“While I’m in there…?” going to rebuild the front, post-accident including new radiator and compressor. What should get addressed and upgraded?

[diesellord]

As the title eludes to, I got into a fender bender and took some damage to the front; bumper, hood, grill, radiator, lights, battery, you get the idea.

Now that the dust is settling with insurance, I’ve decided to go for a fix and rebuild- I found a great shop luckily. The prospect on starting from scratch sucked and this one is well worth saving. Mechanically should be all good, just radiator, condenser, lights, and cosmetics.

Questions- “While I’m in there fixing things…” any advice or recommendations while the front is pulled apart and the truck is on the lift?:

• Radiator: any strong opinions on brand or stick to OEM? Will replace all hoses and hose clamps with oem… Any other advice while this is flayed open?
• Front bumper and grill: this strikes me as a good time to upgrade to some more armor. Any advice?
• Any other convenient engine bay items to knock out?
• Deferred suspension maintenance: was eventually going to replace the lower control arms due to the bushing being shot (cheaper and easier than just doing the bushings alone tbh). What other front suspension parts should be swapped at this time?
• Side note: am also going to do the rebuild kit items for the UCA, ball joint, bushings, shocks etc.

I know may in this forum have a lot of experience diving deep into their GXs and I’m the same way- I’ve put many miles into this one and want to keep it alive for many more! At 180k miles now. Thanks!

Ps: I can post a pic of accident gore if anyone is curious.

 

[aztoytec]

I can’t say enough about the CSF radiator. All aluminum, holds more coolant and transmission fluid. Little pricey but well worth it. Bought mine through Summit Racing. Part # CSF- 7215. Bolts right in with no major modifications.

 

[Rednexus]

Another thumbs-up for the CSF from me. Much better than the OEM radiator, well worth the $500. Quite a few of us are running them now.

 

[diesellord]

Thank you both for CSF radiator. Will add that to the parts list. Assuming this is a straight bolt-on replacement?

 

[Rednexus]

Yes, the CSF is 100% bolt-in. I like mine so much I also recommended them to my wheeling buddy - they make one for the Jeep JK too.

I'd also replace the UCAs (along with the LCAs) along with sway bar end links and bushings. Much easier to just R&R as opposed to fighting with pressing out bushings and ball joints, which will double the labor to save a few dollars in parts. Then you'll have a 100% new front suspension.

However you would not want to upgrade your front without the rear being in good shape too. At 180K your rear shocks, control arm bushings, sway bar end links, track bar bushings, and sway bar bushings are probably also worn (you can check by inspecting the bushings and seeing if they are cracked). Those components are all relatively inexpensive from Toyota or they are very cheap on Rock Auto. I would again recommend buying complete arms/bars with as opposed to attempting to replace the bushings in the old bars.

 

[diesellord]

Thanks Rednexus! I’ll give the radiator a shot.

Noted on all the front suspension items. Luckily I have Total Chaos UCAs and they have a bushings kit (and uniball) which looks pretty easy. Will replace all the end links and remaining bushings however.

I nearly attempted to only do the LCA bushings, even had the parts. Luckily I found a thread on here about the costs of the whole LCA vs pressing the bushings and aborted the whole “pressing” mess!