front lower arm RBJ500920 | |
This part number was introduced for MY07. I have replaced the arms a couple of times in quick succession on my MY12 L322 after a damaged boot caused premature failure of an original. I have found that the balljoint in the Britpart version, another unbranded version and the Delphi version all allow less angle for full droop than the original LR version. I have just refitted a LR original that was removed at 150K kms when the other side was replaced a 2nd time.
The rear shocks in the TDV8 MY07 are longer than the earlier models and all MY10 onwards have the longer rear shocks, albeit in CVD form. I now suspect that the MY07 front shocks are also longer than earlier models and that the new part number was introduced because the balljoint allows a greater angle for full droop. Whilst I assumed that the no-name versions failed quickly because they were made of inferior materials, I was surprised that the most recently fitted Delphi only lasted 16K kms until I checked the balljoint angles in all the old arms and found that the ball in the original LR version allows a greater angle than all the others. Mine's front shocks can top-out if I travel a little too quickly over some of the humps and bumps on my 2km rural driveway, so full droop occasionally occurs.
I'll be acquiring Lemforder as soon as I can but I'll be checking their angle before fitting them. I note that the LR originals have a symbol that looks like the Lemforder symbol.
I suspect that after-market manufacturers are still using early version arms as a pattern, not realising that a critical aspect changed from MY07.
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