Question On Strut Rod And Bushings

[rob22]

Lexus newb with a question on strut rods/trailing arms/whatever they're called:

My LS seems to wander a bit and I've been told that I need to replace the strut rod components (see attachment). I crawl under the car and find that I can twist them back and forth pretty easily.

I've done the research and it looks like replacing the bushings is the most cost-effective option.

The strut rod has an eyelet on the front side and a yoke on the back. The eyelet contains a bushing and the yoke fits around a bushing that sits inside the rear knuckle.

There seems to be a lot of discussion (lexls.com) about replacing the bushing that sits inside the knuckle, but very little on the bushing that fits in the eyelet. Are both generally replaced during a strut rod overhaul?

Thanks-

Rob

97 LS400

rear_lower_susp_arm_comps.pdf

[nc211]

Those are called the rear carrier bushings. An aftermarket set is available. If you run a search for rear carrier bushings, or carrier bushings, you should see some threads discussing them. You're talking about the little bushings inside of the wheel hub itself, right?

[rob22]

You're talking about the little bushings inside of the wheel hub itself, right?

Yes, those. I can find them, I believe they're ADUS 505.

The question is, do I need to replace the front bushing in each strut rod; the bushing that sits inside the eyelet? I believe it's ADUS 5056TA. The tutorial on lexls.com has a lot of detail on the ADUS 505 bushings but nothing on the 5056TA bushings. Do I leave them alone?

Rob

[1990LS400]

My LS seems to wander a bit and I've been told that I need to replace the strut rod components (see attachment).

Odd, I don't think I have ever replaced any rear suspension components in my 230,000 miles of driving LS400s. Maybe I've been lucky. But I have had to replace the front strut rods and bushings on both the LS400s I've had. The front strut bar bushes rarely last much more than 100,000 miles and cause sloppy steering and vibrations when they fail. I had the front stut bars and bushings on my 00 LS replaced at about 85,000 miles last summer and it made a world of difference.

[rob22]

Following up on this, I completed the work this past weekend. Went smoothly.

Removing the strut rods (these are the rear suspension components, just for clarity) went well, the bolt on the yoke (carrier bushing) was the most difficult and yielded with some heat applied to the nut. The front was straightforward, no heat required, just some penetrating oil to soak.

Removed the rods themselves and in both cases the existing bushings at the front were fine. Which is just as well, because it didn't look like the 5056TA components would fit. The OD of the 5056TAs measured larger than the bore of the eyelet by a lot, so I don't think I could have pressed them in. Bear in mind my car's a 1997 so perhaps the strut rod eyelet on the earlier models is different.

Removed the old carrier bushings by tightening the carrier bushing bolt down on the inner metal sleeve, then twisting and pushing out the inner sleeve. Then back to the propane torch, heated the inside of the outer sleeve and pressed it out using an aluminum drift that I cut to 1.300" and a 2-jaw puller. If you're doing it this way, make a point of protecting the axle shaft boots in case you set any residual rubber on fire. These outer sleeves are definitlely in there, I was tightening on the 2-jaw puller pretty hard and they were only slowly crawling out.

Installation of the 505s was straightforward.

Rob