Funny you should ask I'm replacing mine because i'm such a cheep skate I wore my lowers out looking for new uppers @ a decent price...
so far... I've got the whole front upper and lower ball joint replacement (with alighnment) down to about $500.00.

"The best he is at what he does..."
wolver1ne

 

Since I have a lot more time than money, I took on the task to install the new bushings and lower ball joints on my 1990 LS400. My car has 165K miles. The old lower ball joints had about an 1/8th inch play in while the upper ball joint had no play. The upper control arm bushings were very worn and loose but I noticed very little play in the lower control arm bushing. I replaced the lower control arm bushing anyway since I am sure the Daizen bushings will last a lifetime as well as offer an improvement over the OEM. The improvement in ride and steering is very noticeable. Clunks are gone. Ride is very smooth.

A few things I learned in doing the job myself.

Don't try it without a Lexus repair manual. The repair manual is very straight forward and easy to follow.

Most of the bolts and nuts haven't been touched since the car was first assembled. I found an 18 inch cheater bar made breaking the bolts loose simple and saved a lot of skinned knuckles.

The upper control arm bushings are the easiest to replace as you just need to press the entire bushing out.

The lower control arm bushing is more time consuming. As the Daizen instructions state, you need to heat up the inner aluminum core of the original bushing until the rubber around it melts enough to press it out. I only had a propane torch so this took about 15-20 minutes of heating for it to start melting the rubber. As the Daizen instructions state, you will reuse this aluminum core. Once I got the aluminum core out, I just let the rubber in the bushing continue to burn and scraped as much of the rubber residue off as I could. The outer steel sleeve of the original bushing must stay in place on the lower control arm. I then cleaned all the left over rubber off by using my Dremel tool with a sanding wheel attachment. It took a while but I eventually had a very clean inside to the original bushing to then install the Daizen bushings on. This took me about an hour per lower bushing. I am sure others can improve on this by using a hotter torch. I liberally greased the bushings with the included waterproof grease which has to be the stickiest grease invented to date. (Don't want these new bushings to squeak.)

While I had the lower control arm off, I replaced the lower ball joints which takes next to no extra time. I got them on-line at Olympus http://www.olyonline.com/Lexus/lexus_catalog.htm
for $45 each.

Total time for me to do the first side was about 8 hours. Total time to do the other side (after learning from doing the procedure once) was 5 hours. IMO it was well worth the effort.

Regards,
Terry in VA Beach

 

Clark: thanks for the detailed description. I wonder what tools you use to press the bushings out.
tvd51

 

In my opinion, I did it the hard way with an air chisel. We just pressed on the lip of the bearing with a lot of force and eventually the bearing backed out. It involved a lot of sweat and effort.

In retrospect if I did it again, I would use a hydraulic press. As the upper control arm is a V shape, I would put a socket just slightly less than the outside diameter of the bushing against the center side of the control arm and use this socket as the base to press against. Then I would use a socket or short section of pipe just slightly larger than the outside diameter of the bushing and use this to press from the opposite side of the control arm down against the small socket which then forces the bushing up and out .

I can't tell if there was a slight taper to the control arm bushing. I don't think there is. If there is no taper, then it is just a simple matter to press the socket (slightly smaller than the outside diameter of the bushing) from the outside toward the center forcing the bushing out. Just make sure you support the control arm bushing area that you are pressing against as the upper control arm is fairly thin and looks like it could bend.

regards,
Terry in Va Beach

 

Thanks alot for the detailed description, now ill think about buying a press and a propane torch and saving myself the labor charge.

 

Perhaps you should try MAP gas instead of propane gas as MAP gas burns hotter.

 

can i get that gas from home depot or something??? also is it a hand held unit like the propane?

 

Yes, MAP gas can be purchased from any hardware store that sells propane. I even saw the bottles in WalMart.

Joe

 

This sucks they are on backorder..

 

Question: I noticed on the Daizen website that bushings are only available for the 90-94 LS models. I have a 95 and need some. Is this correct? Are these bushings for the 1st generation models only???

Thanks amigos!

 

Yup 1st gens. only.

 

Hang tight if you can...I had heard that they are R&D for the second gen. So hopefully we may see some in the coming year.

 

I've decided to wait for the Vlamos bushings. I understand Andrew is working to have the ls400 models ready to go in a few months. They're more expensive, but they're worth it. I'm not going with the hard plastic ones.

 

hello, if that happens great, its about time for the second gen LS, to get some of those poly bushings, keep us posted.

 

80 dollars shipped installed myself