I did read your first post carefully many times, and thanks for providing such good information. I understand that the ball joint and lower arm should both be replaced together because the sagging bushing in the lower arm has likely damaged the ball joint.

What I don't have clear in my mind is do I need to use a new '98 ball joint with a new '98 arm, a new '01 ball joint with a new '01 arm etc? Or can I put in a new '98 ball joint with a new '01-'05 arm? The reason I ask is that I already have ordered new '98 ball joints, but want to upgrade to a new '01-'05 arm. Make sense?

 

Ahh ,now that you word it differently i understand what your saying.
I have never switched them , the easiest way is to ask a dealer for part numbers and compare the ball joints to see if they are the same . I am pretty sire the balljoints are just the rods are not.

 

OK, thanks. I appreciate your help.

 

i think and im not 100% so dont quote me.....if u ordered them for a 98 from a dealership u WILL GET the 2001+ ball joints as they the corrected ball joint for our gs

 

Don't post rumors sak , if you think you might know then compare the part numbers and let us all know with facts .
That is the point of this thread to dispel rumors and guessing.

 

I had RCAs made for my car (99), but had to slightly modify them in order to fit the new sets of balljoints I installed.

For comparison sake...
Left ball joint part number:
1999 GS400: 4334039345
2001 GS430: 4334039415

If you try to put in the part number for the old ball joints into carson toyota's website, it'll tell you it's superseded by the new part number.

 

Parts superseded all the time in numbers but are the exact same numbers to start with. Strange but not the best way of telling for sure if it has changed .

 

brilliant input exactly what u were explaining my 98 gs is doing and went to the shop the other day and they told me the bushing were shot! just ordered some from tm and hoping to get them soon so i can put them in at a shop buddy only charging 250 for all the install of the front bushings, lower ball joints and tie rods and steering rack bushings cant wait.. car sounds hurt and i dont even wana drive it like that

 

Glad to hear .
For all those wondering if they can check it without going to a shop I just thought of an idea of DIY'ing it at home.
You need a friend to help and a ruler.
With the car on level ground measure the tire distance from the edge of the chrome strip ( as this is almost the middle of the tire and gives and easy point to measure for comparison on both sides of the car ) on the bumper and lower fender cladding. So place the ruler running from the back of the car to the front and see how much mm is from the leading edge of the tire to bumper and then the same on the trailing edge is from the cladding.

Now that you measured left and right side on level ground in park put the car in drive while applying the brakes ( not parking ,it is off) and measure it again.
Finally put it in reverse and measure it again.

The first measurement is just giving a baseline but the drive and reverse one is giving you a caster/thrust measurement which gives you an idea of how much deflection the suspension is going out of alignment when driving.

It will not matter what wheels and tires you have as the difference is what we are after.
As i changed mine already i do not have the before or bad info to give , so when you do this in about 10 minutes post up the results.
It is not an exact science but gives you an idea of whats happening in regards to caster.

 

Nothing is ever certain unless we actually take apart the joint and see for ourselves or actually ask Toyota what they did and why. Exact Motorsport ran into the same complications I had when they created their RCAs. They had to modify all their RCAs in order to fit over the current balljoints. Something tells me Toyota changed something within the joint itself, otherwise it wouldn't warrant a part number and physical change. Every single joint I've replaced on the older 98-99 looked slightly different than the new joint. The 00/01+ joint looked the same however.

 

Hi all,
Just did the daizen urethane front control arm kit for my '03 GS430. But I had a question about the Metal Housing that goes inside the new Bushing for the Caster Arm(Control Arm), the Big Bushing. The inside of the Metal Housing has two different ends, one end is more narrow than the other end. Wondering which is the proper way it goes in? The Narrow end pointing down or up?

 

Here is a pic I found, not sure why the bushing is red?? But this the bushing I'm referring to, the Metal Housing that goes inside it. This housing from Daizen has two different ends, which side points up?

 

It's red because they were pre-production.

 

If your talking about the metal sleeve that goes inside the bushing and the bolt goes thru, I believe it only goes on one way. the other way wont fit properly. It has a counter bore on one side and that end goes towards the top.

 

esolo98, thanks for the reply.

When you're saying Counter Bore, if that's the end where the inside is wider than that's the way I did it.

I was hoping I did it wrong b/c I still hear some noise from the front end and only have a few of the benefits mentioned. I did do an alignment too. The noise I hear now isn't metal on metal anymore though, oh well, I'll live with it. Also my highway vibration is the same or worse. So far not happy with the results: bruised arms, greased finger tips, cut up hand and all I have to show for it is a little better handling.

BTW my car is completely stock, except for the Daizen Control Arm Bushing and Steering Rack Bushing.