Good Morning Club Lexus,

I'm getting better at checking threads prior to posting however, I could not find a really conclusive idea on this. I need new upper control arms for my 2001 LS430. This is a sub question here, I'm not folly certain on the package of my car. I have the massage seats in the rear and the cooler, factory shades etc., then in the front I have the buttons for "sport/norm", "high/norm" for height, and the "power/norm" button. So, do I have an Ultimate Luxury Sport? Mainly, I know that the replacement control arms ask about sport packages. I think mine is sport? What are the best aftermarket Upper Control Arms as, I don't think I can afford OEM, well at least I don't want to spend the money for OEM if there are effective, compatible, aftermarket options. After Lexus quoted me a little over $2,200.00 for the job, a shop I trust quoted me just over $1,000.00 using Mevotech upper control arms. Please share experiences and thoughts on Mevotech or other aftermarket replacements. I don't want to skimp on my LS430 at all. But for parts like this I feel like an aftermarket may be appropriate. Please let me know your thoughts.

Oh! One more question. Any other things I should do to the front end while getting the upper control arms replaced?

Thank you for your time.

Respectfully,
Nate

 

Don't worry about the SPORT package. The Sport package had firmer bushings, but as old as your car is, just get whatever. I would skip Mevotech ($61 a side from RA) and go with Moog ($75) a side. If you're just doing the UCAs, this is a very doable job and $1,000 is a bonkers price. You could do it yourself for $150 in parts, even if you have to buy the tools you could save a ton of cash.

Depending on the mileage, you might need other parts... LCA bushing, tie rods, sway bar bushings...

 

Mine is a UL so no sport suspension. I just ordered the Beck-Arnley's.

Looking forward to install. I found a shop that will do the labor for $300.00. They seem reputable as well. I may do them myself, still uncertain. But I ordered em either way! Excited!

 

Check out Leksfixit if you haven't already. They're in Tempe and do some solid work.

 

 

What is the proper torque?

 

I remember on my old Lincoln Towncars, we were supposed to shut off the air suspension before jacking it up or doing any work like this.

Is there a procedure for this on the LS430?

 

Bushings can be torqued by hand using double wrench method. What is more important, is suspension preload. Make sure your mechanic does it, otherwise it may affect UCA mount or damage rubber. Our cars are heavy and it is important to preload suspension (or reset the torque) anytime you change key components.

 

I just finished front strut and UCA replacement on a '04 LS430. I bought Moog UCA's. I found them to be of good quality but the castle nut cannot be used, you will have to use the Lexus ball joint nut. I have to wonder if all the aftermarket UCA's for this car come from the same manufacturer and then sold through different vendors, (Moog, Mevotech, Beck Arnley). After all, are there enough parts sales for this 13 to 18 year old car to justify gearing up to forge arms and compete for such a limited market? One problem I had during the install was having to break loose the ball joint again in order to line up the castle notch with the hole in the ball joint stud for the cotter pin. At the specified torque the nut castles perfectly covered the holes. This was one side only as the other side lined up well at proper torque. ls430w140 says it well; pre-load suspension, then loosen and final torque the bushing bolts. See my comment on this subject in this thread: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-question.html I have been working on cars for 45 years and just recently learned about the nature of this design. The bushings must be in a "relaxed" position at the middle of their up and down movement range.

 

Reviving this thread as I just did this myself. I ordered both mevotech supreme and moog UCAs, and I would recommend mevotech nowadays vs moog.

The available moog UCAs aren't from their problem solver line, they're the cheaper r-series which is not a good line. They're lighter weight than mevotech/stock and the castle nut is just a nut, it doesn't have a built-in flange whereas mevotech matches up to stock 1:1.



Mevotech supreme has their blue rubber boots on the ball joints, which is really the only difference.between them and stock parts. They're very stout and noticeably heavier than the moogs rk.

I would say for really any replacement suspension parts for our cars, you should go for mevotech supreme, but if there's a problem solver line part get that instead. Like our tie rods, Moog makes the problem solver line for that part and I'm running them now and they're fantastic. They're stamped "problem solver" on the back of the ball joint, and even have a zerk fitting for easy regreasing.

But yeah mevotech arms over Moog RK. If moog ever makes a problem solver control arm set I'd buy it, but never the R-series.

 

At this point in time, Moog probably won't make a problem solver part if they haven't already. Their R series of parts is designed to be equivalent to the OEM part in regards to design specifications, tolerances, and strengths, i.e., no better or worse. The Problem Solver line exists to rectify known design defects in the original parts that cause premature failure of the part or related parts and specifically overbuilt in that area(s).

 

Moog has fallen off badly in recent years, I don't use them anymore at the shop unless it's a US made problem solver part.

Mevotech was extremely bad/cheap before, haven't used them this year since I had some really bad parts that didn't conform to spec for a bunch of makes. Threads missing, holes off, wrong length studs, too wide bushings, etc....maybe they have fixed it now but I didn't have a good run of it before.

 

I have installed Moog and Mevotech UCAs in LS430s. The metal is exactly the same. The Moog's bushings were "nicer looking" but they're both going to last just as long as the next one. I've never had a problem with a Mevotech part.

The job is easy. You don't need to remove the strut (well... if you have a coil spring). I've not done these on a UL car. Takes 15 minutes a side if you're trying to finish a beer for each side. Not worth buying an OEM part and certainly not worth paying someone ridiculous money to do it. If you're in the Atlanta area, I'd do it for you for 1/2 the price the dealer wants, haha. I'll do your timing belt and water pump for 1/2 the price the dealer wants, too!

 

My Mevotech FUCAs should be arriving today, hoping to get them on this week if I find a spare moment or two. Good to know that the strut doesn't need to come out, that is a time saver indeed.

 

You may need a pry bar to free the bolt if it hits the spring. Just pry the spring out of the way a bit or finagle the bolt and they come out. Getting the bolts back in is a little more of a PITA but I did it and so can you!

Just get yourself some of those ratcheting wrenches (mine are from Gearwrench). Doing the job with static wrenches would be torture.