Had to put new lower control arms on my sisters Highlander last weekend. Finshed the job this weekend. Interspersed with having the half shaft come apart at the transmission (was able to get it back together, added grease, replaced clamp, hoping for the best) and having to replace the oil pan (had to lift engine to remove mounts to get to control arm bolts, oil pan freakin bent) it was a great time. I forgot to mention having to sawzall ball joints apart because the nuts were totally rust. All of this in the cold with snow. Finishing up with new rear (transverse V6) valve cover gasket tomorrow. It should be illegal to have this much fun. Thing has 250k on it (it used to be my moms), they need a new car. Brother in law wants to wait a while longer so he can get something “brand new and really nice.”. When I got air plenum off today to start on rear valve cover gasket I noticed high pressure p/s hose starting to weep. Additionally, timing belt interval is coming up in 6k miles and tires are cupped as heck. I’m just doing this to get it past inspection (failed for control arm bushings and leaky gasket dripping onto exhaust) to buy them some time. Book time for new control arms is 13 hours (book says “remove engine and transmission” as step one), so clearly Im saving them a ton of $$. Just frustrating to see them spend their money on other crap when this car is totally at the end of its rope. Anyway, rant over. Hope anyone working on their cars on the east coast these past couple of weekends is doing it in a garage. (edit - Mod).
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