baconcake

Tackled these suspension components today with a friend and most of the problems were just removing all the tight bolts. Overall not too bad if you read the DIY threads. I installed the MOOG lower ball joints and tie rods and got the caster arms from Sewell. My old caster arms didn't seem to have anything wrong with them but I wanted to replace them just in case. After installing these I noticed my passenger side UCA ball joint had a tear and was leaking grease. I decided to hold off on an alignment until I get new UCA's. I bought those ones off ebay that are $156 each so hopefully all the money I would have spent on labor at a shop will pay off for all the new parts I installed. Thanks everyone who has helped with these DIY threads!

repugnante

Bad move getting those UCA's off ebay. You will be replacing those again within a year

baconcake

awww really? what exactly is wrong with them? what's the next cheapest one I could get?

portcityplaya

iTrader: (1)

The MOOG ones off of ebay aren't any good?

baconcake

i hope they are good...because I am not paying $600 for upper control arms. I mean mine are fine now but that right side one has a tear and if you press it grease comes out. As long as these MOOG UCA's ball joints don't pop off than I will be happy

BayAreaLex

MOOG UCA should be just fine.

From my experience, MOOG is an excellent replacement brand and actually some auto manufacturers use MOOG as OEM.

CptCrunch

iTrader: (1)

I replaced mine last week. My vibration is now gone and feels better than ever!! I used moog parts and will use moog again.

BayAreaLex

I'm thrilled with MOOG myself.

Also, that combination of caster arm bushings, balljoints, and outer tie rods is the first thing I do on any GS with some miles under its belt. It's amazing how much improvement those three parts are responsible for in terms of getting rid of my steering shimmy and improving the feel of the car, even after the Lexus dealer said there was nothing wrong with my existing parts...

baconcake

after replacing the ball joints, tie rods, and upper control arms with MOOG and the caster arms with OEM arms from sewell, im not hearing a slight clunk when i turn the wheel all the way to either side and press the brake. The same noise can be heard when i break real hard. its coming from the front drivers side suspension. not sure what it is

BayAreaLex

Is this a new problem since installing these parts. If so, double check all your bolts/connections.

Otherwise, make sure your car has the brake clips. Some mechanics forget to put these in. Also, check your sway bar endlinks/bushings.

baconcake

I have double checked all my bolts and connections...the brake clips are there....sway bar links/bushings are fine....Les Schwab mechanics took a look too and said everything was tight. I'm wondering if it is those upper strut mounts? I have Tein CS coilovers so I don't know if those go bad...

BayAreaLex

Again, is this a new problem after installing your parts, or existing problem?

baconcake

this is a new problem after i installed all those parts

BayAreaLex

If the problem is new, I'd focus on the parts you just installed.

Did you remember to grease the balljoints via the zerk fitting? MOOG balljoints come dry and require that you hit them with a grease gun otherwise they will fail prematurely real quick and start making all kinds of awful noises.

baconcake

my MOOG lower ball joints came with the zerk fittings but there was no hole on the top to screw them in....I didn't think they needed to be greased since I couldn't find an opening. My outer tie rods came with the zerk fittings too and i could see the grease in the little hole on the bottom and i screwed those in.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...ease-help.html

If you look at post #14, I have those same MOOG ball joints. I don't see the hole for the zerk fittings.