Changed my control arms 2008 sedan

[Toolaholic]

Originally Posted by seatech30

Just wanted to make a quick post. I changed both my control arms the other day, everything went smoothly, except for having to run over to O'Reillys for a ball joint separator, didn't have it, then Harbor freight to buy one for $20ish. Conveniently HF was on my way back to the house. Popped the joints just fine and figured smooth sailing now, then one of bolts required me to lift the transmission a bit to pull out, easy enough. The engine side decided not to cooperate, so I had to pull the engine side mount in order to lift the engine out of the way.


Everything considers, oversights, it went much better than I expected. I'd already done all my motor mounts before, so pulling the engine mount wasn't much trouble. Probably took me about 3? hrs overall, including driving. Could probably redo it in less than an hour now.

Parts used: MEVOTECH CMS86139 and CMS86138.

. Why did you replace them ? Bad bushings?

[seatech30]

Originally Posted by Toolaholic

. Why did you replace them ? Bad bushings?

One of the previous owners must have offroaded this car. Most of the suspension was crap, of course being my first time buying used, I didn't think to check the suspension, heh.

The ball joints were loosey goosey, and the rubber in the bushings were really cracked up. I had already replaced the stabilizers previously, and the owner before me did the struts and shocks.

I think I'll do the rear arm bushings next. When I took it in for an alignment the tech mentioned they would probably need replacing at some point, but were fine for now. I had already been contemplating switching them myself as they dont seem to be that cheap. I watched a few videos, and seems I should just need the spring tool, and the extractor and press tools, I'll make sure to get them from O'Reilly's before starting that job.

Also the bottom plate which connects to the control arms needs to be loosened and shifted over to correct the front alignment, but also will be fine for now. Both tires are slightly slanted to one side, car minimally pulls right.

[zoidberg444]

Originally Posted by seatech30

I think I'll do the rear arm bushings next. When I took it in for an alignment the tech mentioned they would probably need replacing at some point, but were fine for now. I had already been contemplating switching them myself as they dont seem to be that cheap. I watched a few videos, and seems I should just need the spring tool, and the extractor and press tools, I'll make sure to get them from O'Reilly's before starting that job.

I am in the process of doing my axle pivot bushes right now. I noticed my rear tyres had uneven wear on them (bald outer tread) and i could hear a clunking coming from the rear under braking sometimes. My rear shocks were cooked as well. Pressing the old ones out didn't go to badly. I used one of those Chinese ebay kits with the cups and the forcing screws. I folded the metal of the bush in the air chisel and the press tool budged them out. I was surprised considering how rusty everything was.

[seatech30]

Originally Posted by zoidberg444

I am in the process of doing my axle pivot bushes right now. I noticed my rear tyres had uneven wear on them (bald outer tread) and i could hear a clunking coming from the rear under braking sometimes. My rear shocks were cooked as well. Pressing the old ones out didn't go to badly. I used one of those Chinese ebay kits with the cups and the forcing screws. I folded the metal of the bush in the air chisel and the press tool budged them out. I was surprised considering how rusty everything was.

Thanks for the run down! I think I hear that same clunk as well. In my first yaris my back tires were constantly wearing unevenly. It wasn't until I took it into a meineke for alignment that they told me it needed shims installed. Something to consider. All the bastards prior to this (about 5 alignments) never bothered to let me know.