dc893

Will NOT buy again. The pin that goes through the castle nut rusted and broke so the castle nut slipped off all the threads. This resulted in the LBJ coming off of the LCA. Initially these looked like they were good quality, however I have had these on the car for less than a year. I am just thankful that this happened in a driveway going 1MPH.

Now in the process of trying to get it temporarily put back together to get it moved out of the way. The castle nut will not go back on because all of the threads are stripped and no local parts store has one in stock.

LScowboyLS

no one ever listens to me when I repeat over and over to use OEM parts!

when you start buying aftermarket on stuff, it becomes less and less a Lexus!

dc893

I would have thought they would be better quality than other aftermarket ones. Made by Senkei 555 in Japan. I got the nut to go back on so it is reconnected to the lower control arm. Got it to go in about 4 threads worth and got the car moved out of the way. When I get the new one in I will post some pics of what it looks like.

Dranom

iTrader: (7)

Damn sorry to hear

dc893

Thanks. Glad they didn't fit yours, if I remember correctly you ordered them and they didn't fit. I think it may have been a 1 in a million failure because I've never heard of something like that happening and as far as I can tell the passenger side one is still good.

Dranom

iTrader: (7)

So i guess changing the pin to stainless steel will solve it?

dc893

Might, looked like it was stainless when I put it in though. I will take a closer look at it once I take it out(hopefully tomorrow). My guess is the pin broke and the nut worked its way off. It never made any strange noises or anything though. I also just greased them a couple weeks ago and nothing looked out of the ordinary.

dc893

Here is how it actually popped out. Just got that nut on temporarily to move the car a few feet. That is as far as I could get it to go back on.

HHHHMMMM the wheel looks cracked in this pic. Guess I got something else to check.

Shmee

iTrader: (3)

Who installed the parts and when?

Dawa

iTrader: (5)

gotta say the 'strictly oem only' is pretty ridiculous.
1, aftermarket parts can meet/exceed oem quality
2, not everyone can afford oem
3, oem parts fail as well. everything can fail...

how bad are the threads?
try going to oreilly or similar and finding a die to clean up the threads enough to further engage the nut


i am also curious as to the in installation

just checked the fsm for my sc300 and the torque spec for the nut on the lbj is 92 ft lbs.
at 92 ft lbs im very surprised that nut came loose, i feel the nut was not actually torqued to spec.

LScowboyLS

perhaps on some cars this is true, not on LS400

please give examples of LS400 parts other than the battery, oil, oil filter, or tires where aftermarket meets/exceeds oem quality - you can't, because they don't.

hey, I am as frugal as anyone, I would use aftermarket on anything/everything if the quality was there. It isn't. Usually not even remotely close.


I also share some concerns about the OP's installation though, this sounds much more like a case of not being installed correctly in the first place, or caused by some previous modification to the car (lowering, etc.) rather than a defective part.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

sounds like it wasn't tightened on properly in the first place.

the cotter pin is the fail-safe.

Dranom

iTrader: (7)

Yeah it might not be properly torqued?
OP did you happen to use a torque wrench and what torque specs?

Shmee

iTrader: (3)

That's exactly what I was thinking.... In all my years as a tech, I have never seen a cotter pin failure cause a ball joint separation if it was torqued properly in the first place. In fact I have never seen a cotter pin failure if installed properly. Typically you have to over torque any nut with a castle nut to get the holes to line up, so I'm guessing that it was never torqued properly or was but then was backed off to get the cotter pin in....

Not the part but the installers fault is the most likely chase of this.

dc893

Just got home and I got it taken out and checked the castle nut. Ball joint threads look fine. Checked the castle nut and about half the threads are gone.

As easy as it would have been to just blame the part on an internet forum, I will take responsibility for my mistake on this one, there is just no other way to look at it.

I would have though at some point it would have felt differently or made some noise or something to indicate that was happening under the car though. I've also had the front jacked up quite a few times and checked for play and found none.

I did check the other side and it was tight. I have no idea how I missed that, and I am fairly pissed off at myself at the moment. I would normally consider myself more careful about these kind of things.

After taking it apart the only reason for not putting it back together is when you try to put a new castle nut on the ball joint just spins so you cannot tighten it back up and I guess the threads might be damaged a little, so its probably just safer to put another new one on.

Once I get the new part in I will probably go ahead and triple check the other side again to.

Guess I will catch some S*** on here for this one. At least I know when to admit I messed up, I guess.

Edit: The wheel was not cracked, just looks like it in the pic for some reason.