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2002 Camry XLE, 4 cylinder, automatic, anyone done the front lower control arms on one of these? Labor guides say over seven hours, is this accurate? We've done them on Camrys before, but not this year's model, and the labor wasn't close to that.

Thanks.

It says that much on my end also. I've never done them before but I would quote that

welcome to the world of ???????? cradle has to be either dropped or lowered. there is enough movement on the sub frame so the car needs to be either aligned after or the cradle moved and secured by where the toe and camber readings sit on the alignment screen. replace as units don't replace bushings. it's been my experience if it's not it will become a returning night mare. another tip, replace the strut mounts. if you don't the customer may, will, might, return with the "same" noise. you'll be hard pressed to convince them it's the mounts not the bushings. we follow the "nike" suggestion.

Mark F spoke to someone at Toyota, they said 3 hours per side.

they may claim it takes three hours per side but i do it in far less time and charge 7.2. years ago i purchased a cradle that would bolt on to strut mount studs and had 5 anchor points, four adjustable engine anchor cleats on slides. it cut the transmission removal time for ford front wheel drive cars in half. i took that principal and with about 50 bucks of steel from my stock suppliers and 25 bucks of hardware from lowes made a smaller version that supports smaller cars. if i tried to use the big one the car would be so nose heavy it would tip on the lift. . with these supports i can remove all mounts, supports, cradles and anything i don't want to remove stays right there. i can even slide engine around in the cavity to make bolts, brackets, etc more easily accessible. drop cradle and have at it. you'll be surprised how light the cradle is. don't toss it aside you may twist it.

The first one you do takes awhile. But after you've done it once, it's not that bad. You got to hang the engine and drop the subframe. If you're only doing one side, I would get more than 3.0 hours. Doing the second one is cake after getting the subframe down - so might as well do both. Recommend an alignment after your done - its gonna be off.

crmeyers wrote:The first one you do takes awhile. But after you've done it once, it's not that bad. You got to hang the engine and drop the subframe. If you're only doing one side, I would get more than 3.0 hours. Doing the second one is cake after getting the subframe down - so might as well do both. Recommend an alignment after your done - its gonna be off.

couldn't agree more. alighnment recommended after replacement is a nice way of putting "if you don't yer screwed" the bolt holes aren't as precise as you would expect from yoda. i've had these in my shop and had a bear of a time getting them reset to find the car had hit a decent bump or parking lot bumper. is sub frame is dented or shows heavy signs of asphalt plowing i would strongly recommend replacement. if you have a good amount of these in your customer base it wouldn't be a bad idea to fabricate a cradle. it's really not that difficult. all you really need is a band saw and drill press. hand drill and sawzall is fine. all you need is two pieces of square steel and some threaded rod. the one i use i purchased for front wheel drive fords. it bolts onto the strut supports and is a breeze once it's secured.