When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Im wodering,I see cressida uses the same bushing and hunting those down,poly only,they say they fit lexus up to year 2000? (never mind,another site has listed only to 94 lexus) Wonder if thats the case? Are these bushings different over the years or just different part numbers?
TAB-176RUB is a Febest number, Toyota/Lexus doesn't have one (for the older cars at least). Mine is '92.
I have a couple of those Febest bushings coming in this week (they were pretty cheap), I'll compare them to mine and keep yall posted.
Arms are different for the 1st gen cars unfortunately. Nowhere near 177$, and can't find bushings anywhere...
After looking at my New control arms, it had a bushing part number 48702-50030 and I found this site that has the correct pivoting style ones like OEM if anyone just wants to do the bushings to save some money.
How have you guys gotten the rear upper ball joint off the hub? Most of the way there with the rear suspension (air struts off, all the links off, driveshaft out of the way, upper ball nut off), but none of my ball joint remover tools don't seem to cut the mustard because of the tight spot its in.
@JiiKoo
Either you take the rear muffler and the drive shaft out of the way or you take the hub (axle carrier) with the upper control arm off of the axle.
If you go second route you will most likely break the 2 screws/bolts (7.8Nm) of the parking brake cable that is connected to the rear disc brake caliper dust cover.
Last edited by plexus914; Jan 8, 2021 at 05:49 AM.
Even if you were able to replace just the bushings, you still wouldn't be able to replace the ball joints independently right? Since they're apart of the control arms?
Even if you were able to replace just the bushings, you still wouldn't be able to replace the ball joints independently right? Since they're apart of the control arms?
You are correct so just replacing the bushings is a waste of time IMO since surely the ball joint is worn out also.
sha4000, no can do, when there are no new control arms...
The ball joints were ok to my surprise. Took the rubbers off, cleaned the old grease off underneath and reapplied some SKF LGMT2 grease. Not as sturdy as factory fresh I'm sure, but no play what so ever.
Originally Posted by JiiKoo
TAB-176RUB is a Febest number, Toyota/Lexus doesn't have one (for the older cars at least). Mine is '92.
I have a couple of those Febest bushings coming in this week (they were pretty cheap), I'll compare them to mine and keep yall posted.
As to this topic, TAB-176RUB's (meant for '94 onwards) would do nicely, BUT they're ,7mm too narrow (radius). The lenght is the same.
If they were couple of mm's narrower, I could machine a spacer in between the control arm, and the outer casing of the bushing itself, but 0,7mm would be almost impossible (,35mm wall thickness).
Ended up using Renault/Nissan trailing arm bushings 7700418941 / 77 00 424 399 / 54560 00Q0A because of it's almost identical size.
It's the closest I found as for size, material thickness etc., but still required some DIY'ing.
0,7mm needed to be machined out ~23mm's down top. The hole also needed reboring for 14mm bolts.
Sandblasted and repainted the arms of course...
7,5mm thick spacers needed to be machined to outer sides, where arrow is pointing.
Also 1,5mm spacers needed to be added to each outer surface of bushing while installing, so tightening the bolt wouldn't bend the structure on the rear axle.
This is the best rubber alternative I could come up with for now, poly-bushings are not an option for me, since they suck when it's -25c and the road surface resembles a teenagers face...
Hey Jiikoo, how does the rear end feel after installing your modified pivot bushings? I have a 91 LS that needs the bushings and I made the mistake of thinking I would get the correct size after ordering "problem solver" brand bushings. I only found out that the inner bushing sleeve is way too big after taking everything apart, so it looks like your method may be the best possible option. Boring and shimming send straight forward enough, but did you have any trouble turning the OD down given that they want to pivot?
My experience is that AMYAMA sells OEM parts unless they tell you otherwize.
I have only bought OEM from them so far and they have delivered parts I have been happy with in original Toyota/Lexus packaging.
Sometimes they have shown alternative non oem parts but they were clearly indicated as non oem alternatives (cheaper).
Here is a great solution for your UCF10 rear upper control arm ball joint. This is not my work, I am copy&pasting this from a Facebook LS400 Drifting Group. Credits to original user who did this and posted it is Jake Burton.
"Here is a solution for the rear upper ball joints. Lexus will only sell the complete arm as an assembly, meaning when the upper ball joints go bad, the arms are trashed.
However, you can use 2005-2015 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 front upper ball joints to replace them.
The only mod required to the arm is grinding /filing down the cup that the ball joint gets pressed in to, by approximately .030" to .060" (/1millimeter)
This can be accomplished with a flap disk on a grinder or a file.
This has to be done for the snap ring to clip into its groove (the flange where the Tacoma ball joint sits on the top side of the arm is slightly taller, not allowing for full protrusion of the snap ring groove)
The ball joints share the same taper and overall length as the OEM. It's also greasable.
Hey Jiikoo, how does the rear end feel after installing your modified pivot bushings? I have a 91 LS that needs the bushings and I made the mistake of thinking I would get the correct size after ordering "problem solver" brand bushings. I only found out that the inner bushing sleeve is way too big after taking everything apart, so it looks like your method may be the best possible option. Boring and shimming send straight forward enough, but did you have any trouble turning the OD down given that they want to pivot?
Hi, only driven it for ~500 miles after replacing, so cannot comment on the longevity... But as for the ride, it's clearly a lot better, but I'm only comparing to bushings that were so worn out, they actually made a minor clunk on sharp compression changes.
Now the rear feels tighter for sure, and the Renault/Nissan Bushings that I've used are doing their job just fine.
Now I'm onto air suspension woes... (Lines are ok, bags are ok, control valves are ok, but one corner at a time it decided to empty itself... But that's another topic, I'll keep ya'll posted somewhere else if something potentially useful comes up...)
