Whitey
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Hey all,
After doing some maintenance on my IFS, I thought I’d remove all the cam adjusters and bolts and anti-sieze them, but I discovered I was already too late, and the cam adjuster tubes had siezed to the bush crush tube on both sides.
If you want to get the front end aligned properly again, this means cutting through the adjuster tube at both ends of the front mounting frame to be able to remove the arm. There are already several good threads on cutting and removing the arms and pressing bushes in/out, in chronological order;
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-adjuster-bolt
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-fleeced/page3
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-GXL-V6/page10
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...ng-replacement
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...ng-Replacement
I used 1mm grinding discs to get into the tiny gaps at either end.
Once the arm is removed, you can press out the old bushes with a bottle jack and press in the new bushes. As you can see in the photo below, my bushes were covered in surface corrosion, and the big bushes were very hard to remove, and required knocking down the front flange and belting it in to remove as much seized surface area as possible. I also punched in through the hole on the back of the ring eye housing.
In the next photo you can see the inner adjuter tube seized to the bush crush tube.
The condition of the rear bolts was pretty ordinary as well, with a lot of sand in there and the corrosion had started pitting the bolt.
I decided to get new OEM bushes and adjusters/bolts as I’m not keen on poly bushes in the lower arms. Around $700 for all new gear from Toyota.
The perspective I wanted to emphasise in this thread is the critical step of anti-siezing all the new adjusters and bolts to make sure this never happens again! I completely filled the bush crush tubes with anti sieze, and also completely coated and filled the front adjuster tube, and coated the front and rear bolts. I then pushed the filled and coated adjuster tube through the front bush, and you can see in the photo below that this pushes out a big plug of anti-sieze. This is what you want to see to make 100% sure that every space in the assembly is completely filled with anti-sieze.
I used Penrite Copper Eze. I’m hoping it not only prevents seizing again, but also minimises water intrusion.
I also sikaflexed up both ends of the bushes so that water can’t get in between the ring eye housing and the bush sleeve. I ran a bead next to the flanges, and another bead at the other end where the bush sleeve and ring eye housing gap is at its largest. That gap is big due to the reducing diameter of the bushes so you can press them in easily. I also coated the inside surface of the ring eye housing with anti-sieze before pressing in the new bushes.
I’m hoping the combination of the above steps will prevent the adjuster tubes ever seizing again. If they do sieze again, I’m hoping the bushes will press out more easily with minimal water getting in. There are no guarantees with the above preventative steps due to the design of the front Toyota adjuster assembly. It’s a bad design full stop.
After speaking with a wheel alignment tech, they mentioned they have seen Prados/Hiluxes etc. in with seized adjuster tubes with as little as 2 years of age on them. Beach work and sand is obviously a big problem. He also mentioned that he has seen a lot of mining vehicles with the same problem.
Now that I’ve had a wheel alignment done, I will also clear silicon around the edges of the adjuster cams front and back to try and prevent any water getting in.
From a maintenance/prevention point of view, I will be checking my adjusters much more regularly, even if it means getting another wheel alignment. I definitely don’t want to do this job again! Just undo the bolts and check the front adjuster cams rotate freely and independent of the arm/bush.
This is a big job to do, lots of cutting, pressing and anti-siezing, and I owe John up at Zordos a huge thank you for using his skill and knowledge to get those big corroded bushes pressed out!
Keep an eye on those adjuster cams!
Best
Mark
After doing some maintenance on my IFS, I thought I’d remove all the cam adjusters and bolts and anti-sieze them, but I discovered I was already too late, and the cam adjuster tubes had siezed to the bush crush tube on both sides.
If you want to get the front end aligned properly again, this means cutting through the adjuster tube at both ends of the front mounting frame to be able to remove the arm. There are already several good threads on cutting and removing the arms and pressing bushes in/out, in chronological order;
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-adjuster-bolt
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-fleeced/page3
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...-GXL-V6/page10
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...ng-replacement
http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...ng-Replacement
I used 1mm grinding discs to get into the tiny gaps at either end.
Once the arm is removed, you can press out the old bushes with a bottle jack and press in the new bushes. As you can see in the photo below, my bushes were covered in surface corrosion, and the big bushes were very hard to remove, and required knocking down the front flange and belting it in to remove as much seized surface area as possible. I also punched in through the hole on the back of the ring eye housing.
In the next photo you can see the inner adjuter tube seized to the bush crush tube.
The condition of the rear bolts was pretty ordinary as well, with a lot of sand in there and the corrosion had started pitting the bolt.
I decided to get new OEM bushes and adjusters/bolts as I’m not keen on poly bushes in the lower arms. Around $700 for all new gear from Toyota.
The perspective I wanted to emphasise in this thread is the critical step of anti-siezing all the new adjusters and bolts to make sure this never happens again! I completely filled the bush crush tubes with anti sieze, and also completely coated and filled the front adjuster tube, and coated the front and rear bolts. I then pushed the filled and coated adjuster tube through the front bush, and you can see in the photo below that this pushes out a big plug of anti-sieze. This is what you want to see to make 100% sure that every space in the assembly is completely filled with anti-sieze.
I used Penrite Copper Eze. I’m hoping it not only prevents seizing again, but also minimises water intrusion.
I also sikaflexed up both ends of the bushes so that water can’t get in between the ring eye housing and the bush sleeve. I ran a bead next to the flanges, and another bead at the other end where the bush sleeve and ring eye housing gap is at its largest. That gap is big due to the reducing diameter of the bushes so you can press them in easily. I also coated the inside surface of the ring eye housing with anti-sieze before pressing in the new bushes.
I’m hoping the combination of the above steps will prevent the adjuster tubes ever seizing again. If they do sieze again, I’m hoping the bushes will press out more easily with minimal water getting in. There are no guarantees with the above preventative steps due to the design of the front Toyota adjuster assembly. It’s a bad design full stop.
After speaking with a wheel alignment tech, they mentioned they have seen Prados/Hiluxes etc. in with seized adjuster tubes with as little as 2 years of age on them. Beach work and sand is obviously a big problem. He also mentioned that he has seen a lot of mining vehicles with the same problem.
Now that I’ve had a wheel alignment done, I will also clear silicon around the edges of the adjuster cams front and back to try and prevent any water getting in.
From a maintenance/prevention point of view, I will be checking my adjusters much more regularly, even if it means getting another wheel alignment. I definitely don’t want to do this job again! Just undo the bolts and check the front adjuster cams rotate freely and independent of the arm/bush.
This is a big job to do, lots of cutting, pressing and anti-siezing, and I owe John up at Zordos a huge thank you for using his skill and knowledge to get those big corroded bushes pressed out!
Keep an eye on those adjuster cams!
Best
Mark
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