Toyota 4WD/IFS Idler Arm Upgrade, Part 1

Rebuilding a Toyota 4WD/IFS idler arm with bronze bushings. On the Toyota 4WD pickups/4Runners/Hilux/Hilux Surf models with independent front suspension (IFS), the steering idler arm is one of the most common parts to fail in off road use. It takes the brunt of the steering force and with the front tires pulling in 4WD mode, those forces can be high enough to bend or break that arm. Having plastic bushings inside allows for more flexing of the shaft as does having a smaller dia. shaft. So replacing the idler arm with the largest available shaft dia. as well as high strength aluminum-bronze alloy bushings will give the idler arm the best chance to survive the demands of off road driving. We originally selected the McQuay-Norris FA5040 idler arm for this upgrade as it featured the larger 20mm dia. shaft and had sufficiently high quality machined finishes to handle the high precision bronze bushings. Later, this model changed to use a smaller dia. shaft and poor finish. Then the ProForged idler arm came along that had similar dimensions. We adapted out bronze bushings to fit the "L" model with it's slightly smaller bushing ID as well as the "zerk" model which uses a slightly thinner flange thickness. These seem to be the strongest commercially available idler arms and coupled with the bronze bushings, that gives as strong a setup as possible. There are custom fabricated idler arm replacements that cost 3-4 times the price of this off the shelf setup. Web page with more information: https://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/... On-line round "beam" stress calculator: https://www.easycalculation.com/engin... More to come... Be sure to rate, comment and share And as always, thanks for watching Intro: Louisiana Fairytale by Austin Rogers