MA70 OEM Suspension - Bushes, or Spherical Bearings?

[ed_jza80]

Just a quick question...

THe MA70 standard suspension arms, upper and lower... are they spherical bearings, pushed into the control arm, and sealed (like the jza80) or are they actually a bush?

from jza80 land, theres alsways confusion about 'upgrading' the bushes to some poly bush, when infact the arms all run on pressed in spherical bearings (hence why a- toyota doesnt sell bushes, and b- the cunts are tough to get out should you try)

now the MA70 arms look VERY similar, and i note that toyota doesnt list bushes, olny complete replacement arms... logical step is to say they also run a sealed pressed bearing... not typical bushes.

can anyone confirm one way or another? please reply only if you *know* the answer. internet chinese whispers is bad enough already.

cheers
ed

 

[IJ.]

Arms are all bushes

Rear upright has 1 spherical bearing the rest are bushes.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Arms are all bushes

Rear upright has 1 spherical bearing the rest are bushes.

As usual, IJ is correct. Imagine the frustration not knowing this, pressing the bushing out of the rear knuckle to replace with the energy bushings, only to find out you reuse that 50 dollar dealer only item. Yes i was pissed.

 

[IJ.]

Noticed this was posted over on SF and one of the resident genius's contradicted me hope Ed sees this first.

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

Considering that I had to buy new A70 upper arms because of worn bushings... Yeah. Plus the fact that although Toyota doesn't sell the bushings, Energy Suspension does. (Those kits became available less than a year after I bought new upper control arms.)

 

[nctexan]

Ok so is the location I've circled where the spherical bearing is located?

 

[Grandavi]

THat seems to be the only one without a bushing pointed at it. Very glad I read this because I plan on doing the same next year. I had thought they were all bushings

 

[gwumpkus]

ths is timely post! i was at the workshop when my mechanics were wondering why my replacement PU bushings were short a pair (the one circled above!) so we swapped eveything else in, except for that one... so theres no aftermarket replacement for that piece? i've now got one "weak link" in each knuckle.... thanx again..

cheers

michael

 

[Dan_Gyoba]

If it's a spherical bearing, then it's not a weak link.

I have a complete poly bushing set that I need to install... Good to know which one I should not replace.

 

[nctexan]

Ok to clear things up, I was ASKING if the item I circled in the detailed drawing was the bearing. You guys are taking it as though I was stating that it is the bearing. Can anyone confirm this is the case?

 

[IJ.]

Ok to clear things up, I was ASKING if the item I circled in the detailed drawing was the bearing. You guys are taking it as though I was stating that it is the bearing. Can anyone confirm this is the case?

No it's one of the 2 marked "bushing" it's in fact a bearing, the circled hole is for the arm with the ball joint end on it.

Another important point when working on these is to NOT tighten any of the factory bushings until the cars weight is on the ground or you'll tear the centres out in a month or so.

 

[supraguy@aol]

I assume we re all talking about the spherical bearing at the lower rearmost point on the hub.
Can anyone tell me the secret to removing this bearing, preferably on the car?
I tried using a 2 arm puller, but couldn't keep the puller stabilized. Do I need to remove the entire hub, and throw it on the shop press?

 

[7mgte88]

I assume we re all talking about the spherical bearing at the lower rearmost point on the hub.
Can anyone tell me the secret to removing this bearing, preferably on the car?
I tried using a 2 arm puller, but couldn't keep the puller stabilized. Do I need to remove the entire hub, and throw it on the shop press?

Wondering the same thing.... Girlfriend bought all new arms from Beech, that spherical bearing needs to go and be replaced with a bushing. ONLY because the other end of the Beech are is a spherical joint too.... I cant get that fucker out though. I had to cut almost all of the stock arms off.

 

[jdc4357]

I doubt you can get it out while on the car. I bought a 20 ton harbor freight press ($150 bucks with coupon) for this project and it took alot to squeeze one of those sob out. Also, you might as well take them all out, as a couple of mine were shot with 160k miles on them.

 

[destrux]

The easy way to remove the stock spherical bearing/bushing on the rear without pulling the knuckle off is to use a socket and an air chisel with a flat round bit. It comes out like butter. Took me about 15 seconds per side.

Then to install you just need a few washers, a socket, and a long bolt or threaded rod.... and you use the rod/bolt through the middle to pull it into the knuckle. Easy.

Thankfully the "torque it at ride level" only applies to the factory bushings, not the energy bushings (they aren't bonded to the sleeve like the OEM bushings). One of the reasons I like the energy kit... much easier to torque stuff with the wheel off in the air.

 

[nctexan]

No it's one of the 2 marked "bushing" it's in fact a bearing, the circled hole is for the arm with the ball joint end on it.

Another important point when working on these is to NOT tighten any of the factory bushings until the cars weight is on the ground or you'll tear the centres out in a month or so.

Ok, so then my diagram should look as follows:

Is this correct?

 

[jdc4357]

You have them switched. The green text is where the poly bushing goes, the red text with light circle is where the spherical bearing goes.

 

[Grandavi]

The TSRM has a line from the Bushing to the "light (thin) red circle" suggesting a bushing. The only one with no bushing with a line going to it is the thick red circle.. is the TSRM incorrect? lol
I can see how doing it yourself could get confusing.

 

[jnybbad]

I know this is old but the energy suspension kit I just got comes with poly bushing to replace that spherical one. Is there any benefits to using it?

 

[Backlash2032]

Thankfully the "torque it at ride level" only applies to the factory bushings, not the energy bushings (they aren't bonded to the sleeve like the OEM bushings). One of the reasons I like the energy kit... much easier to torque stuff with the wheel off in the air.

Can anyone confirm this? I'm doing bushings in a week or so and would prefer to only do it once lol