Opinions on these UCA bushings

I installed the bushings in these UCA's last year when I put the MCM/ADS mid travel kit on my truck. I discovered this when greasing my UCA's a few days ago. It looks like bushings are "squeezing" out between the washer and the UCA. Doesn't look normal to me.

Looking for opinions. Is this indicative of anything you've seen before? Passenger side front position is definitely the worst, but it's happening to some extent on all of them. Improper install? Wrong torque? I dunno?

drivers side front
drivers side rear
passenger side rear
passenger side front

 

Did you loosen the through bolt before you greased your bushings?

 

I did not. Is that part of the protocol?

 

Yep. Gotta lossen then grease and retorque after.

 

Well that’s a bit of a pain in the ass!

What purpose does loosening the through bolt serve?

 

https://youtu.be/xvMdAX2uybs?si=ELEJdGz4U6d45rqv

TC has a good vid on this, similar design as MCM ucas. No room for the grease to move around while pumping with the washers in tight against the bushing so it blows out the bushing.

 

Huh. I’ll be damned. First I’ve heard of this! Not saying you’re wrong, but agree with @Marvthehamster on this one. Pain in the ass!

 

Shit. Well thanks for the edumacation on this. I definitely thought it was as easy as pumping grease into the zirks.

I think I done F’d up my bushings…

Also, I emailed Matt at MCM and he confirmed that the bolt should be loosened before greasing. He said that if I loosen the bolt and work the arm up and down the bushings should settle back in. This may be the case for the 3 that aren’t too bad but I have a feeling that one on my passenger side is toast. It looks a lot like the example in the TC video that he used to show what a ruined bushing looks like.

Hopefully this will explain and alleviate the squeaking, popping, and banging I’ve been hearing in the suspension….

Looks like it’s time to pull the front end apart again!

 

Right?! Glad I wasn’t the only one who didn’t realize I was doing it wrong. Hopefully you aren’t squashing your bushings like I did!

 

I’m sure I did…. Haven’t looked that close, and nothing has fallen off yet! I’ll take a peek in between rain and snow this week and see the what what.

 

Also, I’d bet we are far from being the minority on this.

 

Yep this here!

 

Soooo, hypothetically, if a fella were to have inadvertently greased his thingies without loosening bolts, would it be a catastrophic damage type of thing?

Asking for a friend…

 

LOL depending if that friend really pushed grease into that bushing deforming it. But no I don't think so. I’d loosin that bolt to relax the bushing then retorque to spec

 

“Spec”. lol. It’s as tight as I could get it. Any tighter and I woulda flipped the truck over!

 

yea I think spec was in the 140 ft-lb range, IIRC. Definitely took some muscle to get it there, due to the awkward angles/tight space in the wheel well. I did use a torque wrench and nothing has come loose so I think I got close enough

Definitely kind of bummed to hear that maintenance isnt as easy as I originally thought..What's new, though?

 

Ha! I'm going to release pressure on the zirks, loosen the bolt, and work the arms up and down. I'll report back with my findings. I think 3 of the 4 will survive but I'm not so sure about the one at the passenger side front position....that sucker looks like an overweight chick in tight jeans at a Luke Bryan concert...

 

I ended up just ordering some new bushings from MCM. I had the Toyota dealership tech install them for me yesterday when I was in for some other service work. Squeaking and creaking is gone.

Lesson learned on UCA maintenance.

 

JBA has special grooved bushings that allow you to grease without loosening. I have not done the first maintenance on them yet so we will see.