I replaced the factory endlinks about 2 years ago with the best Moog had to offer. I replaced both fronts and both rears for no reason other than to replace hardware on a 180k mile car while I had some free time.

The passenger front endlink broke two weeks ago as I rolled over a small hill in the right side of the road while driving through a parking lot. It was a smooth hill, not a bump like a speed bump, but it must have been tall enough to torque the front sway bar enough to pop the endlink.

I personally think the endlink should not pop like that given the mildness of the wheel movement. I'll prob stay away from Moog now, but that's just me. Notice how young the boot on the ball joint looks.. not that old.

 

Ya. People swear by Moog. I personally hate them. I try to find something made in Japan or OEM.

 

Strange. I've used them for 100s of cars with no issues, that's very odd

 

The general consensus is that Moog used to be good but their quality has declined precipitously to the point where something from Moog may not be any better than the other Chinese made part you pick up at Autozone.

If I’m ever forced to use something other than OE for suspension parts like this, I’ll buy Proforged. Nothing but good things I’ve read about them in my research

 

Well that makes sense since Duralast branded stuff literally is moog but I was not aware it dropped that much, the stuff marked "made in the USA" still seems good and that's what I use on my own cars. I'll have to look into this more since that could prompt me changing to something else for customer cars.

Kidna concerning since I just used a lot of their parts on my LS front

 

I just put proforged ball joints on up front. They looked pretty solid.

 

Sorry but Moog is junk, as are all non-oem end links. they are designed to last 1-2 years and then fall apart just like this. That's why they cost 1/4 the price of OEM

 

I agree that endlinks should not easily snapped like that. My personal experience in my Land Cruiser and Sequoia is that regardless Toyota OEM or the cheap Autozone version, they both easily snapped.

Having said that, I am thinking that it is by design to break easily. I am no suspension expert by all means here, but if the endlinks do not snap and give away, then the next weakest point is going to break, and that maybe the more expensive parts and leave you stranded by the side of the road. Endlinks are easy and cheap, so yeah it kinda sucks but I rather replaced them than something more expensive.

I just replaced the rear one in my Land Cruiser this past summer. It was a Toyota version, it lasted about 2 years. Truck was hardly driven off-road most of the time. I installed the Autozone version this time with lifetime warranty. If I am going to do this periodically, might as well have the cheaper version with lifetime warranty. And Autozone is like 2 miles away from my house.

 

As Striker223 is an ace wrench all day every day and Peacebay is an ace wrench when he wrenches (who btw appeared to believe a car flipper sold for 30K an LS 430 he'd recently purchased for $8500), it is good to know Moog is still distributing parts hard-working people may use to repair cars to keep them on the road and have confidence. (Just pulling your leg a little Mr. Peacebay as anyone who will do a complete LS 430 TB service for a fellow CL member including parts for $600 on a Saturday morning with the CL member getting back on the road by noon, must be a pretty stand-up guy.)

But, one may wish to look at a MOOG distributed part or any aftermarket part for country of origin when/if concerned about parts from different regions of the world. As you may know MOOG is another great story of American people adapting in the freest society in the world (ironically because of a government taking of liberty when prohibition found the Moog brothers without jobs by forcing closure of their father's whisky business) to produce or provide goods and services people will buy to make their lives better or easier. The Moog brothers bought a branch of a spring manufacturer/distributor, providing them mostly for Ford's Model Ts. Through constant innovation and improvement MOOG became a leader and today, Moog is a trusted steering & suspension parts brand, and is also recognized internationally for its high-quality chassis parts. MOOG eventually became part of Cooper Industries and later Federal Mogul bought MOOG from Cooper. Tenneco now owns Federal Mogul. Tenneco has about 100 manufacturing facilities in over 25 countries on every continent except Antarctica and sells parts to over 500 aftermarket customers and over 25 OEMs including Toyota. Proforged is owned by Drake Automotive Group which is owned by Huron Capital. Sometimes a bad part may slip past quality control of any quality conscious manufacturer.

So, maybe look at the label for which country the MOOG part you are about to purchase was made if there is a concern about where a part was manufactured....

 

Here, for example, is a picture of a MOOG label of a sway bar part link kit manufactured in a foreign country to the USA not foreign to our wonderful LS 430s.

 

I guess I don't care about all that information as I've already tested the part on my lightly driven LS and it failed. But don't let that stop you from living the dream.

 

If one wants the best part for a Lexus, one should buy the Lexus part made by Toyota or contracted by Toyota to be made to its exact specifications, with the Lexus logo on the part, from a Lexus dealer. That is the reality.

 

May inquire how did the MOOG part you put on your car two years ago look to you at the time?

 

​​​​​​
I'd have to agree with you. The Lexus parts are really high quality and their life span shows that. I did use KYB struts and factory front main bushings so I didn't make mistakes all around.

 

It looked new/nice. I would expect much better welds for the purpose it serves. All of the aftermarket end links just about looked the same to me.