Question,


The ball joint rubber boots on both the left and right ball joints on my 05/XJ8L, has deteriorated to the point that they need to be replaced. ie; most of the boot is gone.


I cannot find replacement ball joints and have been told I need to buy the whole upper wishbone.


Any experience with this would be appreciated.

 

You can just buy new boots on the internet, they come in various sizes, so you need to measure up before ordering.

Here is a British supplier, there are bound to be US ones too.

http://www.balljointboots.co.uk/

However, don't leave the joints too long, as they will quickly wear out without boots. You cannot get separate ball joints for the top wishbone, you have to buy the whole shebang with its single ball joint and two swivel joints and they cost a lot, eye-watering in fact. However, one can find new-old stock on eBay, and even discounted early wishbones but these are still not cheap.

Jaguar Wishbone Arms

 

The upper wishbones are the same as the S-Type, XF, and alloy-body XK, so you might find cheaper ones listed for other models.

And yes, the ball joint alone cannot be replaced...

 

And here's an ebay listing that has been on my watch list for a while. I am wondering if anyone has tried these:

JAGUAR XJ8 XJR UPPER CONTROL ARM ARMS BALL JOINT BUSHING C2C38956 + C2C38957 L+R

 

Bad reviews on BMW and Mercedes forums for Deutsche Parts, but who knows, these may be OK.

Avoid/Beware of eBay seller Deutsche Parts USA. - 986 Forum - for Porsche Boxster Owners and Others

Deutsche Parts - Hamburg Technic Rear Suspension Kit - Junk or Keep?

Deutsche Parts USA - Mercedes-Benz Forum

All the above reviews are several years old. Maybe they have got their act together. On the original parts, the front upper wishbones are an aluminium forging to give the strength so any aftermarket product needs to be the same. For the moving parts, (the two swivel bushes and the ball joint), I would not expect the same service life; one gets what one pays for, in my book.

The key point is the integrity of the arm itself, as if this fractures the car becomes dangerous.

 

These are the cheapest ones you will ever find, AU $148 a pair delivered.

2 Front Upper Control ARM Jaguar S Type 99 12 XF 08 12 | eBay

I bought a set for my S-Type, they actually look OK, time will tell if they are any good though. Only installed them today so will give some feedback in a month or two.

BTW these fit the X350 too, not sure I would put them in my XJR though...

 

I did mine last year on my xjr. Picked mine up from jagbits

 

Do the S-type arms fit the X350 for sure? If so, the S-type arms are significantly cheaper in a good brand control arm (Lemforder $400ish) than one from Jaguar $600+. I need upper arms from my 06 X350 and I've been looking for options before I accept Jaguar punching holes in my wallet!

For kicks and giggles I ordered a returnable Lincoln LS arm to compare side by side. I'm doubtful that will work, but a little time will answer my questions.

 

I read another post that claimed the Lincoln LS upper control arms are interchangeable with the X350, so please let us know what you determine!

 

I have the Lincoln arm here and it looks very similar. I won't be able to find out the answer fully until Saturday, but it looks suspiciously like a match. *crosses fingers*

This arm looks pretty flimsy in Dorman. If it is a match, I may try a different brand. I can get a Lemforder for the S-type arm. I'm not trying to be cheap, but I really don't feel like paying dealer prices either...

 

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck !
Seriously, if everything measures up dimensions-wise, it is the same part. Main thing is - does it come from a reputable source ? If its a Lincoln part, it sounds like it does. Anyway, here is a little story....

When we first moved to our current house in 1995 there were two Safeway supermarkets near us, one in Crewe, and one in Sandbach. We always went to the Crewe shop because we found out that Safeways applied differential pricing to its stores. Sandbach was considered to be populated by rich people so the same stuff we bought at Crewe cost much more in Sandbach.
The car makers are no different, they don't want you to know what parts are the same on completely different makes, because they can whack up the price on some of their car names, because it is an "up-market" car. Jaguar suffers a lot from this.

 

The upper arms are the same on the S-Type, X350 XJ, X150 XK and the XF...

 

Well, here in the states I will avoid wal-mart on principle, but yes, it still applies. I wouldn't say it's an apples to apples comparison since sometimes there is unique application parts, especially where suspensions are concerned, that sometimes only can come from a dealer.

I restored a 1990 Bentley Turbo R back in the summer and I cross referenced the Bosche part numbers and got everything but suspension bushings from someone other than the dealer. It was a fun puzzle. When the weather got colder though, the radiator blew. It wasn't a special looking radiator aside from it's size. It was even proudly stamped Behr right where it could easily be seen. Bentley wanted $1,300 for one and I thought someone could get me one cheaper. I contacted Behr but they could not ship a radiator to anyone state side except a certified dealer. I could get a custom build solid aluminum radiator built cheaper than a new one from the big B.

In the end my customer bought the new radiator for the sake of time.

The funny thing was the radiator was shipped to me with no protective packaging, just a loose radiator in a box that of course arrived broken.

But that's good to know about the upper ball joint. Since I have the LS control arm i will see how that fits, and if I'm still conserned I'll get the S-Type arm. Is there any other suspension parts interchange I should know about?

 

Looking at Lincoln LS upper control arms at RockAuto, I see that Moog, which I've heard very good things about, are less expensive than the Lemforder and come with a limited lifetime warranty--whereas the Lemforder is 24 months.

 

+1 to see if the Lincoln arms fit after Saturdays replacement.
My boss are perished and i will try some replacements but expect we'll need arms soon. 150k mls

 

Sorry lads, I didn't get to it last weekend. I am going to try and have this investigated shortly. I want to know the answer about as bad as you. $500 in savings per side is something worth investing some time into.

One draw back of my test: I won't be able to check the alignment for several weeks after instillation. This is my project car and I am replacing the engine cradle and repairing some other suspension parts too and the car won't be in alignable shape for for quite a while. I won't say the arms are for sure a "match" until I know the car will also align true.

 

Having the same issues now were all 4 corners of my XJR sound like rubber ducks with there squeaking...driving me crazy. Ive got a set of good used ones from a yard and taking to a machine shop to see on removing and replacing joints with Moog, Ill let you know how it goes.

 

I'm literally about the press the button and order the Lincoln LS parts... The rear uppers look to be the same as the Lincoln LS as well. There are half a dozen great suppliers for the Lincoln setup including Motorcraft (Ford OEM.) I have my XJ8 up and I was going to pull the arm off tonight and take it over to Oreilly Auto parts because they actually stock upper arms for the Lincoln LS. Just have him pull it out of the box to see how close it is to the XJ8.

 

Try this link:

http://www.welshent.com/

I purchased suspension parts from them. Price and business practices are ++++.

Good luck.

 

XJR Rear arms are stamped SC. Not sure about front.