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We got this going on now. Only on the front left, however. Front right looks normal. I'm sure i can attribute this to the bushings. Or is my alignment just oddly off on one side? I think i will rotate the tires and see if it happens again/rotate them until all 4 have the weird wear and then do the control arms and tires...
We got this going on now. Only on the front left, however. Front right looks normal. I'm sure i can attribute this to the bushings. Or is my alignment just oddly off on one side?
IMHO LCA... I would replace both (since engine will be lifted)
IMHO LCA... I would replace both (since engine will be lifted)
If your balljoints are in good condition, I'd remove both A-arms & press out the oem bushings & replace them w/ Whiteline's bushings. http://tirerack.com offers them.....
Took it to mechanic for regular maintenance and of course the bushings were now torn through, hence the tire wear. Don't have time to do it myself so $2,121.06 and an $150 alignment later and we have new front lower control arms at 109k miles. It does ride a little better/tighter. They did tell me the front and rear struts are worn and there's a valve cover gasket leak + PS rack leak too. The things that can show up in a mere 5,000 miles! May do shocks + struts myself at a later date and just monitor the leaks. Stuff is too expensive now.
Took it to mechanic for regular maintenance and of course the bushings were now torn through, hence the tire wear. Don't have time to do it myself so $2,121.06 and an $150 alignment later and we have new front lower control arms at 109k miles. It does ride a little better/tighter. They did tell me the front and rear struts are worn and there's a valve cover gasket leak + PS rack leak too. The things that can show up in a mere 5,000 miles! May do shocks + struts myself at a later date and just monitor the leaks. Stuff is too expensive now.
That price tells me the shop dropped the cradle & that would be the time to replace the rack as it would have been right there as well as doing the front struts.. My wife <3's this car, so decided to throw money at it to fix, what I thought was a t/c seeping/leaking (drop the engine/cradle'' to reseal the t/c, nope turned out to be a oreilly reman p/s pump(installed a few yrs ago), leaking down the A-arm & passenger side cradle, so now have a reman oem pump & no leaks. I also had them replace the plugs w/ Denso iridium plugs that I brought w/ me. I also had the front struts replaced w/ kyb's using the oem springs. So IK it costs some $, but this vehicle is worth putting $ into vs other vehicles.
This is one of my Moog control arms after a month of me installing it. I'm pissed to say the least, it looks worse than the 2-year-old ones I put in my Highlander that were just cheapies. The other side is better but is still showing some cracking. I used factory torque specs and pre-loaded suspension before torquing.
Mechanic put MOOG control arms in. We'll see how they hold up. I will be very pissed if they dont. I guess the one upside of throwing the wallet away going the mechanic route is there's a warranty. They did in fact drop the subframe, of course. $$$$. Should've thought to do the struts then... but of course they wouldn't mention that because they get more money from me if they do it separately, later! No matter how much of a relationship i build with a mechanic, i know the antics never stop. I'm plenty mechanically inclined, just did full front brakes and hub service on my 91 Land Cruiser. Just don't have the time for that kind of thing with the RX as it's my sister's and she can't deal with the downtime of my leisurely pace.
This RX... we bought a year ago now. Full interior teardown by me to fix bad sunroof leak and wet carpets, full fluid service and timing belt... now control arms and 4 struts + valve cover gaskets in the future. Bad bad luck for a car bought to keep maintenance down. Only 110k miles. Looks like it'll be staying in the family longer than we thought, lol. It has never left us stranded though and i don't think it will. The Mercedes it replaced liked to break very expensively... this car is just suffering from old age syndrome.
I am a new member, just got a 04 RX330 with 103K mile passed down from family. I have a similar findings on the mechanical side of the vehicle as 91Cruiser. Read your post #22 and I also had the leak issue on the sunroof ended up just caulking the top and removed the fuse location 48 in the fuse box. the wet floor part I am planning to shampoo the carpets front to back and hopefully that resolves the leak and the carpet smell. I haven't looked at the control arms so I am not sure what condition they are in. The back Strout's are showing wear on the boots and looks like they may need to be replaced but I haven't had any bad response on them while driving. I am planning to replace the spark plugs, PCV, and throttle body clean soon. to get to the back 3 plugs you need to remove air intake and several other items YouTube has a nice video showing the process see link below. I never tackled a control arm job before so I am not sure if that's out of my league, plus if you need special tools like a press arm to remove the old bushing and install the new one. any suggestions?
Read your post #22 and I also had the leak issue on the sunroof ended up just caulking the top and removed the fuse location 48 in the fuse box. the wet floor part I am planning to shampoo the carpets front to back and hopefully that resolves the leak and the carpet smell.
Oh yeah, especially if using MOOG control arms.
They are only approx $100 each from Rock Auto lol
I could make a killing doing nothing but water pumps, timing belts, and lower control arms at the prices members are reporting.
As posted above, I dont remember having to drop the engine cradle for this job and it's only a 10 minute job to do this and drop 1/2" for clearance if needed- not the big job they make it sound cuz not removing the cradle bolts but rather just loosening the 2 rear bolts a little to drop it for clearance.
I have lowered the engine cradle a little for clearance bt I think it was for the transmission mount on driver side while jacking u engine too, can't remember now- maybe I did it for control arms too.
I never tackled a control arm job before so I am not sure if that's out of my league, plus if you need special tools like a press arm to remove the old bushing and install the new one. any suggestions?
have a good day
Fatola
Your best off taking the A-arms to a shop to press out the old bushings for new poly bushings. If your having a shp do the work, I'd ask them how they'll remove & install the A-arms.....If they mention drop the whole cradle, I'd say thanx & pass....
When I need to replace the bushings, I'll get a pr of poly bushings pressed in to replace the oem ones.....Seems like the rear bushings are the wear point & not the ball joints & the front bushings.
06-16-22, 01:47 AM
Update!
