hi all, just wanted to give you my 2 cents about my experience changing out all of the front lower control arms, sway bar end links, and tie rod ends on my 2007. i used autozone's Duralast brand for all of them.

first, here are the links to the components i purchased. what i like about Duralast is the limited lifetime warranty. if they fail again while i own the car, they can be returned to autozone and replaced for free. also, they claim to be ALL RUBBER, so no polyurethane. i figured that would translate to a more OEM-like feeling.

https://www.autozone.com/suspension-...97411_140912_0
https://www.autozone.com/suspension-...97379_140909_0
https://www.autozone.com/suspension-...a4907/697407_0
https://www.autozone.com/suspension-...a4906/697376_0
https://www.autozone.com/suspension-...sl901/480462_0
https://www.autozone.com/suspension-...sl902/480461_0
https://www.autozone.com/suspension-...829_38350_5770
https://www.autozone.com/suspension-...800315/55831_0

now for my review- the arms seem pretty stout and there were no issues getting them installed. the installation took about 5 hours total, so not terrible

disassembly wasn't too bad. i didn't remove any of the brake components, and they did not get in the way. the old tie rod was just hammered out, but i had to use this puller from Harbor Freight to pop the ball joint out of the rear control arm so it wasn't damaged. the trick with this tool is to slide it over the control arm down where the strut mounts, and then slide it up to the balljoint. it takes a little finessing, but it can be done. i'm sure there are other tools that may work better, but this was the only one i had quick access to.

the only thing i was hesitant on was the outer tie rods. they did not come with a castle nut (nor have the hole in the threads for a cotter pin), so that seems a little sketchy. however, i was reading that a lot of aftermarket tie rods are this way, so it put me a little more at ease. after you torque the tie rods (and using blue Loctite), take a flathead screwdriver or something similar to deform the threads above the nut. this will give you a little more comfort knowing that the nut will not loosen off. it probably wouldn't anyway, but i'm not one to take that chance.

torquing the chassis bolts wasn't hard either. after torquing all the bolts to the knuckle/control arms, i set the car on ramps and was easily able to access the two bolts connecting the arms to the chassis. i drove the car about 50-60 miles and then went back underneath to make sure all of the bolts stayed tight. all was good. i plan to keep an eye on them every oil change. it only requires a couple minutes of extra work to make sure they stay torqued since i do oil changes on the car ramps anyway. 0 extra time if you do it while the oil is draining

overall, i would suggest this route as the cost is significantly less than OEM arms, but we'll see how long they last. the ride quality is significantly better (not better than OEM, but pretty close. definitely much better than busted OEM bushings though). good luck and let me know if you have any questions

a couple of tips/tricks:

• i would suggest pressure washing all of the suspension components before doing the job. it was very dirty and greasy
• use some grease like this between the bushings and chassis. shout out to a Chris Fix YouTube video for the tip (comment below if you'd like the link). there have been NO squeaks after installation! just be sure not to get grease on any of the threads
• use blue Loctite on everything!
• if you're torquing the tie rods but they are just spinning, place a jack underneath the tie rod and put a little pressure on it. that should "lock" it and you'll be able to finish torquing

 

I'm sure you had it aligned?

My local toyota dealer replace the lower front arms on my LS460. They didn't see the L and R stamped on the casting and Murphy's Law happened.

 

wow, sorry for the bad luck. i can see how that happened. the alignment wasn't thrown off too bad, but i do have an appointment at a local shop tomorrow to dial it in

 

Damnnnnnnn great job and thanks for the parts list!