Upper Control Arm Replacement

I’m replacing my upper control arms on my ‘03 Tundra. The truck is all stock with some shitty shocks from the previous owner. The driver’s side upper control arm is so shot it has no resistance and almost throws the truck while driving. I’ve replaced my rack and pinion, LBJs, and hopefully this is the last suspension item I’ll have to replace for a while. Do any of yall have any guidance on replacing the upper control arm/upper ball joint? I’m not wanting to get into a huge mess with it. Just not sure where to start with removing it or if it’s best to let a mechanic take care of it for $700 parts, labor, and alignment included.

 

The UCA doesn’t prevent sway or absorb any bounce/load. What your describing sounds like a coil over issue

 

If you're mechanically inclined its stupid easy to replace the UCA. The hardest part to removing the upper ball joint, and once that is removed the UCA is being held by one really long bolt. Check out the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pot05dmfsfc

 

Thanks, I’m hoping to get a better look at them this weekend. I’ve replaced plenty of suspension on vehicles over the years but this one is leaving me confused. It almost rocks when I hit a bump, I can feel the control arm and the tire on the driver’s side come up and hit the wheel well. It’s like the shocks on the front end are two different sizes.

 

Look into pre assembled coil overs like 5100s. Only reason to replace the UCA would maybe be worn bushings or a ball joint, but both of those could be replaced individually not the entire upper arm

 

Thanks, definitely going with the 5100s for sure. I can tug on my tire while it’s on the ground and watch my UCA wiggle unfortunately. It seems it’s only the driver’s side for now

 

Yep, get the pre assembled coil overs and install those...

If you do replace your upper control arms, it isn't bad at all. Hardest part for me was getting the extremely long bolt out, especially on the driver side (brake lines were in the way).

 

Honestly? It's not that hard to do. But like @FrenchToasty that doesn't sound like bad UCA to me. It sounds like bumpsteer, which is most likely a side effect of your strut setup (or if they installed strut and spacer), which can be minimized sometimes with alignment, but typically it's because you've exceeded somewhere beyond where you should with geometry OR because you're running exceptionally stiff.

Can you shoot us some pics and upload into a reply? Would love to see the setup on that problematic side. This could also be something stupid, like you have a broken swaybar link on one side or the other.

 

let me know if these are helpful. The better looking side is the passenger side

[ QUOTE="shifty`, post: 3686524, member: 48239"]Honestly? It's not that hard to do. But like @FrenchToasty that doesn't sound like bad UCA to me. It sounds like bumpsteer, which is most likely a side effect of your strut setup (or if they installed strut and spacer), which can be minimized sometimes with alignment, but typically it's because you've exceeded somewhere beyond where you should with geometry OR because you're running exceptionally stiff.

Can you shoot us some pics and upload into a reply? Would love to see the setup on that problematic side. This could also be something stupid, like you have a broken swaybar link on one side or the other.[/QUOTE]

 

Ok, so no spacers.

Here's what I can tell you.

First, your shocks are mismatched, or at least the tophats are mismatched, the tophat bolts are different. One trio is pointed, the other trio is flat top. The coil diameter looks smaller on one side than the other too, but maybe it's an illusion.

The 1st pic's UBJ looks like the boot is blown for sure, but it looks OEM, probably factory original. Last picture, that's an aftermarket UBJ and in much better shape.

Curious, are you 4WD or 2WD? Asking because with 2WD, UBJ replacement is a little easier.

What would I do?

If you want to stay stock height, I'd go buy some Bilstein 4600s. Will be nice, damn near OEM ride if not OEM+. Way better than shit brands like Monroe. And fuck it, you may as well get back to OEM on the upper ball joints, but you really only need to replace the one that's shot, which is on the side with the snubnose bolts atop the shock.

UBJ can be fucking painful to press out on these trucks. Worse than any other vehicle I've done. Honestly? I'd be tempted to hand the shop two new OEM UBJ, and two Bilstein 4600 struts, have them swap the springs and tophats, and install the struts if they'd do it for $800-1,000k. I say that as someone who loves to do his own stuff. But man, I really struggled with the UBJ in my truck, on my 2nd attempt (1st time I was sick and didn't want to fight w/it), I just pulled the gd knuckle and pressed the bastards out on the floor.

 

Thanks for verifying that for me, the damn mechanics all thought I was crazy for telling them the shocks don’t seem to match (3 different ones). She’s a 2wd, that’s honestly where I’m leaning mainly because I got burned on doing some UBJs on an Acura I had. This is helpful because at this point I’m just going to ask a local guy that I know who does pretty good work what he’d run for the shock replacement, UCA & UBJ replacement. Plus the sway bar links because the bushings on those are totally obliterated. I’ve heard too many stories about cutting them out and that’s my least favorite task.

 

2WD is surely easier. If you were near Atlanta, I'd pop by and help as much as I wanted to kick the shit outta mine.

I would go with Bilstein 4600 to replace your front struts, and re-use the springs if they are in fact matching. If you have a digital caliper, measure the spring diameter and count the # of coils from top to bottom in a common spot. Also, loosely check the spacing between the coils. Consider measuring from the ground to the top of the fender flare to see if the height is same on both sides (1/2" - 3/4" variation is normal, aka "The Tundra Lean")

I'd replace the tophats and isolators on the struts, buy KYB's kit, p/n is KYB SM5442. KYB makes OEM shocks for many companies, my '06 had KYB from the factory, but I'd still use 4600s, that was the "TRD" upgrade for our trucks.

If you're serious about replacing the UCA - which I'm not 100% sure why you'd want to do that and not just do the UBJ, unless you can clearly see the UCA bushings are shot! - Honestly, you'll save money and move to a more reliable system if you buy the JBA brand UCA for these trucks and install. They run a sealed UBJ that's far easier to replace than OEM. Either way, you've got to press the UBJ out of the knuckle, which is the "hard" part of the job.

If you're only doing the UBJ and not the UCA, OEM UBJ p/n for your 2003 is 43310-39016.

If you do UCA and get the JBA's, You can do the work at home. Unbolt the UBJ and smack it out. Cut the UBJ spindle off and remove the lockring. Press the remains of the UBJ out, then swap in the new uppers and bolt it up. "Easy peasy".

Whatever you do, if the mechanic tells you your LBJ are bad ... ONLY USE OEM LBJs and use fresh bolts. I can't give you LBJ part numbers because your truck is a crossover year, and as I'm looking in the system for 2003 stepsides, it appears there's a cutoff date based on VIN.

 

thanks! This is helpful, yeah, there’s a ton of play in the UCA—I can wiggle the tire on the ground with all of its weight and watch it move side to side. I just replaced the LBJs—that was actually an easy job. Got the OEM parts from Ourisman Toyota in PA (couldn’t find a TN dealer that didn’t have them priced higher than a cat’s back) and fresh bolts too. Me and my granddad haven’t had a good project to do in a while since he got sick so it was easy enough he could work it too with oxygen and all lol. He’s ready for more replacements and I guess so am I He was shocked when he saw the play in the UCA. I barely touched and the whole thing lifted to the top of the wheel well.

 

Yeah, that's blown. UCA are pretty easy. It's the driver's side that's more difficult. Basically the way the bolt comes out, it smacks in the cluster of hard lines that's clipped to the driver's fender. Trying to torque it all down to spec is tough too.

You have a copy of the FSM for your truck downloaded, right? Link.

More info on your truck with other helpful links here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

 

AutoZone loaner part # 57170

https://www.autozone.com/test-scan-...tools-heavy-duty-pitman-arm-puller/209523_0_0

This thing works wonders to press those peaky UBJs out of those UCAs. I had both UBJs on my '03 Tacoma (same exact crappy UBJ design) removed in under 10 minutes last go-around.

 

Oh and @Christiancer90 if you just want to refresh the suspension back to OEM all the way around... https://www.suspensionlifts.com/sho...-and-rear-shocks-for-2000-2006-toyota-tundra/

That's everything, preassembled, in an easy-for-you-to-install format. Unhook the swaybar links, and get to town.

 

You can unclip the brake lines and even unbolt the clip they go into if need be. That's what I did. Just need a little bit of wiggle room.

 

Hey @Christiancer90 just checking in: You make it through this?

 

Good timing on the message, I started it yesterday. I had the UCA out and changed in 10 mins, that was hella easy. I’m backing trying to get the damn ball joint out this morning.

 

See this thread: https://www.tundras.com/threads/upper-ball-joint-removal.42150/

Lots of ideas in there.

 

After l using the press a 7ft long cheater bar, and a bfmh it’s out. Think I’ll go buy a lottery ticket after that.