Hello everyone,
Ive been searching far and wide and cannot come up with an answer. It seems that my suspension is in really bad shape. I ordered some parts online, but unfortunately they were not compatible. In particular, the front lower ball joints. Is anyone aware of a vendor for these?

 

You will need the entire vertical link, no seperate ball joints are available.

Try the site sponsers, Nalley, JPAM etc...

Or you could try www.motorcarsltd.com

 

You sure about that Rick?

Ball Joint - Motorcars LTD

 

I have always read that the whole vertical link needs to be replaced.

 

Ok, so I may have found a local vendor. He is sending them to the shop overnight, I will keep you updated with pics. I am replacing many of the parts in the front suspension.

So far I have:
1. Bilsteins front and rear non-Cats (2 weeks ago)
2. 3 wheels replaced (thanks to desertdisciple)

Next couple of days:
Upper control arm
Lower control arm
Ball joints
Sway bar bushings
Front Links

 

I'm NOT saying that I know these work- I may be facing similar work on mine shortly (new thread to come) and am curious to know if the parts are field changeable or not. It appears that the upper ball joints are not.

Let's hope somebody chips in with first handed experience.

 

Hey Mikey,
I may have bad news on that, those look to be exactly like ones I purchased earlier which were not compatible. It seems the ball joints on my vehicle have are tapered right below the thread. I made sure to address this with teh new vendor. He informed me that the ones being sent are manufactured by his source specifically for the 03 model.

In addition, I contacted Motorcars yesterday, very nice people. I was told the whole arm must be purchased.

 

Thanks for the update. As I said before, I have no personal experience but am curious as to what can be done to rebuild the 2003 and up arms.

If Motorcars advised you that the whole arm needs to be purchased, maybe we should let them know that their website needs to be updated.

Keep us posted please!

 

Old Struts (CATS). Vehicle has less than 60k miles, thankfully I read up on converting to non-CATS on this forum. paid about 1/3 dealer prices

 

Ok guys so the second order of ball joints was also incorrect. Vendor was very polite and I am getting a refund on the parts.

I decided to bite the bullet and decided to buy the complete assembly from Welsh enterprises for $195 each. So for anyone looking to replace these on your vehicle:
Please verify the last 6 digits of your VIN, If the number is after M45255, the complete arm must be purchased, you CANNOT buy the ball joints separately.

Ball joints purchased that did not fit, 14 and 16mm up to M45255:

Assembly from Welsh enterprises post M45255:

 

There ought to be a law against that.

If it's ok to prohibit washing cars and foist off 33 colours of coolant on the car owner, in the name of the environment, then the same people ought to get after this thing.

Look at the difference in fuel cost to transport the entire arm, the energy consumed to manufacture said arm, and the landfill that the old arm is going to take up as opposed to the ball joint itself. Oh, and the fuel used to transport it to the landfill.

They must have learned this little trick from the defense industry.

 

Thanks for the update, this is indeed disappointing news. Better to know the truth than waste time ordering parts that are incorrect I suppose.

Keep us in the loop on your progress, it is appreciated.

 

Rather old but Jaguar Forum.co.uk • View topic - Front suspension

 

John,

The guy who had them pressed lists his car as a 2000 so probably falls into the before M45255 category.

 

Darn. Looks like it

Sorry!

 

I agree with you. The bad part is that there seems to be no alternative, the control arm on my vehicle has the ball joint pressed upright while the other arms have the joint pressed facing downward. In addition to having a different stud.

Just ordered the parts, it will be $490 with overnight shipping. (still better than $327.00 each at dealer)

One more thing, the joints available are sealed only

 

Just a bit more information. As posted above the early S Type/Lincoln LS (2000-2002) had two sizes of lower ball joints. A 14mm and a 16mm version. Both of these are now available separately. They were not in the beginning and you had to purchase the entire lower control arm.

When Jaguar updated the suspension in 2003 to the more advanced double ball joint front end this changed the ball joints. As of right now no one has released just the ball joint. If you look at how the lower control arm is made there would be no problem pressing the old ones out. I think in the future (hopefully not TOO long) someone in the aftermarket will make these separately. It just a matter of demand.

Another factor is when the big 2003 update was done the Lincoln LS did not get the double ball joint front end. The 2003-2006 LS uses the larger and improved 16mm lower ball joint mentioned above. So ONLY the S type has this type of front suspension. A lower volume of cars means the aftermarket will sell less ball joints.

Again I am hoping with time a separate lower ball joint will become available. We are not seeing too much yet but the upper ball joint on both the S Type and the LS still require a complete control are replacement as of now. Maybe these will also get released as a separate item as the cars wear these parts out.
.
.
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Got the car back this weekend, it feels much better and no harsh noise when driving. Now an alignment is needed, I will also rebuild the rear suspension at a slower pace. First drive with new parts: