lextout

i put new oem lower ball joints on the 98 gs4 2 years ago 20k miles, now they look worn and theres some play putting a crow bar to it. It makes this loud metal cling noise going over speed bumps sometimes not all the time. Do these oem lbj's go out that often? thanks in advance for any feedback.

Sanfou510

Did you get an alignment? The lbj's may have had excessive wear to it from not gettong aligned. I went with moog Lbj's and i havent had any problems since then.

Brahms

Actually this is an interesting point. I also replaced my LBJs with Moog. What is the expected lifespan of the Moog LBJ, assuming you get alignments, etc?

lextout

yup got it aligned right after install, but also my driver side front lca bushing is worn, could also cause the noise going over bumps? its a loud clunk metal noise

FiveSeven

iTrader: (3)

my LCA bushings are pretty jacked up and I have no noise going over bumps. I suspect something else is out of wack here. my LBJ were swapped out at 69k miles in 2009 by the previous owner (OEM). My car has 87k miles now and my mechanic had a look at my LBJ and said they were still in good shape.


EDIT** my ball joints were actually changed out in jan-2013 at 73k miles.

lextout

with your miles, yours is still a baby, my old get has 190k miles.

kamlung

iTrader: (8)

get the moogs... they have a zerg fitting which makes them greaseable... fill the grease every oil change and it should last a long time...

are you on OEM suspension or lowered? lowering the car really screws with the geometry of the car and puts more stress on the LBJs... unless you have RCAs or coilovers to adjust this might be a reason for the premature wear...

FiveSeven

iTrader: (3)

please educate me.. what is a RCA what is its function? How does a standard coilover put on less stress than doing a regular spring drop? I only ask because I plan to lower my car soon and wonder if I should swap in my moog LBJ and moog inner/outer tie rods while I'm at it.

SpectraBlu

iTrader: (1)

"Roll center adjuster" It's a block/spacer that goes between your lbj and steering knuckle to correct suspension geometry on a lowered car.

FiveSeven

iTrader: (3)

first I've heard of this part.. is this completely necessary for lowered cars? My G35 was pretty low and I was able to get it back into spec without any extra suspension parts but I'm guess the GS300 is different?


note: I just double checked my paper work my ball joints were changed in Jan-2013 at 73k miles.

lextout

Hi there CLers

Has anyone ever changed there lower ball joints twice? i changed mine 20k miles ago, now i hear i clunk metal noise going over speed bumps, although my lca bushings need to be replaced also.

98gs400

kamlung

iTrader: (8)

if you know your LCA bushings need to be replaced, why don't you do that first? if you leave something broken on the car, it will put more stress on other good parts wearing them out faster...

it is quite possible this happened to your LBJs...

lextout

actually my lbj' are bad its my lca bushings, but i changed out both anyways.