I strongly believe there is nothing better than OEM. I never buy any replacement parts that are not OEM unless they are simply no longer available (for example, on my Supra). These are the folks who engineered your vehicle to begin with, they are going to have the best parts for your car simply because they know the ins and outs and have done countless tests on each before the car ever went into production. Try Sewell Lexus for a cheaper price, but stick with OEM.

 

I would normally agree with you, but Toyota has obviously had issues with ball joints on these cars. There are good and bad parts regardless of what label you slap on it.

 

I agree Revive . most parts exceed OEM standards. IMO

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In the same token, some aftermarket manufacturers take what the OEM manufacturers make and improve on them. You just have to be careful because some aftermarket manufacturers are just trying to capitalize and make an inferior part.

 

From this morning's drive to work, and then pushing the top of the passenger side wheel in, it would appear I have a bad or worn upper ball joint as well. I get that "clunk" sound with a barely noticeable movement up at the top. I recall being able to reproduce this sound last weekend when I raised my car, by man handling the vertical bar between the control arms and moving it back and forth -- the driver side was solid, but the passenger's is definitely needing to be done.

Thank you for the information on this thread. Now to search for a DIY so I don't spend 4 hours loosening the wrong parts out.

From what I understand, I have to pretty much order the entire upper arm itself, due to a bad ball joint bushing? Seems like a great way for Toyota to make money.

 

you don't have to get Toyota brand. those are u run u like $600 for the pair. go with moog or other brand from Rockauto

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Hah, I went with some off-brand from NAPA Auto Parts nearby work. Paid $183 for it but has a 1 year warranty (not as great as lifetime but I didn't want to wait for that brand in the mail) plus I can go to the store if there is any problems and swap it out vs. waiting for mail.

Hopefully I'll be swapping it in tonight, and then tomorrow morning go for an alignment (needed one since it is pulling to the right regardless of the cause after I raised it up some from previous owner's settings).

I can definitely say that with the car lowered about 1" or so from stock, the UCA ball joint is under a more extreme angle and close to its movement limits, and that would possibly wear out the bushing or metal parts faster when hitting bumps which would further raise the arm up.

One 'clank' down, 1 more to go (something in the rear passenger side I can't locate easily).

 

So last night after work I got my tools together and started on the UCA.... well started is the key word. Unfortunately, it appears the PO or someone had tried to replace the passenger front UCA and stripped/rounded the 17mm castle nut (the pin was already missing). Failed before I could even begin on the first of 3 nuts. So today I'll be picking up one of those sets of nut extractors/turbo socket thingies and hopefully that will take that thing off.

With my luck, watch I'll come back and report that I stripped the other 2 hinge bolts....

 

My local shop did mine.

I bought the cheapest ones on e-bay......I think 145 for both left/right?

And about 10k miles into them.....still perfect!

No issues at all.....

At the same time they were installed, I bought the cheapest wheel bearings on e-bay too and had those installed. Huge fan of e-bay so far......even bought 2 front struts for under 100 brand new. All of it has 10k +/- 3k miles on it.

 

Finally after spending 2 hours on getting the castle nut off, I spent an actual 1.5 hours to replace the arm -- mostly because getting the 2 hinge bolts back INTO their outter holes was a challenge in of itself. If I put one bolt in perfectly the other side would never line up. I eventually figured I'd put one side in till it reached through but keep it loose, then try the other. It still took me some tinkering to get it done, but it was overall not "complex" in any way other than literally playing with nuts bolts.

 

it was PITA for me also.. spent a lot longer than that but i also lowered the vehicle at the same time so it took longer.... least you got it done...

 

For the front side bolt, I figured out that in the engine bay where it goes in, there was a small black piece of metal that it threads into. Fortunately it sits loose by itself inside a little tiny box, and I was able to use a magnetic tip and lift it out. This allowed me to then line up the hole for the pesky front bolt by being able to SEE just how off I am. THEN the difficulty was in getting the rearward hinge bolt lined up, as it decided to give me a hard time (and NO visual reference since it's pointed downward right into the battery compartment (and I was NOT going to dig into the engine at that level at 10pm).

Also, the new castlenut will NOT handle too much torque, so do not use worn sockets for this or even tighten it more than what a small < 8" ratchet will let you. The pin is there to retain it but don't rely on torque alone. You'll strip the 'prongs' on the castle nut (which I almost did) if you over tighten.

Hope this helps anyone else who is looking to do this.

 

man is everyone replacing there upper control arms lately? I just did mine this past weekend. Fairly easy job but as others said lining up the bolts was tricky. One major issue I had was jacking up the control arm to compress the suspension. It would only compress about an inch or so before the whole damn car was getting lifted. After playing with different angles with the jack I sort of got the coil to compress maybe about two inches, but again the whole car will eventually start to rise.

Either way managed to get both arms done. I went OEM, got both arms on ebay for $650. They looked new and in original packaging. My passenger side was shot to kingdom come. I could have moved the knuckle even with the car on all fours. thank goodness nothing happened. car feels nice and solid now. now all I need is an alignment.

 

When you guys upgrade to something with a misalign spacer instead of those bushings it will turn your troubles into a 30min job!

 

Say what? Are you talking about something to help align the bolts for the hinges? That definitely took a good hour and some of my time, when it should have taken 5 minutes.