forsythia

Driving a 94 ls400 and cannot find a part needed (discontinued everywhere) to finish a repair. Which leaves me with the option of converting from air suspension to coils. Besides which, looking to replace the front and lower control arms which are completely shot. Getting a reasonable quote on labor, it's the control arms that are adding up. Dormans for the uppers and OEM for lowers. I am making one last ditch effort to locate the part needed to fix the air suspension, but doubt I will find it. Would you spend 3 grand on a car that is worth half that. Lots of life left in the engine (only 100K miles or so, all put on by me), but due to a dent on rear side, the value just isn't there -- worth 2K at most. I would only do it to drive it two more years, max. My other option is to sell it for salvage. Appreciate any advice. I am fully expecting to hear, "Are you crazy?". :-)

CELSI0R

The air suspension isn't really worth fixing, unless you're a purist. Standard coil springs on the LS 400 feel just as good or almost as good as the air suspension, which has been reflected by others in past reviews, such as Motorweek's from 1990 (heard at 3:22):


There are threads about this conversion on this forum, including some that have been active in the last month, if I recall correctly. If the air suspension part is discontinued, your best bet on finding a replacement would be to go looking in a junkyard, but there's no guarantee those will be good either, especially if it's the airbags.

To get to the other part of your post, I would not trust Dorman parts. They're poorly made, and commonly not up to OEM specs. I have not replaced the upper control arms on my car, so hopefully someone can chime in on what they used.

forsythia

Thanks, not sure what you mean by airbags but the part is called a tube, auto-leveler and has to do with height control on air suspension systems. I have seen posts all over the map about the Dorman's and quality. Will take a look at the forum discussions. If the car's frame were in better shape, I would not hesitate to move forward with the conversion.

CELSI0R

Sorry to hear about the damage. The air shocks have air bags that are inflated and deflated in order to control and adjust the ride height of the car. Best of luck with your decision

forsythia

Here's an update in case anyone else with a '94 ls400 with air suspension finds themselves in the same predicament. About 8 or so years ago, I put on Arnott's remanned air shocks on the front. They have worked great all this time, and came with a lifetime warranty. When I decided to have the control arms replaced recently, the mechanic had to remove the shocks to get to the upper control arms. Unlike OEM air shocks, there was no way to remove the tube/auto-leveler (for height control) without damaging it (part number 48984-50030 on the left side and 48983-50040 on the right side). Mechanic said OEMs have a coupler that takes about 1 minute to remove -- but these remanned air shocks did not have a coupler. These parts are necessary for keeping the suspension adjusted, so my only option at this juncture is coil conversion. The only way I will find this part is if a) someone has a fresh 94 ls400 with air that they are parting out. I did find a recycler who used to specialize in Lexus (TSL Auto Recyclers in Redondo Beach -- now called Benzine) but they do not have that part. And, they said even if they did get a 94 in, that that is not a part they would keep. So, again, anyone else in the same boat ... your only option is to find someone with a 94 with air that is whole/intact that they are parting out (fresh), OR to convert to coil suspension. Recyclers said they don't often see 94 Lexus, at least not any with low miles. Most that hit the lots have badly worn shocks, etc., so they save what they can. I even contacted Toyota in Japan. Nothing. I can likely find the passenger side part, just not the part for the driver's side.

forsythia

Hello everyone, I'm hoping that someone can give me some good advice on what I need to do to convert a 94 Lexus LS400 with air suspension to regular shocks.

I was reading in some of the forums here and I thought others had used KYB s and a mix of OEM parts to do this. However when I called KYB today they told me they had no parts available that would work. So I'm a little confused. See here for the thread I was reading about someone using KYB and OEM Parts.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...-94-ls400.html

I also called a dealer that sells Lexus parts and they quoted all OEM parts needed for front and rear to convert but the total came to roughly $2,000, which is absurd.

I also got a quote on a conversion kit made by SenSen which costs $600. The labor to install was 300. So a total of $900 to do the conversion which is actually not bad. Problem is I have no idea about the quality of those parts. The person I spoke with told me that a decade ago conversion kits were all over the market, but that now there are very few. He said that was the only option he could find. I'm not sure who's giving him that advice though.

So I was intrigued by the KYB and OEM mix and that was really what I thought would be the better option. But I'm now wondering if the forum poster was talking about converting a Lexus that did not have air suspension to begin with.

In advance appreciate anyone weighing in on what to do here. Should I just go with the SenSen conversion kit or is there a way to do this so I get a known quality result?

forsythia

https://www.strutmasters.com/product...ion-kit-tc14f/
found these - made in usa and same price as sensen's.

dicer

I think it can be done for less, just getting the proper shock struts.

forsythia

Can you offer any more detail? I researched the SenSens and Strutmasters, and tbh I don't want to go with either after reading some of the customer reviews. So I think my options at this point are to look for 2 used air shocks (front) or to convert using all OEM parts.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

are you doing the work yourself?

in CA we have a plethora of junkyards where (sadly) lots of LS400s abound. that is a good place to get used springs. you will also need the top hats, bump stops, and dust boots off the junked car (you can buy these new separately if you feel so inclined, doesn't have to be OE).
then purchase shocks 'a la cart' and install them all together. that's what I would do as you utilize the factory OE springs instead of the sub par units in conversion kits.

check out rockauto.com for more options for 'a la cart' to full conversion kits with better pricing.

forsythia

Hi There -- Thanks very much for this info. No, a mechanic is installing these, but he would be open to my finding/bringing parts. I did call a bunch of auto recyclers looking for that discontinued part (where all this trouble began) but it's not the kind of part that anyone saves to resell. They damaged the airline when removing the shock on the driver's side, and we have not been able to find a replacement, so that is why I am now looking to convert from air to coil springs/struts.

Just this morning, by sheer luck, I happened to read that Arnott used to make a conversion kit for 1st generation Lexus, so started looking for that online. Incredibly, a few are still available and up for sale (Amazon and eBay). So I called Arnott, just to confirm that this product was indeed made by them and would work for my car. Yep, it does. In the course of explaining what happened...they pulled up my old account and then said "we have one of these kits on hand". I am beyond thrilled. For anyone who needs it, it's C-2221 and is made by KYB (owned by Toyota).

I am now looking to figure out whether there are other parts that I want to replace while they are installing the new springs/struts. I saw that others who converted installed insulators, bellows, etc. Just trying to figure out what else (OEM) that I can throw in there to make this a really good change.

If anyone can help me put together a list of other parts that should be replaced at the same time, I will get the order placed. For these...I will go with OEM rather than used...as long as the cost doesn't get too ridiculous.

Best outcome ever for what has been a nightmare of a car repair situation. Until my conversation with Arnott this morning, I was honestly thinking my best option was to junk the car.

forsythia

agreed on the dormans. looked at the amazon reviews. that's a no go.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Merged both threads.

Losiracer2

I found a guy on Craigslist that I remembered was selling 4 Air Shocks in CA when I did a nationwide search for LS400 parts, one is bad though but for $200 its a pretty good deal if those 3 are working and you can somehow get the 4th to work. If you want to keep it on air susp., it might be a good option for you

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/...582076339.html

Found another guy in Nevada selling some for $100

https://reno.craigslist.org/pts/d/92...576098255.html

forsythia

hey thanks for this. now that i have a good conversion kit, i will keep going with that plan. good to know (others may need this info) that a few are for sale out there.