martinfl

Greetings to all!

Just joined and have a question about replacing the lower control arm assembly on my 08 ES350. The shop manual I purchased has me removing the engine assembly transaxle and taking the engine mounting insulator off. This seems a bit over the top to me. Is this really necessary? Would explain why Lexus wants to charge an arm and a leg to take care of it.

martinfl

Thanks for your reply! No, I'm not sure that the bushing is in tact or not. But I figured if the ball Joint is shot, then the bushing can't be far from being due for replacement. The car has had this issue for a while, seems I bought it that way.

martinfl

Thanks Ricknee, do you happen to know the MTBF for the engine mounts? My ES350 shows 78k on the odometer.

oldgrump

Just because the ball joint is worn I would not assume that the lower control arm will soon require replacement. How did you determine that the ball joint is shot? What is the issue with the car?

chuyrobles

Replaced LCA's on wife's 07ES350. Bought a LCA kit from macautoparts.net - LCA parts came in a box labeled O.E.Brand (fpd.com). Kit was $144 and included both sides LCA with pressed-in bushings, ball joints, sway bar links, and tie rods.

Took me about six hours to replace both sides. This included replacing the ball joints and a cleanup job on the pass side from when the VVT oil line burst two years ago and caked the undercarriage with motor oil.

I had replaced the pass side wheel bearing and knew it might make the job easier to remove the CV axles, but turned out they don't have to come out to replace the LCAs. You do have to lift the engine up about 3 inches on each side to remove the engine mounts blocking access to one of the LCA bolts. Also loosen the upper strut shaped like a dog bone on pass side. A BJ fork and a 2-3 foot pry bar are the only specialty tools you'll need.

I used a LCA thread in another forum as a guide to remove the LCAs: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/10...s-oh-my-2.html