Well, I don't know if the 12 ton has umph. But, if you do try to use it, your committed. Because you'll press the pivot into the seat and its now junk. So if you start it with yours and it fails, have a shop lined up to finish it and repress the new ones. You'll either save a few bucks doing it yourself or pay them the same amount anyways.

 

My 12 ton Harbor Freight press worked on mine. But I have replaced those crappy cast iron arbor plates with better ground steel ones. The stock ones are prone to shattering.

 

Where do you get these replacement plates?

 

20 Ton Steel Shop Press Bed Plates H Frame Arbor 4 Notch 7" x 7" x Bar Set | eBay

 

Where did you get your parts from? Some of the bushings have proven to be difficult to find, particularly OEM.

 

I priced out the OE stuff from an online dealer in NV -- not too bad. I would never use unknown aftermarket on something requiring so much labor to install.

 

I got the Lemforder lower ball joints off of Amazon.com.

Lemforder tie-rod ends and Lemforder upper ball joints from FCP Euro.

I went with the Meyle lower bushings because of good reviews and because I have used Meyle suspension products on my Volvo with good results. I also put Meyle engine mounts on my BMW many years ago and they are still good.

The wild card on this order is the URO brand upper bushings. I was told they are perfectly good bushings by several people who have used them, so I decided to give them a shot. They were less than $7 a piece, so if anyone wants to talk me into some different ones I am open to being convinced.

I also got all the bushings from FCP Euro. They would take the bushings back if I changed my mind, they have pretty good customer service.

 

You may want to consider buying recon OEM wishbones--they've already done the work for you and they're priced reasonably--between $80-140. The OEM bushings alone cost about 75% of new arms in my case. I had good luck finding OEM parts at the Britsish suppliers when FCPEuro or RockAuto didn't have them--I know that Anthony at berkshirejagcomponents.co.uk has recons for the X308. I got new ones from him for my X350-- I'm not sure if he can get new ones for the X308, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.

I used a 20 ton press on the bushings I replaced and had no trouble at all with the force of the press, so I would think a 12 ton would be adequate, but it was not a quick process; one problem was finding a proper sized punch/driver that was the exact same size as the bushings. I had to borrow two kits for my local parts store and it still wasn't a perfect fit. I installed three different sized bushings on both sides of the car and the setup was not as easy as I hoped. So, for the wishbones, I elected to buy replacements rather than press in new bushings--it just seems to me that the small additional cost is far outweighed by the extra time and risk of messing up an aluminum arm. Actually, I think I will probably recover the cost differential by selling my used arms on eBay.

 

I have all the parts I need to re-do the front upper and lower wishbones so I think I will just muscle-up and try to do all the work myself. Part of the fun of maintaining my car is doing as much as possible myself. I won't lie though, the idea of ordering the re-conditioned ones is tempting, but I've already spent the money for bushings and ball joints and I don't have an unlimited car budget. Plus, I can't find ANY re-conditioned ones that would not have to be shipped from overseas.

I am confident in the quality of the Lemforder ball joints and the Meyle bushings (in fact the Meyle are what the British guy used to re-condition the ones he sells), it's just the Uro bushings that are the wild card. They look like quality and sturdy items to hold them in my hand; they don't seem "cheap". He used Meyle brand to re-condition the upper bushings (for which I have the Uro) but I can't find a Meyle bushing anywhere that says it fits the upper wishbone. Like the beginning of the thread says, it's either Uro or Jaguar, nothing in between.

The occasional vibration I would like to eliminate could be completely unrelated to the wishbones, but I would like to refresh everything just as a matter of upkeep, it's got 117,000 miles on it now.

With regard to that vibration, it is very unpredictable. It seems to happen more when the weather outside is hotter. It also seems to become less, and even disappear, after 8-15 miles of driving. Some days it just doesn't happen at all. It really seems I'm dealing with a tire issue, but these are low mileage Continental ExtremeContact tires, they are not cheap tires. I've had the alignment done and all four wheels road force balanced. I had a similar issue on a Tahoe years ago that I bought used with new Bridgestones on it, I just lived with it and figured it was a rough riding truck (it was lifted a little). When I wore out the Bridgestones I put Michelins on it and it rode like a Cadillac; it was the tires the whole time.

By the way, if anyone wants to rent/sell me the proper spring compressor please PM me. Thanks.

 

Ok, ironically after all of my previous searching I just googled and found on the Meyle website their part number that cross references to the Jaguar CBC5523 is 18-14 610 0000. I found it on Amazon.com for $9.39 each with free shipping.

I may return the Uro brand and order those. Any opinions on the matter?

 

That, my friend, is a personal decision....if your saving descent mula, I say buy those and return the others. Just a few bucks, then don't worry about it, puttem' in.

 

Well, believe it or not at $9.39 each they actually cost more than the Uro bushing I already have. In this scenario price is not really a factor, as far as the upper bushings go. The question is: is there a significant quality difference between Uro and Meyle?

 

I did this job last year and bought the URO bushings. Still holding up just fine.

 

I sent FCP an email asking if they could source the Meyle bushings, and if so would they allow me to exchange the Uro. If they say yes, fine. If not I may just go ahead and put in the Uro bushings. I'm not really losing sleep either way. Thanks for the feedback though xjrjag. Mark SF also said the Uro bushings are a perfectly good product.

The new development is this; I found a thread where someone explained the exact same symptoms I am experiencing on his XJR. For him it was the shocks. Now I have an itch to go ahead and replace both front shocks as part of this project, but that will SIGNIFICANTLY increase the cost. I am 99% sure the correct part number for my front adaptive shocks is MND2140GD, and the cheapest I've found them so far is $343 each.

 

Front Shock Absorber - MND2140GD - Genuine Jaguar at www.rimmerbros.co.uk ....not much cheaper, but cheaper nonetheless.

 

I suspect that the other poster did not need to replace the entire shocks, just the upper and lower bushings. It is unusual for a shock to knock, they usually just progressively lose their damping.

 

He described it that sometimes his front wheels would bounce up and down like basketballs, which is how I would describe what mine sometimes does. I already replaced the lower shock bushings and upper shock mounts.

Could I have installed the lower bushings incorrectly? I need to figure out a reliable way to test the shocks to see if they really need replacing.

 

Actually, I'm afraid that does sound like the shocks.

 

I can't find a cross reference, but is this the same shock?

W0133-2033801 | Partsgeek.com

 

Mr Harvest,
Try this link... Suspension Parts for a 1999 JAGUAR XJ8 - Shocks, Struts, Coilovers, Springs and Swaybars
it's where I got the ones I just put on my XJR...