Need some advice on front end replacement parts

Happy Easter all,

Well, I shoulda looked a little closer when I bought it but I was dazzled by the new frame and dazed from 13 hours on the road and 2 different rental cars to get there. Lesson learned.

This was in my Easter basket yesterday.

The good news is that it made just enough noise to warrant an inspection before total failure, I have some very good friends that have allowed me to borrow cars til this can be fixed and compared to the vehicles I’ve previously owned, even the dealer parts prices are reasonable.

That said, I’d like to be wise with what I spend on this truck. I have searched the forums to the best of my ability and have found some answers but am left with a few questions. So my questions to the community are what front end parts other than the lower ball joints MUST be original equipment? From shifty’s thread(thank you, btw) he is also recommending the original lower control arms as well. If the image loads, you should see a nearly rusted through upper control arm. Should this be replaced only with original equipment or is there a high quality aftermarket or oem alternative?

I’m headed up to where it is today to pull the front wheels and see just how awful everything else is, my hypothesis is that it’s likely terrible. Honestly, I knew the front end was bad(not this bad though) but was hoping that it would make it for another month or so til mud season is over in VT. Oh well. C’est la vie.

Maybe a list of safe to use front end parts for stock ride height with regular use on non technical unpaved surfaces is in order? I’ll start a list here and edit with feedback from the community. If it goes well I’ll make a separate thread with a clear title others can easily reference in the future.

FRONT END PART / SAFE TO USE REPLACEMENTS

upper control arm / ?? NAPA might be ok
upper ball joint / ??
lower control arm / possibly oe only? NAPA might be ok
lower ball joint / oe only
inner tie rod / ??
outer tie rod / ??
sway bar link / ??
LCA camber bolts / oe only

If I’m missing anything, let me know and I’ll add it.

Thank you for your help all, hope you have an awesome day!

-tom

 

I am interested in this thread too. Want to replace a lot of my front end but don’t need all the long travel, 3” lift off-road components so was wondering if there was a reputable non-factory option.

 

I just replaced my front end yesterday and here’s what I used:

upper control arm / Moog
upper ball joint / OEM
lower control arm / Moog
lower ball joint / OEM
inner tie rod / did not replace
outer tie rod / OEM
sway bar link / Suspension Maxx

I had some difficulty deciding what to do for upper and lower control arms. Ideally I wanted to go OEM but after all my other parts it just became too expensive. A few others had used Moog lcas and said they worked fine, so I decided to go with those even though others had negative feedback about them. We will see about longevity.

I also went Moog uca and figured if those went bad I could replace them pretty easily down the road. So I don’t have any info regarding how long things will last, but am very happy with the quality of everything I installed. I wanted to go OEM for anything with a joint.

 

I don't think I said OEM LCA, just OEM LBJ. But maybe I'm smoking crack.

Now is the time to ask yourself: Do I ever intend to lift or level the truck? If so, that may alter what path you want to go down.

Moog isn't the company it once was, they outsource on a number of parts now. The only risk is a potential recall. Some folks on here have used NAPA store brand LCAs too. The biggest consideration (IMO) is really in the bushings for UCA/LCA and whether they're worth a damn. 3rd party just don't seem to make quality bushing that won't bulge and crack within a couple years or few dozen-k miles.

 

Thanks so much for this comprehensive list. OEM outer TREs were 199 each last time I looked so I passed on those. But like you I don’t and won’t need a lift anytime soon and wanted to see what I could shop around on.

 

Thank you all for the replies and contributions.

shifty, thanks for all you’ve contributed to this community. I did re-read your “master thread” this morning before posting, you were not as emphatic with LCAs as you were about the LBJs for them to be OE but you did recommend it on one occasion in that thread. So that did lead me to seek some clarification. Again, thank you! To answer your question about lift, hopefully no lift but it might be 1”. The truck gets used on dirt roads daily and rougher forest service roads a few times a year. I am considering the 1st gen off-road bilstien 0-2 inch kit(set to the least amount of lift possible) for ride quality purposes. It’s pricey and all other maintenance will need to be addressed first; also need to do some more reading to figure out if those dampers will achieve the ride characteristics I’m looking for.

After closer inspection, all of the joints seem ok(no play and pliable newer than the truck rubber boots.) The sway bar links are done, and the central sway bars bushings don’t look too far behind. I already knew both UCAs were rotted so that wasn’t news. It does look like one LCA is new-ish and the other is ugly but no holes, just medium scale right now.

At this point, I’m planning to buy NAPA UCAs and LCAs tomorrow. I can get them Tuesday, NAPA still seems to have a good reputation for quality parts(many good Indy shops and some dealers use them), good warranty redeemable nationwide with not having to deal with back and forth shipping and there’s a buy three parts get 20% off promotion on the website. I have a feeling even if the bushings are not as good as Toyota oe, they’re probably far better than many others and should be good for a while. Fortunately, just the uppers need to be done so those will go on Wednesday and the lowers will be part of a larger re-fresh project later this summer. Next up will be rear brakes, I don’t think they do anything but shudder under hard braking

I’d like to hear from some members that have some years and miles on the moog control arms. If ok, it might be an ok place to save for other owners.

 

@windsorblue just an FYI, when you do the lowers if the cam alignment sleeves and bolts are rusted or seized you'll need to cut them out. Go OEM for these.

Anti seize is ok inside the sleeve/bushing and around the bolt. But avoid it on the backside of the washers. These clamp to hold position and you don't want them to slip.

 

FYI on the sway links, check this for standard length, and check this for extended length. Lots of guys are running Suspension Maxx links on here and generally happy w/them. You can buy other places like SummitRacing, but the price is pretty similar no matter where you go.

And expect them to cost a pretty penny. Lots of complaints from members on here about aftermarket sleeves being worthless plastic garbage though, so ... just buy OEM and run with it.

 

shifty and assassin,

Thank you for the advice gentlemen. The camber bolts look new from the frame replacement but I’ll check that they’re all metal before attempting LCA replacement. Any other indicators for OE parts aside from using all metal hardware?

edit: added oe only camber bolts to the list

 

LBJs, best practice is to use fresh hardware. More info here.

I'm grasping at straws for anything else. Folks have had good luck here w/Moog tie rods. If 4WD, you'll want to stick with OEM boots unless you're lifting, you may consider ORS boots (OffRoad Systems). And if 4WD, just get OEM reman axles, they're actually pretty damn cheap, let me dig up the part numbers....

Edit: Axle-related part numbers, but be sure to check part compatibility with your year/make/model, I pulled these for my '06. Oh, and the clamp tool ... get a generic on scAmazon or fleaBay, it costs 1/10th as much:

43430-0C010-84 => CV Axles (remanuf'd OEM)
43430-0C010 ==> New/non-reman OEM
04438-0C020 ==> CV axle re-boot kit
09521-24010 ==> CV axle boot clamp tool

 

Wow, how was this being driven? That UCA is crumbling and cut in two? They went mudding the day before you picked it up? Agree with the prior posts recommendations. Factory LBJs for sure.

 

No problem. That’s interesting about the TREs, I think mine were only 46 each? I ordered all my OEM parts through Serra Toyota in AL; free shipping and no tax.

 

How long ago was the frame replaced? This is the first 06 I've heard of with a new frame.

 

Ha! What you’re seeing is Vermont mud season. All the dirt you see is from our normal public dirt roads. I bought the truck about six weeks ago and while the frame and lots of stuff underneath was clearly new, pretty much all of the suspension and brake components were rusty with a coat of either black or silver paint. I knew it wasn’t great but new frame, good body and interior, decent runner, trans and 4wd all worked. How bad could it be? I worked as a mechanic for a while, it just suspension and brakes. Evidently, it’s this bad. It’s a bummer, I prolly shoulda just bought a new VW but I’m working on growing my business and am prioritizing that over comfy, proper handing and braking transportation. The tundra is not only serving as transportation, but also as motivation to make said business successful enough to get back into some German engineering win/win right?

and yup, already sold on the oe LBJs.

 

Quick update gents,

I received the parts from Napa yesterday and after some persuasion with a 3# sledge the UCAs are free from the truck. Unfortunately the box for the left UCA contained another right one, doh!! It was either a 4 hour round trip for the correct one or get it at 7am tomorrow. I chose tomorrow and a bike ride; it’s so freaking nice outside right now!!!

The kinda pricey Napa brand control arms are made in China. In an of itself, when considering the “quality” of the product; I do not see this as a bad thing. Heck, I’m currently typing this on a very high quality Chinese made phone and when done with this I’ll be riding a very high quality Chinese made carbon fiber bike. There’s plenty more to talk about on the subject but that’s not why we’re here. Anyway, the quality of the parts seems nice; good finish, fit, welds, etc.; time will tell on the bushings but the rubber looks and feels good out of the box. As I stated in a previous post I bought these mostly for the local(even in rural VT) and nationwide warranty. I hope they’re fine and I don’t ever need to use it. Are they worth the $100/ea extra vs Moog? I’m not sure but I’m glad I don’t have to deal with shipping on the mispackaged one. They’re also about $100 less than the dealer so maybe they’re a good middle ground.

Thanks again all, appreciate the feedback and would really like to hear others’ good and bad experiences with aftermarket front end parts. Not LBJs though, that hath been decided: OE ONLY!!!!

 

I don’t buy into the “China is the boogeyman” mentality. However, some things (like metal parts, bearings in particular) I firmly won’t acquiesce. Especially something as critical as suspension parts. My dirt bike parts, especially plastic, are all from China. Even my $450 “Italian” dirt boots have a China tag in them. Makes no difference to me. But China metal is definitely suspect, at best.

edit: I have seen OEM cranks in Japanese and European bikes go literally thousands of hours with no problems, aside from rebuilding them with new bearings. Here is an example of an aftermarket crank made with Chinese metal with about 70 hours on it from a YZ 2 stroke the I split the cases on some years ago. You can imagine what this sounded like when it let loose at 8,000 rpms…

 

A little JB Weld would fix that!

 

Thanks again for the help all. Got the correct, left, UCA installed yesterday and the truck drives way less stupid, still stupid but much less so. After getting in there and having a closer look around, I’m stoked all of the ball jointed parts aside from the sway bar links are new and free of play. As I kind of expected the control arm bushings were tightened at full droop so now the blown shocks make themselves more noticeable. Current plan for the front end on this truck is to replace LBJs with OE along with the Napa LCAs, shocks/associated hardware and the brakes early to mid summer.

Be well everyone,
tom