So, I decided not to potato chip the car, bit the bullet and ordered a left rear rebuild from Arnott and an air blower fan for the other problem. Then I remembered the rattling glass breaking sound I've had in the front in for about 30K miles. By the way, the price at the dealer for the air strut was over 1400! Arnott rebuilt under 400. Here is the link to the other thread-thanks for the advice! https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...60/#post753782

I was told by the dealer I needed front upper and lower a arms or control arms ( I think) as they said you cannot buy the rubber inserts or bushings for these to rebuild. Needless to say it was way too expensive to consider.

1-Is that so?

2-What do I need to do?

3-Go back to potato chip fire starter or is there a cost effective solution?

This site and sites like this are awesome. Helpful folks for sure. I think I can change the blower motor here based on what I have seen on this site. Is there a thread on changing the strutt or just go to youtube?

 

Upper wishbones are not repairable AFAIK, you have to replace them, but the lower wishbone is made up from two separate arms, one straight, and one bent. For these, bushes are obtainable to some extent, I'm not too sure what exactly, but have a look on the internet. The hub carrier carries the ball joint for the lower wishbone, and replacing this is extremely difficult assuming you can get the ball joint. On later cars, I believe this ball joint was moved to the straight arm. Here is a UK supplier: -

Jaguar X350 Parts | Jaguar X350 Steering & Suspension - JustJagsUK.com

 

Try here for bushings, lots of xk8-xkr owners source here. Steering-Suspension | Jaguar XJ - X350 - XJR | British Parts UK

 

Justjags (a UK-based supplier), is showing upper front wishbones for £165, but not in stock, buyer must contact them. This may be an aftermarket product in course of production getting under way, as the price is almost half the same item listed in Britishparts UK. Of course they have the item immediately available.

 

hey guys
my 2004 jaguar xj8 needs the driver side balljoint-im goin to replace the whole control arm
my question is
does the air shock have to come out to get the 2 side bolts out -looks close
any help
dave della

 

Davedella,

Yes the shocks has to come out to remove/reinstall the arm.

 

I bought both L&R front upper control arms for my 2005 XJ8L on EBay for $130 including shipping last December. The parts fit fine & continue to work without any noticeable wear or looseness.

Some people are sure to say we shouldn't buy parts from Ebay and Asian manufacturers. Since I installed the parts myself, the job is not terribly time consuming, and the cost delta was huge, I decided to buy them. Worst case, if they did not fit, or the bushings wore out quickly, I could just replace them. You should hear suspension clunks if the parts start to wear, so this is not a "the airplane will fall out of the sky" issue for the bushings. The parts looked good. We did a dye penetrate check on one part to look for casting cracks, which looked good enough so that we didn't bother to check the second one.

If I had to pay someone to install these I would not take a chance on these; the labor to R&R at a shop changes the risk / reward analysis. Installing them myself I decided to try them.

Here is a link to the vendor:
2 Front Upper Control Arm for Jaguar XJ XJ8 XJR 04 12 | eBay

 

They look like aluminum alloy but they say they only use steel?

 

Some of our members have reported success with the Dorman upper control arms from Rock Auto, listed under the Lincoln LS at under $66.00 each, or about the same price as the eBay arms prescottaz used. The part numbers are:

521429 Left

521430 Right

Cheers,

Don

 

I apologize for resurrecting an ancient thread, but am I understanding correctly that these Dorman arms for the Lincoln will work on a 2004 XJ8? Thank you.

 

Lincoln, & Thunder Bird, both have a few like suspension parts.

 

Thank you. Think I'll give these LS arms a shot. My local Auto Zone has them for $72 each.

 

PartsProjects,

Did the autozone arms work?

 

Yes, perfectly. Side by side the arms are identical, and as a bonus the ball joint stud has a hex end that you can hold with a 10mm wrench or socket rather than the inverted Jag stud that requires a 5mm allen key.

 

Is there a US source for lower front ball joints? This car is continuing to plague me. Looks like it's going to need ball joints now too. Thanks.

 

More Information for ÜRO PARTS C2C257889BJ

 

Thanks. URO seemed to be the only supplier I could find too...and after the issues I had with the URO strut mount bushings I was trying to avoid more URO parts. Looks like I may not have any other options. Thanks again.

 

I used those balljoints with zero issues so far.

 

Great, thanks for the feedback!