Control Arms Replacement

[Grego 92]

I'm in the middle of doing this task. I ordered a "pair" w/balljoints included from ebay but was sent two that were both stamped "R" and I can tell the angles are the same, whereas the ones I removed are angled opposite and stamped "L" and "R". (I swear I tell myself to order from toyotapartszone or my neighborhood auto store but never listen to myself!) So, I'm waiting/hoping the guy sends me a "Left" and makes good.

My Balljoints were gone and all the bushings were either torn or mushy.

Anyhow, I have it all apart and kept on reading posts and came across this from Doctor J.

Originally Posted by Doctor J

FRED:
The caster shims are flat washers about 1 inch OD, 1/8 inch thick are located on the front sway bar in front of lower control arm big bushing.
Page FA 60 in Gen second manual Front end section.
NURON, my arms are the same but ball joints do not have boss on the top. Check the suspension for play as I suggested.
If there is no play ,make sure that you have shims at specified locations, and set camber cams on center position. If there is no shims, put washers 1/8 in thk (material steel SAE 1040).From this setting the front end could be aligned with ease.

Link to entire thread Just give me an alignment...

Is he referring to what I have pictured below circled in RED? Because I noticed I don't have those either. Do you need them to align correctly?

I do have the retainers that seemed to be made of plastic and a big ol' "cupped" metal washer inside of that.

[71Corolla]

If your car did not have the spacers originally, they you don't need them. I don't think the alignment is dependent on the sway bar so you don't have to worry about that aspect.

[atobe]

the affects the caster a little bit but shouldn't do much harm. i don't think i have that spacer either so no worries

[Grego 92]

Good to hear I may not need them. I just don't know if they were on there before (not original owner) and some mechanic took them off in order to attempt to align the vehicle properly to compensate for the bad bushings in the LCAs, the destroyed struts, or the bad inner and outer tie rod.

I typed my vin into the yotapartszone site and they came up as parts to my vehicle so I ordered them since they weren't much and I was ordering something else anyhow.