I went to rebuild my idler arm to get rid of the usual annoyances, but forgetting one of the bushings at my house on campus made that hole thing stop. This may be good because the idler arm on my truck looks a lot different than the one in the write-up.

First pic is the write-up from Joe's truck:


Now my truck:


It sure looks like the pair of bushings that I have are going to have a hard time getting in there. Were there different arms for different years and would I be better served in switching to the "other" one for strength?

I have never seen anyone else mention such a thing. Interesting, to me at least.

That doesn't look like any factory Toyota arm. NAPA has a ultra-cheap one for $59 (I don't know what it looks like though), and a premium Beck-Arnley "555" unit for $120, very similar to the top pic.
The top pic looks like a Moog unit though, which runs about $95 at Pepboys. My guess is your's is not really serviceable.

I don't think I've ever seen one like yours on a Toyota. My 4Runner had one like the top pic and all of the Toy's I've seen have one just like it. Browsed Advance Autoparts online and got this pic-

I've never seen an idler arm like yours either. Mine was different and it looked like Little Joe's. I would replace it with the one like Little Joe's, that idler arm does not look strong enough...just my 2 cents. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

I agree. Definitely not a stock idler arm on your truck. At least not one I've ever seen has looked like that.

I would get a stock one at a junkyard and use the bushings you got to rebuild it. Much cheaper than buying a new one.

This is what mine looks like before SAS.
I can't get the arm off the tie rod so....um....shipping would not be a good idea.

http://home.earthlink.net/~audiorat1/images/ideler%20arm%20gutset.jpg

When I got mine last year, I started a post about this very same thing. old post The one you have is a TRW replacement arm, lifetime replacement warranty from advance auto. It is the one in the black and white pic above, it just doesn't look like the drawing. It's the same one I bought. It's been fine on my truck, except for the fact that the previous one I had on there (previous owners, and a TRW also) went bad in a way that is not normal for the much stronger toyota arm. It went bad (started wiggling, showed excessive play) in the area in your picture where the nut is. The bottom arm would wiggle in a way that was obviously not good, so I replaced it w/ another TRW. I figured since it only took me 20 minutes to change it out, I don't care if I have to do it even once a year for that price, hell, 50$ for 2 or 3 idler arms isn't bad!
Jason

Thanks for confirming my obvious conclusion.

I have worked on the truck before and have definitely looked at the idler before, but it never dawned on me that it would be different. I just always looked and thought, "Mmmm, idler."

If I had the luxury of living in Cali or elsewhere of size and warm climate, the yards might have Toys. Around here, any place within 2 hours is empty of idlers let alone Toys.

Solution is hit up local parts place and ask for something with a written lifetime warranty, then grease it up and bolt it in?

You need a tie rod puller...I have one if you need it.