Upper Control Arm - Bad or OK?

Hi everyone,

I was hearing a clunk when turning my wheel (hard right) and hitting a bump. After some research I thought it was the outer tie rod ends, so I changed them, but no luck.

After some more inspection I notice that my upper control arm (on the side I hear clunking) has some play in it when the wheel is turned just right and the truck is stationary. Is this normal or is it time for a new set of upper control arms?

Also, if I do need to replace them, what do you guys recommend on a budget? Sub $200 would be ok. Sub $150 would be even better. I'm not looking for anything fancy.... just practical.

Thank you all so much for the help!


See this video for reference -

https://youtu.be/mcaodjJnsG4

 

Just a ball joint replacement from the looks of the video. Rent or borrow a ball joint press and get a ball joint of your budget.

 

That does need to be addressed right now though. That’s a failure waiting to happen.

 

I would recommend purchasing low mile OEM takeoffs. There is usually someone selling a good set for cheap.

 

Holy crap! That’s bad! If that were my truck, I wouldn’t drive it another block. That’s on the verge of coming apart.

 

^
Oem lower BJs lasted 200k, after mark ones not even 2k miles..

 

Thank you guys for your knowledge!

Ok... so I'd prefer to replace the ball joint to save money. The only upper control arms I can find are $400+. And since I also have to replace the front struts (found out today one is completely blown), I'd like to save as much as I can while not sacrificing the integrity of the truck.

I've been searching how to replace the upper ball joints on a 2nd Gen Tacoma, but for the life of me can't find any tutorials/guides.

Do you guys know where I can learn? I'm sure it's probably not that hard, but I'd like to see it before I attempt it if possible.

 

I tried looking up a tutorial on how to replace the upper ball joint, but couldn't find anything (except for very detailed 1st gen write ups - which might help?)

I'd vote for finding someone's take off's (OEM UCA) and replacing the whole thing. I see people selling stock suspension just about every day.

 

holly god those are BAD. Do not drive that truck before replacing those. BOTH SIDES.

That spacer lift you have going on is not helping the situation.

 

There are plenty of people that replace their low mileage OEM suspension with aftermarket stuff. Here is just 1. If you install 3rd gen suspension you will get about 1” of lift in the front. The downside to that is that you will need an alignment after the lift and on an ‘05, your alignment cams are likely seized and that’s fairly big bucks to fix.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/stock-2020-trd-or-suspension-for-sale.671964/

 

That's pretty much what I was finding too.

Maybe I'm wrong for thinking this way (please tell me if I am), but buying someones OEM take-off's worry me a little. My truck has about 157k miles. The only take-off's I found online came off a truck with about the same miles. Like I said, maybe I'm wrong, but that doesn't seem like a wise purchase to me... but I'm also not a mechanic, lol.

What do you think about parts from this site - https://www.moog-suspension-parts.com/beckarnley-102-6452

I was reading other reviews of them here on tacomaworld forum and people generally seem to be happy with them. I don't off-road. Some on gravel roads, yards, and the (very) occasional pasture - but certainly not anything significant. What do you think?

 

I've seen people say good things about moog; however, I do not have any experience with them. Maybe someone else can chime in on this? I suppose depending on where you live this could be an issue in finding take-offs that don't have a ton of mileage. I'd check craigslist and offerup just in case. If you don't feel comfortable in doing this install I'd also suggest taking this to a shop or, alternatively, seeing if there are any TW members in your area that have a good understanding of doing a ball joint replacement or complete UCA replacement.

 

MOOG used to be great, got bought by a big company (forget which) and now makes junk. Set of ball joints I bought for another vehicle came with zerks but only one side was actually threaded for them.

 

I forgot that there was a spacer in the video. I just looked at your other posts that show a pic of that spacer. That thing is HUGE. As others mentioned, get those out of there. Not surprising that you have ball joint problems. Also, that truck has to drive horrible with it like that.

 

Used ones on CL or TW will be way cheaper maybe even free. everyone has takeoffs sitting in their garage

 

Yikes! That is really bad as others have said. Has that not been rattling for the last year?

I've seen multiple vehicles that have lost a wheel due to a failed ball joint and it is not pretty. Don't join that club; get it fixed before driving it.

 

Start here. This isn’t for a 2nd gen tacoma, but the process will be exactly the same

https://youtu.be/-sY2azyLBuI

 

Interestingly enough, it doesn't rattle at all. It only clunks when I have my wheel turned hard right and going over a bump. And even then it doesn't clunk every time.

I had some front suspension work done a couple years ago by a big name chain... It's a very long story, but they messed some things up... bad. They fixed one thing, but I'm pretty sure it's their work that has got me to this point.

I'm out of work currently (thanks to covid - hence, the tight budget) and am doing my best to get this stuff fixed before it starts ruining other things.

 

^^THIS^^

 

As others have said: look into some 3rd gen takeoffs for the UCAs and shocks. You should be able to find some with low miles that will bolt in. I see them all the time in the for sale section here or on Craigslist.