nikk777

i appreciate the link. Already looked at it. That's where it tells of taking the knuckle off. I'm wanting someone who has done it before to tell me if it can be done without pulling the knuckle off. Maybe just pulling the axle hub out and pulling the bearing.

I have a groaning/roaring sound coming from the left(driver) rear wheel. Can only be the wheel bearing as I've checked/adjusted brakes and such. Not popping so not the cv joints. My Question: I would like to do it myself and save the $400+ in labor they want for changing this but where I've read, you must take the entire knuckle off. The bearing appears to be removed from the outside of the knuckle/hub and not towards the inside. There is a lot to remove which is fine if need be but it seems that it isn't necessary. Once the caliper and rotor are off along with the axle nut, can the axle hub not be pulled out to have access to the snap ring and wheel bearing? I could be totally off but that's how it appears on the illustration. Can someone who has done this please enlighten me as to what I"m missing? I got to this point and pulled on the axle hub but it didn't want to come easily so I didin't force the issue. Thanks for any help. Car is apart so a speedy response would be appreciated.

The car makes a roaring noise from the driver side rear wheel area. Strange that it stops when you turn left. Thought it might be the emergency brake so I adjusted it all the way in but still getting the noise. Would this be a wheel bearing? How hard are they to change? I've done most everything else so should be able to handle it with some instruction. Thanks in advance for any help.

Your ball joints might be bad but I would venture to say that the noise is the strut rod bushings being worn out. They sound God awful like your front end it going to fall apart when you hit a bump or something. The ball joints are probably bad also but not the source of the noise. Just my guess...

Go to forparts dot com and then go to lexus and select your year and model. Scroll down to suspension-ball joint and select the check box and done. You should find them. Call and you might can work out a deal with them if you are a shop. The shop wouldn't align my front end after putting new tires on because of a bad tierod end. My struts have been shot so I figured since I was doing the tierod end, might as well do both and since I'm doing that, replace the struts and ball joints while I'm at it. Ordered the sway bar bushings and control arm bushings from tm engineering to replace also but they didn't come in by the weekend so that will happen later. Got the struts from park place lexus, factory originals. You can rent the ball joint/tie rod end puller and press from autozone for free. Get the puller that looks like a "C" with a bolt going through the middle, worked great. If you replace both ball joints and tierod ends, you don't really have to separate the two from each other so you only have to use the puller on the balljoint. Good luck.

Got the parts quickly. Installed everything this weekend. Fit was perfect. I took pics of the new parts if anyone cares. They are manufactured by Karlyn industries and are identical to the factory units coming off. $50 for ball joints and $25 for outer tie rod ends. Not a bad deal at all.

Where did you buy the strut bar cushion and for how much? park place wants $118 each for it but I've read somewhere about it only being $35 each. Please help! Also, noticed a Fram oil filter....big no no if you research it. Evidently Fram is one of the worst oil filters you can use. I made the same mistake too so just trying to spread the word. There was a website somewhere that had a breakdown of comparisons between several different filters(15+). A/C Delco was actually one of the best for the money. Mobil was great but at 3 times the price.

Ok, went out on a limb here and purchased from forparts.com (Olympus) after talking to the guy on the phone. The tie rod ends and ball joints are made domestically by Carlon Industries?? and he's had no returns in 4 years of selling the parts. Totalled about $130 shipped wholesale priced. Guess we'll see what I end up with. Now to get the struts and such.

I beat and pried and pulled on the carrier bushings using hammers, 2 and 3 jaw pullers, c-clamps, hybrid c-clamp all with no luck. 5 minutes with the air hammer being as careful as possible not to go through the bushing sleeve and damage the housing and it was done. I knew I bought that 80 gallon air compressor for a reason!!! Love the pneumatics when I can use them. That, fast orange, and latex gloves are my best friends in the driveway. Oh and my creeper and stool to save my back and knees.

Just bought 4 new tires for my 94 LS400. (Kuhmo KH16 Solus on Ebay after much research on tirerack;$247 shipped) Wanted to have an alignment done but the shop would not do it due to problems with the driver side tie rod having too much play. Also have the bottoming out noise over small bumps and the struts are shot. Going to replace the struts with factory originals all around and need to fix the tie rod issue. Thought while I was into it this deep, might as well go a bit further and replace other worn items such as ball joints and bushings. I replaced the rear carrier bushings when I first bought the car so I know the challenges of removing bushings but the savings are worth the trouble. BTW, an air hammer works pretty well on removing the metal sleeve of the bushing when all else fails. My questions: (part#'s are appreciated, any toyota cross references too) 1. What is causing the bottoming out noise? Strut cushion or something? Price? I saw one but it was $118 2. What bushings can I buy and replace and what is recommended? Strut rods, UCA and/or LCA? Where to buy them and price? Are Daizen the only choice? How do you keep the grease in to avoid squeeking? 3. Should I replace both outter tie rod ends instead of just the one? replace inner ones too? Price and place? 4. I think lower ball joints are a given. Price and place? 5. Do the struts come with upper shock cushions? I can't find them as a separate part# and figured it was a cheap add while they were out? 6. What else did I miss? I would like to stay within $500 I have been looking around and found that forparts.com have tie rod ends for $25.10 each and lower ball joints for $52.29 each. A seller on Ebay has 2 tie rods for $42 and 2 lower ball joints for $66(shipping included in price). Are these of poor quality or something? The car is driven by my girlfriend who has 3 kids so safety is a concern but also this is not a car subjected to harsh driving extremes. Don't have tons of cash to blow but willing to pay for things that are worth the price.

I bought the part from the toyota dealership on cobb pkwy north of 285 in the middle of all the other dealerships. My brother in law has an auto transport business and car lot so I buy under his company at jobber prices. Sounds like champion is cheaper but shipping from TX might get you. Sorry for the late reply, I haven't checked back on my post. Good luck. I just bought new tires and found out the tie rod end is bad so they couldn't align the car. Now I'm diving into the front suspension and replacing all struts and most bushings/ball joints.

Thanks to this and several other posts on this subject which helped me tremendously. I thought it only fair to share my success and methods to maybe help the next in line. My 94 LS400 started blowing puffs of white smoke on start up and continuing to do so while at idle but not as bad. After reading many posts, I decided it was either the air control valve (idle control valve) or one of the coil packs. I bought both parts. Air control valve I got for $80 at a toyota dealership (part# 17630-16040) and the coil pack was $39.99 at Autozone (part#C903 i think). Got home, pulled plugs on each side to check for unburnt gas which would tell me it was the coil pack. All plugs looked fine. For those who haven't pulled the plugs before, they are in the middle of the valvle cover. To get to them...remove the plastic piece towards the front of the engine, the one between the valve cover and the intake and the one running down the middle of the valve cover.(this is for the driver's side, passenger side is the same but you must also remove the air filter and tubing leading up to the engine) You will need a 10mm socket for most bolts, a 5/8 spark plug socket, and a 17mm wrench for the air control valve. The air control valve can be located from pictures on various posts. I found it by following the two small hoses leading from the intake down to it. It is screwed into the bottom of the power steering pump below the power steering pump resevoir. I first tried to access it from the top only to have a difficult time and almost started removing the power steering pump resevoir. Don't bother with all of this. Take the large plastic under belly completely off with the 10mm socket and access it from the bottom. Find a short 17mm wrench and a good light. BEWARE...fluid will pour out on you when you get the valve out. It covered my right side.. =) Lovely feeling at 2am with work closing in at 8am and no sleep. Anyhow, the valve is a simple unscrew and replace then replace the rubber hoses. You might need pliers for the hoses, I pulled them off and reattached with just my hands. PS. I knew it was in fact the air control valve as when I removed it, the center piece creating the valve close off fell out and there was fluid in the hoses leading to the intake. Good luck. Hope this helps the next person. Nikk