This is an example of a good ball joint, if there is a slit in the rubber and grease is coming out, then it's toast. If your ball joint is good, check to see if it moves nicely in all directions.

 

jack the car up and wiggle the wheel at a 6 and 10 position

 

By the way guys, why are you all supporting big brother and ordering from JEGS? So what if it takes a couple more weeks to get them from assaultech?, sure it took them about 2 weeks to ship out the LCA bushings to me, but I was not complaining because it's not like my car was sitting on jackstands for 2 weeks waiting for my bushings to arrive. You need to be patient because assaultech is overwhelmed with orders and they can only order so many at a time. So support a sponsor and CL by being patient! BTW I am not associated with assaultech in any way.

 

Prothane seems to do the job. Now Has anybody but the austies have the Andrew vlamos bushings ?

 

for real, you would really wait all that extra time knowing you could have it within days for practically the same price, and knowing if its unreasonably backordered you wont have to pay any money to cancel the order.
If I was that one guy I would be .
Big brother has good communication and great customer service, I just wish they had more SC specific parts.

 

We have been trying to actively keep all these in stock for weeks. Prothane is just VERY slow and partially dishonest about delivering to us on time. We currently have 10 18-207-Bl & 5 18-304-BL on order from Prothane. Just waiting on them to come back in. When they are in, they go VERY fast though.

Bare with us and keep the orders coming so we have a reason to keep stocking these two part numbers.

 

dan or eric i bought the prothane kit from u guys and my bushings dont fit my lca are too small my car is in the shop right now please repsond

 

i'm looking for lower and upper control arm bushings for sc300. does anyone know who get them in stock?

 

assualtech i dont support jegs cause they dont support cl memebers

 

We just ordered 10 X 18-207-BL & 3 X 18-304-BL

Hopefully we get them in sooner than later.

 

thanks dan for helpping me out

 

Actually, a good new ball joint will be somewhat stiff/firm to the touch when you try and rotate it throughout its range of movement. If it feels like it's easy and takes no appreciable amount of force to move it back and forth, then it's a clear indication that it's worn. While it may not mean worn OUT, it nonetheless means worn!

$.02

 

When it comes to checking the condition of ball joints, the first thing to check is the condition of the rubber grease boot. The next thing and very important!, is the UP and DOWN movement of the ball joint in the socket! Of course the ball joint should rotate smoothly and tightly both on a left and right rotation. If it is VERY loose on this rotation them it is showing signs of wear (but maybe not completely worn out). The real test... the UP and DOWN slop or movement is best tested with a BIG *** pair of channel lock pliers grabbing the ball joint by the top of the mounting post and the base of the ball joint. Squeeze the pliers and there should be no up and down movement of the said ball joint. If there is up/down movement then ball joint is toast regardless of its other conditions. BTW, as far as I know, NOBODY makes replacement ball joints for LEXUS SC front lower control arms. So, if your front lower ball joint on your SC's FLCA's is TOAST then the COMPLETE front lower control needs to be replaced, period.. end of story.

 

anyone know where I can get an extra sleeve for the front lower, rear bushings sleeve?

 

sent you a PM...but see if you can buy a steel (stainless) steel pipe with the correct OD and ID and cut the pipe to size and push it into the arm.

mcmaster.com usually have a lot of good spec on their stuff.