I checked the lower front ball joint this weekend and found
that there is free play up and down when the suspension is
loaded, about 1/32 or so maybe but you can visually see it.
Some people say that some cars have free play but I can't imagine
that should be the case.

How should I be checking this ? Should there be any free play at all?
I think that I will probably have to replace them.
Anyone ever done this ?

 

I just replaced the ball joints and tie rods on my wife 92 LS400. You do have play in them,do you get a vibration in the steering wheel. If you do and the wheel feels loose and the mileage is high 90 thousand they are gone. They are very easy to replace just 3 bolts and the nut. If you are going to replace change the tie rods at the same time because you have to remove them as well. The parts are not that much ball joints lower are $45 each and tie rods
$38 each, and you need an alignment as well.

 

Hey Stewart , thanks for the info.

I get a slight vibration in the steering wheel and hear "clacks" over bumps.
The ball joint moves up and down a little. and the car has 116K on it
I'm the second owner , bought at 96K.

The ball joint prices you stated is fairly inexpensive , I assume they are not
LEXUS parts because the quote from IRONTOAD LEXUS is $86 USD lower ball joint.
I've found parts on the net for $31.93 Beck/Arnley
But they don't show tie-rods available.

 

hey stuart,

on my '92 ls, during highway driving the wheel is very loose and moves on every little bump. About a year ago I had an aligment done and prior to that my steering wheel was tight, actually too tight. Ever since the alignment it is too lose and moves too freely on the bumpy roads.
You mentioned the ball joints, they seem fine. Is there anything that the alignment job might have loosen which would cause this problem and would getting another one solve it.
I will double check the ball joints with my mechanic, but is the bad alignment job a possible cause?

thanks,

 

I bought my front end parts from Carparts.com in fact i get most of all my parts from them. When i got the ball joints and tie rods outer they stated beck arnley. When i opened the boxes they where lexus parts in lexus bags with lexus part numbers on them. Maybe beck arnley get some parts direct from toyota,who cares the parts are half the price. A friend just ordered lower ball joints and outer tie rods he got e mail tie rods out of stock but have rest. He called expressautoparts.com they have the tie rods.

 

The only thing they do on front wheel alignement is toe in and that is corrected by the tie rods. If the wheel was very tight and feels jumpy when turning, and now is loose and sloppy and you drift in the lane. My buddys 93 LS400 is your cousin, it did the same exact thing. We put it on the hoist and the outer tie rods were bad the left was loose, the right was very very tight in the joint. When we replaced them the tie rod on the right side came apart in two pieces, you could put the stud back into the ball with your hand. When you had the alignement done did you tell them your problem, if so and you left with a loose front end you know it has to be bad. I would go to another shop and have them check it out .