Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 11:56 am, by: Mark Donovan(Mark_donovan)
Soarer failed its WOF this morning as the front right ball joint is knackered.
I also hear it's now illegal to have the ball joint restored, so I need to get a whole new lower control arm, despite already putting money into the current one by fitting new Vlamos bushes just over 18 months ago...
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 12:07 pm, by: Matt Petersen(Mattmannz)
That's not good news Mark.
In December I made the decision to replace the lower arms with new Supra TT parts. I ordered them from a Toyota shop in the States and both arms were $825NZ including delivery.
The exchange rate was probably a lot higher then but let me know if you want the contact details. Shipping only took 5 days.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 12:26 pm, by: Mark Donovan(Mark_donovan)
thanks for the reply, Matt. I had briefly thought of looking into just that very possibility this morning, but the course of work today got me distracted. Thanks for the reminder, and I will contact Toyota here first to see what price they can do.
I'm not familiar with Supra models, could you let me know if you still have the part numbers or which model Supra I should request the part for?
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 02:17 pm, by: Matt Petersen(Mattmannz)
No problems Mark, will see if I still have the part numbers at home.
The arms are off a JZA80 Supra - 93-96 I believe, beyond that they become aluminium and are a LOT more expensive. These will only work on Z30 chassis's - the 31 and 32's are slightly different. They will work on 31's if the suspension has been replaced I believe.
I priced arms from the Wellington Toyota dealer and they were $650 +gst each for the Supra arms and $1200 +gst for each Lexus arm.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - 06:21 pm, by: Mark Donovan(Mark_donovan)
Thanks guys, and thanks Don for that, you saved me from some grief. I can't help but laugh now at my luck for having to spring for all the expensive parts. It's Sods Law that the one part I need to get for a WOF is perhaps one of the most expensive and hard to come by
Evan, I'll be keen to hear from you on the LCA. Thanks.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 12:12 pm, by: Evan Kaio(Knave)
Ok. I have front R and L uzz31 LCA's, bushes are buggered/missing, ball joints look good, (how do you test them?). Also UCA's. And front R and L jzz30 LCA's.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 02:03 pm, by: Mark Donovan(Mark_donovan)
Matt - if I put a 2nd hand arm in, I will keep the existing Vlamos bushes as they are only 18 mths old.
I replaced the bushes on the passenger arm at the same time, but as far as I know the passenger LCA is original from factory. I've not replaced it since I bought the car.
Thursday, September 11, 2008 - 02:15 pm, by: Matt Petersen(Mattmannz)
Can you get the bushes out without destroying them? I am about to do upper LCA bushes and it looks like people often have to burn them out but that might only apply to stock bushes.
When I took my old arms off and compared them to the Supra LCA's I was suprised how loose the new Supra LCA balljoints were. I am used to stock joints being quite tight when new. I couldn't detect any major play in the lower balljoint on the old arm but I suspect you would have to have the arm installed to check the play.
Evan, are you interested in renting your upper LCA's? I have Vlamos upper bushes and would like to minimise the downtime so thought about getting a set of upper LCA's and fitting the bushes then just swapping arms over.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008 - 02:22 pm, by: Mark Donovan(Mark_donovan)
Guys, I've located a replacement.
Suffice to say, if you ever need parts, the man to contact is Martin Burnside at Rutherford & Bond Toyota in Wellington (on Kent Terrace). The man is one super-cool dude.
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