imherenow

more specific left rear lower rear most control arm..so how hard is it to change. havent done anything like this before.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

New bolts/nuts and the control arm. Air tools are a most, most likely a torch too to hear it up.

I did mine and canadian weather doesn't do any good to these parts. Out of the four foot long bolts I had two snap, so I bought new ones from Lexus before hand since they wouldn't budge at all! About 12$ each.

imherenow

$12 each? for lower control arm?? thats no where I am seeing it online. Which Lexus dealer did you get it from.
umm not sure if i can DIY this

PuReChaos

I believe he meant $12 for each foot long bolt. That would be ridiculously cheap for a lower control arm.

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

I ended up 'ebay special' -ing the control arms, since rockauto didn't have two of the rears in stock when I needed them done, and the other two were on backorder... So I found some toyota parts dealer out of Montreal that sells Taiwan made aftermarkets for about 120$ to my door for all four.

I don't expect quality but at least got a one year warranty. One of them was slightly tweaked after the winter so he sent me another as part of the warranty.

And OEM is soemthing stupid like 150$+ per arm... no thanks.

And yes, those foot-long bolts were 12$ each. Like I said two broke and I reused the original two.

imherenow

i talked to the dealer and they now said that the other control arm also need to be changed since its closer to the already bad arm and kinda close in proximity. Also need need to order those nuts and bolts like 01LEXPL mentioned. And removing it will require intensive labour. .. all that = $$$.

msekanha

I'm assuming you need the "Front" rear lower control arms (non adjustable).

The hardest part of the job is removing the long knuckle bolt that slides into the spindle.

Most likely, the knuckle bolt will be damaged from trying to remove from the spindle, so it
is best to purchase replacements.

Unless you can get ahold of an acetylene torch. That will provide enough heat to remove
the bolt without damaging it.

Also, the rear cross-member will have to be lowered to remove the upper control arm bolts.

Other than that, it's not too hard of a job

imherenow

ya one of them is the "front" lower arm. Also my friend recommended a local service shop that he goes to and he has some nice cars, so i will give it a try but was wondering my car has automatic headlight leveling (AHL). So if the service guy doesn't do a good job then would it affect the AHL to go malfunction.

Megafast13

Huge pain removing the old ones. It is nearly impossible to take it off correctly. However the newer brands make install a breeze. They go for about 60 bucks and a lifetime warranty. Start with bolt buster for the job.

Power6

I have to do my arms soon, at least I think I do a couple of them are a bit loose and I have a "sway" in the rear end.

Is this an easier job if you just go ahead and cut the stock bolts with no intention of re-use? I'll just buy all new. Or are there some challenges beyond that.

What do you mean by upper, we have a strut suspension the only arms are lower, did you mean inner bolts? You can avoid that by cutting them right?

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

^ definitely, if you can get in-between. My mech just hit them with heat, but a cutoff wheel would do the same.

Megafast13

Yes, highly recommend saving the headache and cut/torch them off which is basically required/recommended by most mechanics.

imherenow

i just booked my date with the dealer. i went to the private mech that my friend recommended and mann he was smart. i was scared to take a lexus to a local shop. @ first he test drove for like 7mins. i told him there is no need to take for so long. anyways he then said brakes need to be checked . as soon as he said that boom i said "goodbye" . my brakes were changed last year , rotors and pads on all 4 wheels. And there was no need to touch the brakes.
I told him its the lower control arm but even with driving he was not 100% sure. i was like wow.
So after that i just gave up and will take it to the dealer. Sure it was just one shop i went to. But i dont want to shop around all day . just takes to much time.
Hopefully then will give me a NEW ES as a loaner

imherenow

Well it wasn't the control arm as they mentioned but a height sensor that was stiff. That was weird finding because the noise surely seemed like it was control arm. Oh well the noise is no more tho.
Finally they gave me a new ES as loaner car. i knew if i pushed hard they would give me. anyways i drove the car and i really liked it. It was basic trim package. few things i noticed :
- when on cruise control on hwy on a downhill slope i noticed that at 60 mph the car speedometer would still continue to. i was shocked because thats old school. My volvo never did that . No matter what slope it is , once certain cruise speed is set it should maintain it. But on the new ES. very surprised
- the glove compartment is weird and small i mean the space is basically occupied by the fat owners manual and there is hardly any storage left.
- the seats are damn good and supportive. i liked that a lot. Never felt tired or slippery.
overall for the time i had i really liked it ..i took some pics:

msekanha

To be honest, I don't think it will make the job any easier to just simply cut off the stock bolts because you still have to knock the 12" long knuckle bolt out of the spindle and that's the most pain in the *** part of the job.

Regardless though, I would pick up some new knuckle bolts because you will most likely damage the ones
you're trying to remove out of the spindle. The bolts were pretty much seized in my spindles.

If you're going to attempt this job, it definitely helps to soak the knuckle bolts in penetrating oil a few weeks prior to the repair. Also, having an acetylene torch will make the 12" long knuckle bolt easier to remove from the spindle. A MAP gas torch should work fine too.


Haha i'm sorry, let me rephrase. I meant to say the upper bolts to the control arm.

Keep in mind that the upper bolts to the control arm are inserted and removed towards the front of the vehicle.
The passenger side lower control arm will me more tedious to remove, because you have the gas tank blocking access to the upper bolt of the control arm.

The rear crossmember and exhaust will have to be lowered in order to gain clearance to that upper bolt.
You COULD cut the upper bolts to the control arm to make the repair a little quicker, but you still have to lower
the crossmember and exhaust on the passenger side to re-insert the new bolt.

If you want to avoid lowering the rear crossmember and exhaust all together, you could insert the bolts towards the rear of the vehicle, however, I believe Toyota designed the bolts to be removed towards the front of the vehicle for safety precautions. (I guess in the event if you were rear ended, Toyota doesn't want those bolts to puncture the gas tank)

This repair sounds very tedious, but it's not too hard to perform. The only pain in the *** part of the repair is removing those 12" knuckle bolts.

Good luck.

I'm not too familiar with the AHL feature, but i doubt that the AHL feature will be affected in the event you receive a half-assed control arm job..

I would definitely take the vehicle to a shop that's familiar with Toyota suspensions.