2004 RX330 73000 miles. questionable history. the car was not particularly well taken care of by the previous owner(s)

my lower control arm bushings are tearing. i need to replace them, but i'm wondering if i'm better off replacing the whole arm right away, and if so is it something i can do at home or does this require serious work?

i have minimal experience working on cars, but i do have an understanding of how these things work. i spent a couple years working on motorcycles so i am comfortable with a wrench.

thanks.

 

I would just order the whole control arm at Rock auto...at $33.00 an arm I'd say that's a good. Not to hard to replace them too.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...trol+arm,10401

 

In order to remove the lower control arm, one of the bolts is covered by an engine mount which has to be removed. If you have access to a lift, it will make the job so much easier. There are places that will rent you a lift by the hour. You will have to raise the engine and remove the engine mount in order to access the hidden bolt. This requires removing the dog-bone strut on top and also the front engine support.

 

I will go out on a limb and say you need to replace the whole arm. I recently replaced mine (04 330) at 93000 miles and service history showed they had been replaced under warranty at 20,000 so not a very long lived item. My mechanic told me you replace the arm, not the bushing. Similar experience on a V6 Camry I had... arms had to replaced, not the bushing.

 

LCA bushing @225,000 km now has cracks for years, no clunking noise but plan to replace all four bushings in the near future. I know there is a bolt hidden under the engine mount.