Front Suspension Woes... "the Rebuild"

[Arkansawyer]

Been ordering all of my parts so far from lexuspartsonline.com (lpo) and have been very pleased. That is until tonight. I have torn down the right hand side front susp. and am replacing lca bushings and lower ball joints. I have removed the lca and am sizing up the bushing just to make sure it looks right. Then I go to grab one of the lower ball joints and size it up as well. Oops grabbed the left one, let me get the right one. Hmmm it looks just like the left one.....because it IS a left one. They have sent me two lefties. :chairshot: Went back and checked my order. Yup ordered one left and one right.

Also broke the "castle" off the tie rod end nut. No problem I think. I've got two Toyota dealerships that I drive by every day. Stop into the first one and some young kid with braces helps me. Lay the nut on the counter and tell him I need one of those. Seriously he looks at it and asks me what it is. I tell him a nut then more specifically a castle nut. Then he asks what its off of and I tell hima Lexus LS400. Where on a Lexus 400 he asks. The tie rod end I tell him. I can already see where this is going. Some of these parts guys are completely locked into their computers. Whatever the computer says is all they can repeat.

So he tells me the only way I can get that nut is with a tie rod end attached to it. I tell him I don't NEED a tie rod end, just that nut! Even after talking to the GM still no resolution.

Call the other dealership and basically get the same response. So I call Carey at Park Place and he gives me a part # for the nut. The most fun was calling the young punks back at both dealerships and giving the part # and asking them what they find. Then telling them thank you and politley hanging up. :P

Good thing I've got a third car and two motorcycles to get me around.

[ko90ls]

yeah i like my local toyota dealer. got real cool with the service techs and they always try and find the toyota equal to lexus parts even if they need extra calls. but only in person. other wise "NO GO TO LEXUS!" even had to get a tranny plug from ford cuz lexus closes at 5! and toyota didn't have one? oh well, just a price you have to pay (i feel your pain)