Confirmed. According to the Service Manual, the lower ball joint is the same for both coil-spring and air suspension.

 

Great news. I finished the install in about 2 hours. Special thanks to RKW for the DIY. I don't think I would have tried doing it myself without this thread. With the proper tools it is not hard. Thank you Tom as well for your advice.

I believe it has fixed the problem I was experiencing. I just came back from a 30 mile drive and I did not detect any pops or noises. The car feels better over rough road and at high speeds it is definitely smother. Less transfer through the column to the driver.

I also noticed something that may help others detect failing lower ball joints. My car would demonstrate the tendency to almost kind of stumble on itself when turning in a sharp circle. Like the tire was being pushed sideways a little. You could hear the tire on the concrete. Understeer might be the correct term for this. Anyway, she is not doing this at all now when turning in a sharp circle either direction. It is also not pulling and does not demonstrate any characteristics of being out of alignment.

The other weird thing is not related but I thought I would mention it nonetheless. When taking the large engine cover off to check the torque on my main steering rack bolts a large 5 inch bolt just plops to the ground. I had to just sit there a think for a min thinking I forgot something. Realizing it was not a bolt I had touched I started looking around and sure enough it had come out of my main water pump / fan bracket assembly. The bolt was just 1/2 an inch from my serpentine belt. I put the bolt back and torqued it as best I could. The Lexus dealer I purchased the car did the TB / WP job. That was a little shocking honestly.

Here is a pic of my old ball joints and the bolt in the bracket I am talking about. Overall, I am very happy with the results. Just goes to show that even if the boots are not broken and they don't move on the 12 & 6 test that they can still be bad or going bad.

 

Nice. Good to know, props Rkw, you too lav for trying it out and laying your feedback for future drivers reference. Way to go CL!

 

Sewell's site has 2 different part numbers for each side:

Passenger
4333059115
4333059125

Driver
4334059115
4334059125

The "59125" is about $17 more. Does anyone know the difference? Is one for the sport model?

 

Hooray, Lav... Congrats on a job well done, and thanks for sharing your experience.

Also, good thing for the big cover under the engine that captured your WP bolt. You could have easily lost it on the roadway and don't even know about it.

 

Good question, the "59115" is for LS430 manufactured before 7/2003; "59125" is for those manufactured after. My dealership asked for my VIN when I ordered mine. I'm sure Sewell can look up the correct part number for you over the phone with your VIN. You can also try this online http://www.lexuspartsnow.com/Page_Pr...er=43340-59125

 

Congrats on your DIY, Lav, and on your wise choice for doing the lower ball joints, not the uppers. The lower ball joints take abuse and wear - there is more overall movement on these ball joints than on the uppers too. I know what you mean by the full turn of the wheel, and that's what made me change mine. The ball gets worn in one specific area from bad road conditions on straight-ahead driving. When the wheel is fully turned while driving, a different area of the ball is under pressure, an area that is not as worn as that which is subject to driving straight-ahead. Hence the click or pop you hear as the pressure on the ball moves from the worn out area of the ball to one that is like new. There is a worn groove that develops on the ball from wear and tear.

Hope you show that pic of the loose bolt to your dealer. That's really disappointing.

 

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately, the dealer I purchased the car from is 600 miles away so I can't do much about that. Hopefully, it was just one bolt the tech forgot to torque down. Thanks to the cover I got the bolt back. I would have never known otherwise. It took about 37,000 miles for that bolt to vibrate loose and fall out. I'm still in shock thinking about it. If that would of bounced up when it came out it would of done serious damage slapping around between my fan and belt / pulleys. That bolt was 5 inches at least.

 

I think the bolt was never installed. The tech dropped it, and either: (1) forgot about it, or (2) didn't want to spend time removing the plastic lower front engine shield to retrieve it.

 

It definitely was not resting there there whole time. That cover has been off multiple times and as recently as about 10k miles ago. Unless it rolled somewhere and somehow rolled out. I don't know. It did not looked weathered or rusted so I think it was in the engine.

 

I guess that was not the water pump. It's that big old bolt. Idler assembly from what it seems like. This is good news.

 

great write-up.

glad you undertook it Lav, pretty easy with the right tools.

 

Hey guys. I went ahead and gave this DIY a shot, as I was having some odd suspension behavior.

I've been experiencing a clunking on my front driver's side when I hit bumps, as well as a creaking from the same area. I've also been experiencing the weird "stumble" that Lavrishevo mentioned when taking a sharp turn at a moderate speed.

Agreed with everyone else here that the DIY was relatively simple with the right equipment.

The end result is that I think I fixed my stumbling problem (at least I think based on the short test drive I took after), but the clunking and creaking are still there.

I noticed that when I moved my steering knuckle out of the way, raising and lowering it reproduced the creaking I'd been hearing.

I checked the lower control arm bushing and it looks brand new. Any ideas what the clunking might be? Strut mount perhaps?

 

endlink possibly?

 

There are two on the lower arm. The large liquid filled one goes first. Front sway bar bushing, tie rod ends and sway bar links all can make noise. From what I have learned is that bushings can look ok but be soft and worn leading to metal to metal contact. If your LCA has never been done before I would bet that is the culprit.