Razor61

The front/strut arm/control arm bushes were deteriorated and split on my car, it wasn't corrosion. They are solid rubber bushes and it was a circular split, probably the rubber was detaching itself from the inner metal tube bit. The arms themselves were corroded but they cleaned up really well and looked as good as new after treating and painting.

No problem, just some more information about the the front strut cushions/bushes below and I'll put together a list of the part number when I can but I think you have pretty much all that I replaced. As stated before, the cushions I fitted were for a Toyota Century part number 48674-40051 as listed on Amayama that ' may fit'. They do fit but are wider than the originals and I had to centre them correctly. I may be wrong but I think these cushions/bushes are harder than the originals and are definitely approx 10 mm wider (maybe it's the width of the bushes causing any issue - if there is one). My suspension was so soft before and I didn't feel anything from the road much at all but now I do. I can't compare my car with Toyota Century bushes to another car with the 'correct' bushes so I don't know if mine is 'normal' or not. Plus, I've changed the arb bushes and drop links. Maybe it takes some time for it all to bed/settle in. I just wanted to let you know about that. If I was doing it all again, now I know what's involved etc, I would bite the bullet and buy the complete arms with the correct bushes from Amayama. The original bushes were in very very tight and I called in a 'favour' to get them pressed out. I didn't know the lower arm bushes were available (I presume you mean the front lower arms) The front ARB bushes I bought from Lexus @ £20 each, Lexus said they looked ok but the ARB was moving which could have been the drop links. I fitted them anyway as I was doing other stuff. Some advice on doing the work: The strut arm bush camber bolts - one of them was an issue for me and was seized solid. If I had to do it again I wouldn't use a hydraulic puller as it bent/bulged the mounting bracket. The bracket straightened ok after but I was lucky using the puller didn't cause more damage. I discovered after that the strut arm bush mounting bracket can be removed along with the problem arm/bush to allow it to be worked on 'off the car' which would be easier. To do it on the car, I would simply cut through the camber bolt both ends (inside the bracket) with a large enough grinder and buy another camber bolt (I should have used this method) I hope that helps.

I sure am Malc, the car is in at Lexus Bolton on Monday next week for alignment, cambelt, waterpump, thermostat, brake fluid change, front brake disc back plate and rear pads (I could do these but I thought I'd get them done while everything else was being done) Rear arb bushes and drop links will be done by me at the weekend, all being well. I fancied doing the cambelt/waterpump/thermostat myself but it needs doing immediately so I'd rather Lexus get them done and out the way then I can concentrate on other things that need attention.

I know I keep replying to my own post, not sure if this is the correct way to do things but................ First 25 mile drive to work in the car today and the car felt a hell of a lot better, front end and stability is lots better, feels 'new' now and I don't have to concentrate keeping it straight (like I had to with the DHP alloys and tyres on), if that makes sense. There was a slight pull to the left which seems to have gone, I didn't set the camber exactly as it was before because it moved slightly when torquing the bolts but they ended up with the same setting on both sides. I do notice bumps and uneven roads more now but it feels right that I should, I didn't really feel them before and it felt too soft and spongy. Maybe it's because the strut bushes and arb drop links/bushes were knackered before and not doing much, I think the bushes etc need a bit of time to bed in and it will soften up a bit.

I was prepared to buy new calipers but I glued the bits back in with epoxy and put some pressure on until it all set. Worked really well and I’m happy that it’s all safe and the brakes work as they should. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble but if I do I’ll get some recon calipers, I really don’t think I will need to though.

Cheers, it looks pristine in the photo but it’s not quite pristine, yet............. I did fettle the other 4 wheels that are on the car and they are pristine in real life. They had been refurbished and looked really good but when you looked close they needed doing. I spent an hour on each wheel with Farecla G3 and a lot of elbow grease then put some protection on but didn’t do the spare - it was hard work and I’d had enough after doing 4 wheels.

Today I decided to have a look at the boot seal, removed the seal, removed the trim below the rear screen, removed the 2 x covers on the corners of the boot, cleaned everything, removed all the gunk/adhesive that was used to fix the trim and boot seal, painted the areas where the gunk/adhesive had taken the paint off, cleaned the trim, attached the retaining clips properly then put everything back. I don't think it will solve the leaking seal but I have a plan to stop the water pooling in the corner in the first place. That will be a job for spring/summer next year though. Before and after photos.

It’s the smoothest, quietest and best quality luxury car I’ve ever owned. I had a BMW E23 728i for a while many years ago and that was really really good. A lot older car but it was comparable to the LS400 I think in many ways, smooth, handled pretty well for a big car but the 728i was underpowered a bit, a 735i would have been better!

Thanks but I’m 100% sure they are not removable parts, unless the rivet fixing them them to the caliper is drilled out, and are not listed/shown on any parts diagram I have seen. They are part of the caliper itself. I intended to take some photos but I forgot. I’ve been doing so much work on the front suspension it slipped my mind. The best way I can describe the bits in question is: if you look at the caliper from the front without pads, there are thin metal plates at the back in the corners and also at the front - top and bottom - all both sides. Unless you really clean the calipers and specifically look for them you probably won’t notice them. I was looking because some bits had come adrift. You can see them on the Brakes International website picture of the front calipers, look in the corners as described above.

The car is all back together and drivable.........yippee. It’s only been a few weeks but I’d forgotten how smooth and quiet the car is. Today was fitting the brake pads, drilling out a broken bolt and tapping for the undertray fixing, fitting the undertray and checking things over. it took a while to work out how the pads went in with the anti squeal shims/plates. I remember when I took them out that it wasn’t difficult to put them back but I should have made notes about it. Anyway, I think I’ve got it right as the brakes are quiet with no squeal....... Went for a drive and there are no knocks or bangs so it’s been put back together ok I think and seems to have cured the knock when braking sharp. Pads need to bed in but it’s looking good so far. Feels tighter at the front end but the rear still feels ‘loose’, new rear arb bushes and drop links should cure it though. I have the new bits to fit so that will be next weekend’s job, If the weather is ok I’ll be doing the paintwork tomorrow, clay bar and 3 stage buffing, one panel at a time to bring the paint to what it should be.

I was surprised to be honest given everything I’ve read but everything was absolutely pristine, the car has only done 69,000 though. As capacitors are ‘used’ they deteriorate over time as they contain chemicals and padding. Issues with power supply’s in computers,tv’s etc and other electronic devices are more often than not caused by the capacitors, it’s the first thing that engineers look at and replace. Capacitors are a bit like batteries but not quite and we all know that batteries deteriorate over time and use so it’s no surprise really. Solid state capacitors are a different matter though so I presume that’s why more modern ECU’s don’t suffer the same.

Last weekend (Sunday) didn’t do all I wanted but I did do the arb bushes, drop links, set camber, torqued up and painted the wheel arch lips etc. That was it for the day. Booked a day off for today as I needed to crack on, weather was nice and dry which was perfect. So, refitted wing arch liners which took a couple of hours. I know from experience that putting them back on is a lot harder than taking them off so I was prepared for it! This took a while for the first one but not long for the second one. I had put all the screws/bolts and all associated bits in separate boxes for os and ns so it made working out where things went easier. As said, the first one took a while because I’ve dismantled that much over the last couple of weeks I’d forgot where everything went but starting with the obvious screws and worked back using the process of elimination worked fine. Next was to bond/glue on the small metal pad guides that had fallen off, maybe I broke them getting the old pads out but I don’t think so. Cleaned everything, used panel wipe on the areas to be glued/bonded, mixed the Gorilla epoxy, set the pieces in place and clamped using a home made ‘gizmo’ to apply pressure for one and used an old brake pad and screwdriver for the other until it all set. Takes some time to work out the best way to do this type of thing but worth spending the time to make sure it’s done right. Drilled out what was left of the disc retaining bolt/screws (not a good bit of engineering but all cars are like this) and tapped. After all that I came up with a better solution for the disc retaining screws involving a stainless bolt, 10mm 1/4 inch socket and a grinder, getting these out in the future will never ever be an issue. I’ll do a separate post about it when I’ve finished all the work if anyone is interested. I had already ordered new disc retaining screws so will keep them for the rear discs when they need doing. Spent quite a bit of time freeing off what was left of the os disc back plate ready for a new one. Cleaned the hubs properly, fitted the new discs, fitted the calipers and torqued the bolts to 118 nm. It started raining then so covered the new discs/calipers with the plastic bag the new discs came in and secured with good old fashioned insulation tape to stop them rusting. I know any rust on the discs will go once the car is driven again but I’d rather not have any rust at all to start with when the new pads are fitted tomorrow. Tomorrow will be fitting the new pads, drilling out and tapping some snapped bolts on the os (underbody fixings), checking everything is all tickety boo, fit the undertray, put the wheels back on and take it for a drive to make sure there are no weird noises. I did remove the ECU to replace the capacitors but after inspection there were no signs at all that they were leaking or any ‘bulging’ on the capacitors so didn’t replace them. If it ain’t broke...................leave it, I don’t have any symptoms and was just going to it as a preventative measure if there were any signs. I have 5 x sets of the recommended capacitors so will check periodically and if I detect any signs of bulging or leaking capacitors they will be replaced.

They are not part of the casting itself and are pad guides but they are sort of riveted to the casting so not replaceable. But, I’ve just had a proper look and it’s not as bad as I thought. It’s just the one bigger bit and a smaller bit fallen off, it’s difficult to explain but will take some pictures at the weekend. Any how, I’m happy to fix them in place with some kind of metal bond which will be fine.

Below is a picture to illustrate the bits I mean.

I'll have a proper look tonight and decide what to do, Brakes International sell refurbished calipers for £128 plus £24 surcharge each so I'll fit them if needed. I've used them for all my cars in the past and not had any issues. I normally take the old ones off, take them with me to compare and make sure they are correct, no need to pay the surcharge then.

Hi, I removed the pads, calipers and discs on my 1996 LS400 ready to install new discs and pads and do some front suspension work (strut bar bushes). As I removed the pads some metal plates just fell out (one square shaped and another thin piece), I put all the anti squeal plates and pins etc in a box (including the small metal plates that dropped off) ready to clean up when the time came to put the new discs and pads. Now I'm ready to do the brakes I had a look at the small metal plates and the calipers to see where they came from. It transpires that there are metal 'shaped' plates fixed to the inside of the caliper at either end. Looks like the pad edges slide on these plates to protect the aluminium caliper housing, that's the best way I can describe them. At first it looked like they are just at one end of the caliper but after looking at a picture of a 'good' caliper they should be at both ends. I've not examined my calipers in detail yet but I suspect there are more missing 'metal plates' than the ones that fell off. I wondered if anyone else has experienced this and can I do without them rather than replace the calipers? I suspect not though and I don't want to skimp on the brakes at all, if it was just one plate fallen off I would probably have metal bonded back on but, as said above, I suspect there are others missing completely which is a different matter.

Today’s work Strut arm bushes were pressed out last week, arms de rusted, treated and painted. New bushes pressed in this morning, not the poly bushes I bought but bushes from a Toyota Century - part number 48674-40051. Outer shell was wider than the original bush by a few mm either side so had to make sure it was centred but apart from that they are fine. Once the bushes were in it was full steam ahead. Strut arms are in, shock/arb brackets in, suspension struts back in, drop links are in ready to attach to arb tomorrow. Everything torqued up apart from the strut arm bushes, tomorrow camber will be set as close to were they were before and torqued up as much as I can. I don’t think my torque wrench will go up to 186 lb per ‘whatever’ but the car will be in at Lexus in a few weeks for alignment so they will be torqued up by them once done. Tomorrow will be: new arb bushes to be fitted, drop links attached to arb, camber set and all torqued up. Then it will be fit new discs, refit callipers etc, fit new pads. If it all goes to plan, paint inner wing arches, refit arch liners and undertray. All weather permitting of course.

That is so true, I’ve been doing bits underneath the car after work and really felt the effects yesterday😫 I gave myself an evening off to recover a bit, back on it at the weekend though putting it all back together.

I ordered front and rear drop links, all new nuts etc and rear anti roll bar bushes from Amayama (thanks to Malc for telling me about them) all for £177 (for a 1996 LS400). From Lexus it was £112 for each front drop link alone iirc. They should be with me in a few days and I don't think there is any duty to pay because I rang Parcel Force Customs dept to pay the duty and they said there wasn't any. I'll know for sure when I get them though. Correction - just found out the parts are subject to duty, which I though they would be, and the duty was £48.61. I reckoned the duty would be around £35 but didn't know about the £12 admin fee. Just paid it on-line and they will be delivered tomorrow.

The problem camber bolt is out, hallelujah😀 I asked one of the maintenance guys at work about it and he suggested I try a 2 legged hydraulic puller they have which is rated at 10 ton. I wasn’t hopeful because I didn’t think I could get it in position to work, but turns out I could - just. The puller was used with some steam pipe fittings and various bolts and sockets, after 2 1/2 hours tonight the bolt was out. It fought to the bitter end and mm before it gave up...........the bushing bracket has a slight bulge in it now but will straighten ok. The hydraulic puller is a nice piece of kit, I dread to think how much it cost, and I think it might remove the problem pinch bolts on my Audi A4.

Link to some pictures of the current state of disassembly and stuff that has been rust treated but not painted yet, I didn't take any 'before' pictures but they were pretty rusty. Link:https://1drv.ms/u/s!AmVc9wygjLH0iDY9YMYIKBjR3MiE?e=WTnzuS

It wasn't that bad at all to be honest but still a challenge, it's a big car so there is more space around the bolts and carrier brackets to get a breaker bar or a buzz gun in. I have a pretty cheap corded buzz gun which I'm sure I bought from Netto or Aldi years ago for £20 iirc. Once cracked off, ratchet was fine. The worst bit was constantly up/down, under the car then out from under the car, getting spanners, sockets and wrenches. I am still aching from it all, I woke yesterday and my body was complaining but once I got cracking it was fine (plus I had to crack on and get it done) The caliper bolts were tight which I expected but it took some force to crack them off. Being on axle stands I had to apply gradual pressure but soaking them in Plus Gas for a couple of weeks helped a lot. The problem camber bolt will need to cut off and replaced, I can't spend a lot of time on it now all for the sake of 1 x bolt (not cheap but worth it for the time alone) But, you never know and I might have a flash of inspiration...............doubtful though. I've made a couple of mistakes, I drilled the heads off the brake disc retaining screws to get the discs off (rushed at it really) and should have bought an impact screwdriver so need to drill them out and re tap. Snapped 3 out of 4 bolts holding the disc back plate - securing bracket on, pretty annoyed with myself but the first one came out ok with Plus Gas and gradually moving it in and out more and more. The rest I thought I had 'moving' but they weren't and stupidly I carried on!!! I should have stopped and got some heat on them. Not the end of the world though, I will probably remove the steering knuckle (only bit not not scraped and treated now....) because it's easy to remove it now while everything else if off and drill them out from the back then use some nuts and bolts. I have a 2001 Audi A4 2.5 Tdi quattro sport which needed all the front lower suspension arms replacing for the MOT earlier this month, that was more difficult than this as there wasn't as much room to get in. Removing some of the bushing bolts wasn't easy for the same reason, the bolts were hitting the body and it took some persuasion.

Cheers, I’ve no choice really and I wish I had a 2 post ramp but I have a drive off the road to do it. Doing the work on axle stands makes it more difficult and takes more time but not impossible and the grey matter comes in handy......and the tools to do it. I’ve built up a good set of the needed tools over the years, Snap On mostly and I’m not a tool snob, but they do make difference.

Today’s work (Sunday) was cleaning and rust treating. Removed the ns wheel arch liner so they are both off now. Cleaned, washed, degreased the inside of both wing arches and then rust treated, when cured they will be painted. Scraped off as much rust as I could on the suspension struts and rust treated, when cured they will be painted as well. Lower arms got the same treatment. Scraped and treated any other rusty bits I could find. Broke a few plastic clips/fasteners along the way even though I have a trim removal tool. New stuff needed but its to be expected. The problem camber bolt is still seized solid, I’ve tried everything I could think off but but no joy. I’ll need to cut through the bolt with a grinder when I get one with a large enough blade to do the job. During the week I’ll do the painting if possible so next weekend will hopefully be putting it all back together again. If the problem camber bolt was out it wouldn’t be an issue but that may delay things a bit. I have taken some photos now, I didn’t before because it turned into a bigger job than expected and photos were the last thing on my mind. I’ll post them tomorrow. It’s ‘beer o’clock’ now and time to catch up on the rugby, football and watch the grand prix!!

Carrying on from the posts from me on the ‘what did you do to your Lexus today’, I thought it best to create a new topic for the work I’m doing. So far I’ve identified the work that needs doing by myself and also with Lexus Bolton, front discs/pads, front strut bushes, front/rear drop links, front/rear anti roll bar bushes, front osf disc back plate, rear pads, brake fluid change, timing belt, water pump, thermostat and a full alignment. I may have forgotten something but that’s the main bits. Thursday I jacked the car up and put it on axle stands etc. Removed wheels, calipers and discs ready for removing the front strut bars this weekend and replace the bushes, discs and pads (I thought it was all going to be pretty straightforward but I was wrong) Today’s work and it was a tough day’s work!! Cleaned all the brake parts, pins, anti squeal plates etc. So onto removing the front strut bars to replace the bushes. Removed the undertray. Took photos and create a diagram of the camber settings, all done and happy that I’ll be able to set it to more or less as it was. Crack of the nuts which wasn’t a problem with a breaker bar. Now for removing the hub end of the strut bars which are secured by 2 built in bolts going through the lower suspension arm from the top. Cracked off the nuts no problem but there is no room for the arm to be pulled upwards and out as the shock/drop link bracket is in the way. The bracket is secured with a nut and bolt at the front and a bolt into the lower arm at the rear. Front nut and bolt was not a problem but getting to the rear bolt properly was a problem. So I decided to removed the front drop links and suspension struts which gives good access to the rear bolt. Tried to remove the drop links first, no chance (won’t bore you with the details why I couldn’t remove them). I tried to remove the struts but the drop links were in the way but with a bit of ‘persuasion’ and a pry bar I managed it. So far so good and unbolted the shock/drop link bracket but the drop links were still attached. Removed the near side strut bar pretty easily. Off side though was a different story, hub end wasn’t a problem but the bush end bolt was seized solid so I removed the inner wheel arch liner so I could get a swing at the camber bolt with a big hammer. No joy with that, so it’s been soaked with Plus Gas and will try again tomorrow. It was some hard graft today coupled with learning along the way. I’m replacing the front drop links anyway so, as I couldn’t remove them properly, the grinder came out and I cut through the bolts. Shock/drop link brackets now off and they were very rusty. Not anymore though, rust has been removed by filing, scaping and wire brushing. Washed clean, dried and rust treated. Tomorrow they will be painted. Same thing for the strut bar I managed to remove. Tomorrow will be trying to remove the camber bolt, scraping off the rust on the lower arms (and anything else that I can see), rust treating ready to paint. Suspension struts and springs will get the same treatment. I thought I would get the front strut bushes done and the new discs and pads fitted over the weekend but it will be next weekend before it’s all done now. I’m quite glad I needed to take so much stuff off today as it gives me the chance to remove the rust etc and paint plus I now know how it’s all put together for any future work that may be needed.