yeesh. im thinking of just going oem and calling it a day. I've learned my lesson on using aftermarket parts especially rubber things on my TSX. never again.

 

Mr. Alchemist, you sir are to be seriously commended. Using your downloaded guide, I tackled this project this weekend. While there, I also replaced the axle assemblies. Not a bad job at lol!

 

Good stuff, glad it helped.

 

Thanks!!! as I have a 2004 RX330

 

would it be advisable to change the engine mounts while there on a 200k mile car?
I don't think I'll tackle this job myself...

 

Motor mounts are actually easily accessible, if they don't show signs of leakage or tearing I'd leave them alone. LCA's are a bit of a job I did those a year ago

 

[Long post to relieve stress]
~15 hours is what it took me to replace the two control arms (no ball joints). Ran into multiple issues. @alchemist 's DIY was printed and by my side. Watched few youtube videos. There's a video by Harbor Tech guy or somethings that was pretty descriptive.
2006 RX400h. 197k miles.
Additional tips or differences for RX400h owners, ours replacements might be just a tad bit more difficult due to space:
1. Dog bone bolt removal (bolt around the circle closest to you/headlights). ABS actuator tube blocking the way, so you can't get a socket wrench on there. You'll have to use a wrench but will need some leverage. I didn't have a pipe that could fit through the wrench. Hence, I had to remove the intake filter/piping plus all the little bolts around the brake fluid reservoir remove dog bone circle closer to the passenger firewall. If I had a wrench with a metal pipe for leverage, I would've saved about 2 hours total. There will be other brackets that you'll need to remove before removing the dog bone, you'll see when you get there.
2. Read @iMSQ 's RX400h tip post on this thread that recommends removing two bolts on passenger side because a shock-looking thing is blocking the way of a bolt described in DIY guide. Without this tip, I don't think I would've continued the project.
3. Front motor mount nuts were 14mm. The nuts will need to fully come out. You can't really leave it hanging, I don't think.
4. When jacking up the driver side, the transmission/hybrid system will be tight. It's not for the faint-hearted.

General tips:
1. Impact wrench was useful. Some of the old bolts were tight. I bought a newer Kobalt one. They have "auto slow" and "hand tighten" modes now. What a time to be alive..
2. Have a metal pipe extension for stuck bolts. I had a 18" breaker bar and a ~24" pipe on top of it. So much easier where impact gun didn't fit.
3. Make sure to have wrenches, sockets, deep sockets in 10/12/14/17/22mm sizes. Torque wrench is recommended, as the torque ranges from ~48lb to 150lb.
4. Buy the OEM control arms if you can afford it and make sure it's from a dealer, not some old reseller. I tried to save $300, and it added 10 hours to my installation. ($400 vs $100 for the pair)
5. Wooden blocks can be purchased at Home Depot. $1.50 for 2ft and you can cut it into 3 blocks. I had a wood saw at home, but i'm going to guess HD will do it for free, maybe.

Why did this job take me 15+ hours where others have finished in 4-8 hours?
1. Crappy Delphi control arms from Rockauto. I think they sent me a returned item or Delphi control arms are crap. The box and plastic bag for the driver side was open when I was ready to use it.
1b. I think the rubber bushings are soft when manufactured and harden as it ages. Hence, my unopened passenger side flexed easy enough for me to set the ball joint bolts into the new control arm.
1c. The "used" control arm from Rockauto on the driver side wouldn't flex enough for me to put the ball joint bolts into the control arm. The rubber was definitely much harder. Had to go through all the steps multiple times in my head, and I didn't do anything wrong. Spent several hours to push down or using different positions, etc. It was already about 10pm, so I knew if I couldn't figure it out, I would just get a quick replacement from Autozone.
2. I couldn't find anyone online with the same problem online. I needed the control arm to lower 2 inches and then I could flex it one inch which is what I need for the ball joint bolts to go in. I put all the bottom of engine bolts back in and left the lower ball joint bolts still disconnected. I did this because the axle boot(?) was touching the control arm because the axle weight was flexing it down, i needed this up. I put the wheels back on both sides and lowered the vehicle back to the ground.
2b. As expected, that raised the axle boot away from the control arm. Still the ball joint bolts couldn't mount, i needed half inch more. So I raised the passenger side at the side jack points about 2 inches. It gave me the clearance. I went under the car, pushed down the on driver side control arm and was able to "rest" one of the ball joint bolts on the control arm. A big win. I then reraised the car, removed the wheels and used a rubber mallets to rest both bolts. The holes didn't line up perfectly, but it was close. I didn't really want to bang it and then I got another genius idea to moved the steering wheel to line up the bolts. I moved the steering wheel a little and noticed bolts were getting closer. I was on the right track, so I turn a bit more and the bolts dropped in. It wasn't a perfect match, but when I tightened one of the bolts, the other bolt lined itself up. After tightening these two, the top hole for the third bolt lined up perfectly, so I tightened that. DONE.

I test drove the car. The steering felt tighter. I think the "buttery smooth" one finger steering became a 2-finger process. No big deal. I don't have that occasional click when starting off from a light. I think it was my worn passenger side bushing. The old bushing bolt hole was disconnected all 360 degrees. :/
Got the alignment done. Front two toes were way off as expected. That was corrected. 4-wheel alignment was $65 at the local Good Years shop with a Groupon.

Overall, this job was a lot of work and the unexpected issues made me ponder about my life. Perhaps I should've been a doctor, a lawyer, or an engineer like my parents told me to be. I could've perhaps bought a newer car already. Alas, it's life.. I don't recommend this job if you haven't worked on a suspension before or only have minimal tools. It's a lot of work. I did it because dealer/shops were quoting $1300 - $2400, and my car is worth $2000 at the worst case scenario...

 

Nice man congratulations on getting the job done. I think a good lesson you may have learned is to stick with oem whenever possible... you can justify the price diff if you're diying it

 

Here's some good news and light at the end of the tunnel.

While the LCA's are a pain in the <you know what>, the next time you need to go in there for anything you'll do it in a fraction of the time.

Stuck & frozen suspension bolts are now freed up.
Also, you know what you need to reach the hard areas and have the tools in hand.

Just like pulling the intake plenum for the first time.
Lots of cussing and frustration, and maybe a few hours of wasted time.

The next time it's a 30 minute job to pull it. 🫸🫷💯

 

just an update. The Delphi control arm on the driver side kept on making a knocking noise on random turns from the start. After a 2-day 2-mile test drive, I didn't feel confident driving the car, so I decided to replace it with a Detroit Axle one from Amazon which had the fastest shipping possible. No issue with the new one. I did somewhat cross thread the one ball joint bolt, not the two nuts. It's pretty tight and the two nuts are good, so it should be good. I will replace the ball joint when it's time.
The Detroit Axle replacement was "soft" and bendable like Delphi probably should've been if it wasn't an old/return item.
Rockauto did give me a full refund plus the shipping fee, so I'm not too angry. Wish I had enough experience to know that Rockauto Delphi was an old stock and stopped the installation before I forced fitment.
I don't want to pay another $80 for alignment so I will wait until my next wheel balance later this year. Car drives the same (same slight right drift which I believe is normal).

 

I just ran across this post where you recommend the poly control arm bushings, which as you know I just installed. I was little worried where i read on some forum most likely here where a frequent poster stated poly LCA bushings are undesirable and leads to a terrible ride. I decided to go for it anyways being I've had great luck installing them on my Tundy and Mustangs.

 

Have you given the car a good test with the poly bushings? I've done a few things that are "supposed" to make the ride horrible - coilovers, a solid steering shaft, poly rack bushings and lower profile (255/45R19 tires) and it still rides great in my opinion. It still feels like a Lexus - refined and quiet. It has give still and is well-behaved over bumps, but it doesn't have the "cushy" stock feel that I was trying to get rid of anyway.

Surprisingly no complaints from passengers either!

 

Are the ball joints ,that people are referring to, part of the 'Anti-roll bar linkage'?

I had one replaced and now the steering angle sensor thinks there's a full turn on the steering wheel. The car drives completely normally.

 

No, but since they connect to the steering knuckle directly, the tie rods / rack are free to move easily even by hand via the knuckle when the ball joints are released. Nothing from the anti roll bar linkage will affect your steering or alignment in any way on this car

It's possible that maybe the rack was extended out and pissed off the computer somehow or maybe the ign was turned on during the procedure etc. Although I've never seen that happen on a non-hybrid RX, the 400h unlike normal RX330/350 has an electronic steering rack and different angle sensor, so maybe the data from the rack being extended out while doing the bjs was stored somehow. I'm just throwing things up in the air as I don't know much about the RX400h's rack setup. I would try a zero point calibration, it would be the same procedure for a 2006-2007 Highlander Hybrid, but I don't think you guys have those cars in the UK. Worst case scenario, the steering angle sensor can be accessed by pulling off the wheel and it sits attached to the back of the clockspring, held on by small plastic tabs

If there is no obvious answer, you may have some luck looking into what people with a similar issue to you do that have the 2nd gen Lexus IS (2006+), GS or LS460. Those cars use a similar steering rack to your car in the manner that the electric motor is mounted directly onto the rack itself, vs. the more common design where the electric motor is mounted to the column and the rack is just a basic, manual rack. That design is used on the newer 3rd gen Lexus RX and most other Toyotas now.