I won’t lie, I am a bit intimidated to tackle this job. Mostly because of how hard it will be to get the truck high enough to fit under and do the job. Also a little concerned about having enough room to torque everything up. I have replaced the front air struts before and that went ok minus me having to learn how to line up the lower struts bolts the right way.

If I did the air struts do you guys think I can pull off these lower control arms? The lower control arms I am looking at are already $350. Can’t imagine what labor would cost.

 

Plan a full day and be glad when it takes half that. They are not hard to do at all if the bolts come out easy. If they do not, have an electric sawzall and good Diablo blades or such. I found an electric one is 100x faster and better than any battery one for a job like this. So besides the arms, you want bolt hardware on hand too. So if the bolts come out of the bushings, pretty straight forward job and really not the hard. If not, more work.....

Besides that, there is not much to em. You do not have to raise any higher than you would to get a tire off. And you will need an alignment after. For lower arms I would only go with two options, Original OEM or Mevotech (Supreme grade). When I did my overhaul I went with "OEM" from LR Direct, which in theory was all OEM parts less the expensive LR stickers and stamped metals. Indeed, the bushings had the LR logos partially ground off. But I will say my uppers did not last super long, well one. The upper joint failed due to lack of grease. But he front lowers were the only part that was non-OEM, the Mevotech Supremes and they have been holding up just fine.... But I digress.... Some will also say to go with Meyle HD parts, but I have had a soured past with the Meyle brand and avoid it. Not sure if you can save any $ looking at those brands too unless that is what you already picked from.

And like with the strut bolt, make sure you set ride height with a tape measure before final toque. No need to have the tire on, can use a second jack to get the knuckle to ride height.

 

Agree with @DakotaTravler it's not too bad. It's crap if the bolts are rusted into the bushes, so do have a reciprocating saw handy with good blades. There's plenty of good resource on YouTube, just remember to set the vehicle at access height or you're in for an even more painful time (ask me how I know...). On parts, I also use LR Direct for pretty much everything; I haven't had trouble with Meyle, but I'd avoid Britpart anything. I got my last LCA from RockAuto.com - I don't recall the brand but I'm not sure I'd use them again having already had to replace one due to some play that was present after just a few months.