Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Who has replaced upper and Lower control arms on a Tacoma

With aftermarket units? What brand and how did it work out?

Going to replace ball joints, bushings , shocks on my 2006 Tacoma. Was wondering if it would be just better to get the UPPer and Lower arms already equipped with such. I need to add a heavier coil in the front because of the steel bumper it has in place. I have the truck leveled right now.

not sure on ball joints....but this link will help you out with shocks & coils.....

I added OME 886 coils to my '14 Taco.....

already had 5100's all around.....

also added ARB bumper & winch that was an extra 200#

https://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/c50/Tacoma_2005-2015_Front_Suspension.html

Thanks,

The SPC arms look real good. Truck has 116K on it, will do all this stuff in September as soon as I get the frame painted and bodywork done on it.

I would go with factory ball joints. I keep reading that they last the longest. My three 3rd gen 4runners had ball joints that lasted over 200k. I replaced them all with factory. Pretty easy job with torque wrench, impact wrench and a rented front end tool kit from Advance Auto parts.

OEM Toyota stuff is very good. My only concern is the steel bumper adds at least 100+ pounds to the front end and I have the front end leveled. I believe I need some heavier coil springs , not to mention new shocks all around.

If possible, I would replace the bushings on the A-arms rather than go to aftermarket, "loaded" a-arms that (usually) include the ball joints too. So much of the aftermarket parts are Chinese junk. It's a crapshoot. You might get good stuff, but........

Example is Moog started outsourcing to Asia a while back. My own experience and the internet says the new Moog steering/suspension parts are now a crapshoot too. Mevotech has their TTX line, and Proforged is supposed to be good also--I just put Proforged upper ball joints on my truck to replace Moog's that lasted 25k. In fact the passnger side started showing movement at 10k. Toyota parts are probably the best bet.

I didn't fool with ball joints or arms, but I recently swapped the front coils and shocks on my Tacoma for some heavy-duty Old Man Emu units to support the 200lbs of bumper and winch I added. I ordered them already assembled and the install was simple with a couple of jacks and jack stands. There's a great video on youtube. I got about 2-2.5" of lift in the front, so I installed a front diff-drop and a 2" rear lift.

off topic but sweet looking truck and very nice garage Tikka...

I am admiring garages these days, because I am in real need of a nice garage and shop combo.

+1 on the chinese junk. I might just replace the upper control arms and make sure the ball joint has a zerk on it.

I would still keep the OEM control arms. Usually bushings last a long time. If the rubber isn’t cracked they are probably fine. Replace the ball joint instead and keep the OEM control arm is probably the best bet.

Damn you are trying to save me money

I know you're a Yota guy........have two Tacos in my garage I built 5 yrs ago

white '05 & Pyrite '14 (6MT) money well spent on garage 30x50' double insulated walls (R38+)

ceiling R19 Radiant NG heater 24 gauge steel sheeting......money well spent

Moog ball joints are what a very reliable Toyota mechanic told me...Moog is what they replace them with although I don't know if they are rebranded or not...

Looked at it some more this weekend, once I get done fixing some other issues will do that when the weather gets a little cooler

It's pretty hard to beat the JBA for the price, they use chevy ball joint and are easy to change out. I have the SPC's, They keep getting knocked out of alignment. If I was do to it all over again, I'd get the Icon delta joints.

Stay away from the 5100/OME lift kits. Mine sucked, I replaced it with new coil overs after they failed at less than 10K miles. The 6112 is a much better kit IMHO.

I am going to have to tag this post. Thank you