/salty area of the country, and probably never saw a rinse off in it's life. Imagine.... every thing under look like the ship in The Pirate of the Caribbean Dead man tell no tales: see-through
LG.
"perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." A. de St Exupery.
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