Front Differential Bushing Replacement - the Easy way! (1 Viewer)

[Joe422]

I am jealous of you guys with shop air compressor set up. I can do most of the stuff with my battery powered impact but air chisel isn't an option

I Just used this... Relatively cheap. Under $200 new.
Use it for stuff all over the house. Lightweight and stores away nicely with small footprint.
Handles the air chisel easily.

 

[suprarx7nut]

I am jealous of you guys with shop air compressor set up. I can do most of the stuff with my battery powered impact but air chisel isn't an option

Having shop air has made so many tasks far easier I can't even count. A heavy duty impact is amazing and even though some of the electrics are rated up to 1300 ft-lbs I don't think they offer the same ooomph as the big boy pneumatics. I had to just rail on the crank bolt of my 7M a while back. Full power, 110 psi, holding trigger for 10 seconds before it moved with the Earthquake XT or whatever I have. Pretty sure no electric would do that.

Air chisel has come in handy more than once. Then there's all the spraying I've done. Filling up tires, play toys, air ratchet on hard to reach exhaust bolts, etc...

If you wrench at home, a decent air compressor and tool set will change your life.

 

[vman07]

I recently used a good ole' hammer and chisel remove my diff cover bushing. I notched the metal bushing sleeve in four place and just started chiseling away. I only needed to get the bushing chiseled out about half way out (180 degrees of the 360 degrees). Once you get it started with the chisel, you can just pry out the rest instead of chiseling.

Just my experience, I don't know that I'd buy an air chisel for this job alone...

 

[Mike NXP]

I was able to sneak in some thick gasket material between my front bushing and mount to help diagnose, the clunk is gone, so now I need to do a real fix.

Can anyone chime in if it's worth fighting that front bushing out or would it make sense to replace the entire mount w/ bushing

>>After doing some digging I think the entire mount w/ bushing is about $150 Toyota part number 52380-60030

>>Whereas the separate parts are only a few bucks cheaper.

So I guess the big question is what's easier

 

[gregnash]

Scarier job than it really is. Just take your time and do it... air chisel/hammer makes the job a breeze as you slowly work it down, but once you hit a point it literally comes out in seconds. I think when I did mine I spent the majority of the time fighting it the first 1/4 to 1/3 of the way out, which was probably a good 20 minutes, then after that it just about fell out.

 

[suprarx7nut]

I was able to sneak in some thick gasket material between my front bushing and mount to help diagnose, the clunk is gone, so now I need to do a real fix.

Can anyone chime in if it's worth fighting that front bushing out or would it make sense to replace the entire mount w/ bushing

>>After doing some digging I think the entire mount w/ bushing is about $150 Toyota part number 52380-60030

>>Whereas the separate parts are only a few bucks cheaper.

So I guess the big question is what's easier

I replied to your youtube comments, but I think I understand a bit differently here. I think you have the rear arm mixed up with the front bushing.

The common failed bushings are the front lower and the side arm. The side arm is only available from Toyota as a preloaded assy with the arm/bushing ( 52380-60040 ). The front lower is available as the individual bushing ( 41651-60010 ) or the full assembly with the diff cover (multiple part numbers). If you want to do the full assembly, you will be removing the diff cover. I would not do this. Just fight that lower bushing out on its own.

The 52380-60030 part number is for the rear arm. In my experience (a 99 with 280k miles and an 06 with 218k) the rear arm was fine both times. The other bushings were terrible. The little pucks (stoppers as Toyota calls them) never looked too bad, but they're cheap enough that I think it's silly not to replace them while you're in there.

Does that help?

 

[Mike NXP]

I replied to your youtube comments, but I think I understand a bit differently here. I think you have the rear arm mixed up with the front bushing.

The common failed bushings are the front lower and the side arm. The side arm is only available from Toyota as a preloaded assy with the arm/bushing ( 52380-60040 ). The front lower is available as the individual bushing ( 41651-60010 ) or the full assembly with the diff cover (multiple part numbers). If you want to do the full assembly, you will be removing the diff cover. I would not do this. Just fight that lower bushing out on its own.

The 52380-60030 part number is for the rear arm. In my experience (a 99 with 280k miles and an 06 with 218k) the rear arm was fine both times. The other bushings were terrible. The little pucks (stoppers as Toyota calls them) never looked too bad, but they're cheap enough that I think it's silly not to replace them while you're in there.

Does that help?

For sure that helps alot , been digging into this today and just trying to verify part numbers

My budget will dictate just doing the fronts for now, and based on your input sounds like I've got the two part numbers needed for that .

Maybe just suck it up and replace the side arm assembly as well but the piggy bank has been low

As for fighting the bushing out VS replacing the entire assembly up front , your advice sounds good just deal with replacing the bushing.

Thanks man

 

[gregnash]

I replied to your youtube comments, but I think I understand a bit differently here. I think you have the rear arm mixed up with the front bushing.

The common failed bushings are the front lower and the side arm. The side arm is only available from Toyota as a preloaded assy with the arm/bushing ( 52380-60040 ). The front lower is available as the individual bushing ( 41651-60010 ) or the full assembly with the diff cover (multiple part numbers). If you want to do the full assembly, you will be removing the diff cover. I would not do this. Just fight that lower bushing out on its own.

The 52380-60030 part number is for the rear arm. In my experience (a 99 with 280k miles and an 06 with 218k) the rear arm was fine both times. The other bushings were terrible. The little pucks (stoppers as Toyota calls them) never looked too bad, but they're cheap enough that I think it's silly not to replace them while you're in there.

Does that help?

Plus the little pucks actually don't require any special removal. Just unbolt the arm and pull the bolt and you can remove the puck and replace. This was the first thing I did on mine to see if it would help. It did slightly, the major bushing was the main culprit.

 

[Mike NXP]

Plus the little pucks actually don't require any special removal. Just unbolt the arm and pull the bolt and you can remove the puck and replace. This was the first thing I did on mine to see if it would help. It did slightly, the major bushing was the main culprit.

Copy that, worth a try before getting to crazy as that sounds pretty straight forward.
Thanks for the advice

 

[suprarx7nut]

For sure that helps alot , been digging into this today and just trying to verify part numbers

My budget will dictate just doing the fronts for now, and based on your input sounds like I've got the two part numbers needed for that .

Maybe just suck it up and replace the side arm assembly as well but the piggy bank has been low

As for fighting the bushing out VS replacing the entire assembly up front , your advice sounds good just deal with replacing the bushing.

Thanks man

Sounds like a good plan. The side arm can be done later if needed. It's totally exposed and accessible once you get the skid plate off.

 

[OEMGUY0720]

Helpful thread. Will be doing mine soon as I got all the part numbers verified here and on a different thread (I just cant find at this moment) so I’m checking in here.

Will be doing the front front passenger side for now since that’s where the clunk is really prevalent shifting from P to R to D and back.

partsouq:

So to put the new front PS bushing is done using a ball joint press?

 

[MJK]

Good info here and here. The front pillow mount on mine was bad, as was the lower drivers side one (check it with a prybar). The rear one was fine. If were to do it again I would do the superpro poly lower and OEM front pillow only. I noticed a big improvement in ride quality over small bumps and a more direct steering feel - definitely worth the hassle.

An air chisel and a ball joint press make the job a lot easier.

 

[FilleFloe]

I've checked partsouq diagram, and am i correct with that, you can buy the two arms with bussings in, and then you only have to press one bushing out?

 

[2020 Rocks]

I've checked partsouq diagram, and am i correct with that, you can buy the two arms with bussings in, and then you only have to press one bushing out?
View attachment 2342664

Yep, that’s what I did. Arms partsouq, Febest for front bushing and rear PS upper bushing.

 

[OEMGUY0720]

@MJK thanks for the link appreciate it man.

 

[Guido02]

Is there any specific reason not to just remove the whole diff cover to replace that bushing?

I don’t have a chisel but I have a 20 ton press so I know I can pop that bushing out with ease. I’m also changing the diff fluids as well, so I figured with it drained it would be straight forward to pop the whole cover off.

Doesn’t look like there’s a gasket or anything.

 

[2020 Rocks]

Is there any specific reason not to just remove the whole diff cover to replace that bushing?

I don’t have a chisel but I have a 20 ton press so I know I can pop that bushing out with ease. I’m also changing the diff fluids as well, so I figured with it drained it would be straight forward to pop the whole cover off.

Doesn’t look like there’s a gasket or anything.

Removing that bushing is not that bad. If you have an air hammer, easy peasy. I did not and it was only 20 minutes or so. I used a ball joint press to seat new lower bushing. I'd much rather do this in situ than drop diff lower to access from diff cover bolts, etc.

 

[gregnash]

Is there any specific reason not to just remove the whole diff cover to replace that bushing?

I don’t have a chisel but I have a 20 ton press so I know I can pop that bushing out with ease. I’m also changing the diff fluids as well, so I figured with it drained it would be straight forward to pop the whole cover off.

Doesn’t look like there’s a gasket or anything.

Time savings really... keeps you from having to drain the diff, work to remove all the bolts, etc., put on a bench and do it. @2001LC has done both ways and really it all depends on your capabilities.

Plus I was able to purchase a small air hammer from HF specifically for this job for less than $20. But really that only works if you have a compressor.

 

[2020 Rocks]

Thinking about it some more, you could always pay a shop to do just the front bushing, shouldn’t cost much, then do the arms yourself, which are stupid simple.

 

[Guido02]

Anyone have the torque specs for the support arm bolts?