Old LS400's and safety !
 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...ml#post9610055

A guy at the end of this above thread mentions, a tie rod separation of some sort. I asked for more details. I wish we had a nice sticky for this sort of thing. To tell others what to look out for that could crop up as a major safety issue. And anything failing in the suspension can be fatal. So please if anyone has ever had a failure of any suspension component please let us know what it is and what happened to the part ie what broke? And of course what year car it was. Thank you all.

The 2-GS's had issues with ball joint separation. I don't recollect discussion of tie rod failures, there may be a few instances of ball joint failure.

All tie rods or ball joints can fail when allowed to. it's not a design fault issue, it's a lack of maintenance and inspection. Nothing more or less.

maintenance of tie rods and ball joints
 

What is the suggested maintenance procedure for the ball joints and tie rods?

This one is pretty good:
http://www.wikihow.com/Check-Ball-Joints

Tie rod end symptoms can also be alignment specs that don't hold. This can also be attributed to other worn suspension parts though.

http://www.agcoauto.com/content/news/p2_articleid/184

Wouldn't this fall under "common sense" replacements? What's the need for a sticky...

in the uk these are checked as part of the annual mot test, does america have this sort of inspection test?

There isn't, at this time. :)

Many states do have full vehicle inspections that look for exactly this sort of thing.

Others, such as my home state of California where rust is not really a concern, only tests for emissions.

We don't need the extra cost for inspection nor the intrusion and the extra time spent for it. At least some of us don't need it. What would be better is better control over the quality of the parts offered in the after market realm. All replacement suspension parts should be certified as safe. Meaning made properly and out of the correct materials and heat treat.

Not difficult to inspect which should be done at each service interval. Im a mechanic, ive never seen a failure due to seporation in person for any make. i have experienced tie rod failure in my s13s where the rod has folded up mid corner when drifting. Happened 3 times on 2 different cars. I have since corrected the geometary and upgraded to a larger diameter tie rod. Ive always felt that the taiwanese tie rods where not as strong as the nissan itrms. Never had a tie rod need replacing on any of my toyotas that ive owned.

of course this falls under typical inspections which should be done during oil changes.

the lower ball joints are more prone to failure so watch out for those. on my tacoma it failed after hitting an expansion joint on the freeway at 60mph. i'm thankful i was able to pull over in time with limited brakes and steering. i was also able to save the wheel and the fender wasn't affected.

what i failed to notice is that the truck had a hard time unwinding after making a turn, so i suppose that was the symptom of a failing lower ball joint. also of course the tires wore unevenly with occasional clunk and vibration...doh! don't let this happen to your LS!

Yeah not cool. And on an independent rear suspension it can happen there too, and can be worse when something happens in the rear way more likely to lose control, that is why the police pit maneuver works so well, when the rear end looses adhesion you've got problems, it becomes a huge battle not to spin out. Even an experienced drifter would have problems.

Did you end up changing both sides or just the one that failed.