The L300 Suspension Thread

ccmickelson

ccmickelson

Well-Known Member
I'm in the midst of doing a 4D56 for D4BF engine swap in my Delica and have been waiting for my interminable Amayama orders (now further delayed by the current G20 Summit in Osaka, which apparently shuts down everything) in order to continue with the project. In the mean time...I have begun ordering up suspension parts as just about everything but the shocks underneath the van is squeaky, creaky, dried up, cracked and worn out, including every bushing, boot and bellows which is not too surprising after 25 years and 150,000 miles. My plan is to maintain the stock suspension setup and just refresh as much as I can under there.
IMG_8357.JPG

I plan on removing and repainting some of the components, including the control arms, sway bar, brake calipers, backing plates, wheel hubs, rear axle and various and assundry other bits and pieces.

So far I've gotten these parts in...

The first lot, which includes tie rods and ends, upper and lower ball joints and upper control arm bushings, came from a Taiwanese company called ALN Suspension that sells on Amazon under autochassisparts. The lot ran $246 even and got here in exactly 7 days. It all looks like high-quality stuff as far as I can tell. I'd be interested to know if anyone else here has experience with these parts.

IMG_8345.JPG

The next lot, which includes, inner and outer CV boot kits and lower control arm bushings, are Febest equivalents and also sold on Amazon under Finest Auto Parts and ran $103 and took 5 days to get here.

IMG_8347.JPG

The outer CV boot I.D. on the shaft side looks too narrow. I ordered the Febest BT-UN which is cross-referenced with the OEM part #MB526274 but the dimensions don't seem to be correct. This is also the boot that comes up on the Febest application page for the Delica P25W. It has the right length and hub-side I.D., but the axle I.D. is only 20mm and the axle is 30mm. Anyone familiar with this?

Here are the inner and outer boot side-by-side for comparison...

IMG_8358.JPG

I suppose it is possible to "stretch" the outer boot over the axle but it is not ideal and I imagine it may fatigue the rubber over time.

The remainder of the smaller bushings, including the 4 leaf spring bushings, sway bar bushings, shock bushings and bump stops will hopefully, one day, arrive from Amayama. I have also ordered new bushings for the transmission and front diff mounts and will be installing new engine mounts when I install the D4BF.

I know many of you have already been down this road and I appreciate any comments, suggestions or advice on the matter.
 
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I haven't replaced any of that stuff on my van (yet). I did replace a torn CV boot, but I just used a split boot.

I wouldn't worry at all about stretching the boot 10mm if you can get it on there.
 
ccmickelson said:
I'm in the midst of doing a 4D56 for D4BF engine swap in my Delica and have been waiting for my interminable Amayama orders (now further delayed by the current G20 Summit in Osaka, which apparently shuts down everything) in order to continue with the project. In the mean time...I have begun ordering up suspension parts as just about everything but the shocks underneath the van is squeaky, creaky, dried up, cracked and worn out, including every bushing, boot and bellows which is not too surprising after 25 years and 150,000 miles. My plan is to maintain the stock suspension setup and just refresh as much as I can under there.
View attachment 2692

I plan on removing and repainting some of the components, including the control arms, sway bar, brake calipers, backing plates, wheel hubs, rear axle and various and assundry other bits and pieces.

So far I've gotten these parts in...

The first lot, which includes tie rods and ends, upper and lower ball joints and upper control arm bushings, came from a Taiwanese company called ALN Suspension that sells on Amazon under autochassisparts. The lot ran $246 even and got here in exactly 7 days. It all looks like high-quality stuff as far as I can tell. I'd be interested to know if anyone else here has experience with these parts.

View attachment 2690

The next lot, which includes, inner and outer CV boot kits and lower control arm bushings, are Febest equivalents and also sold on Amazon under Finest Auto Parts and ran $103 and took 5 days to get here.

View attachment 2694

The outer CV boot I.D. on the shaft side looks too narrow. I ordered the Febest BT-UN which is cross-referenced with the OEM part #MB526274 but the dimensions don't seem to be correct. This is also the boot that comes up on the Febest application page for the Delica P25W. It has the right length and hub-side I.D., but the axle I.D. is only 20mm and the axle is 30mm. Anyone familiar with this?

Here are the inner and outer boot side-by-side for comparison...

View attachment 2693

I suppose it is possible to "stretch" the outer boot over the axle but it is not ideal and I imagine it may fatigue the rubber over time.

The remainder of the smaller bushings, including the 4 leaf spring bushings, sway bar bushings, shock bushings and bump stops will hopefully, one day, arrive from Amayama. I have also ordered new bushings for the transmission and front diff mounts and will be installing new engine mounts when I install the D4BF.

I know many of you have already been down this road and I appreciate any comments, suggestions or advice on the matter.
Click to expand...
Are the 4 leaf bushings all the same, MB584530 for each side?
 
rtaylor6753 said:
Thought so. I was getting two part number on amayama and one part number on megazip. Thanks!
Click to expand...
If you are talking about part 41983 in the diagram, they are two different part numbers... the upper bushings are a little longer/wider (as are the shackles). MB58430 are the lowers, MB58431 are the uppers. They are the same on each side though.
 
sk66 said:
If you are talking about part 41983 in the diagram, they are two different part numbers... the upper bushings are a little longer/wider (as are the shackles). MB58430 are the lowers, MB58431 are the uppers. They are the same on each side though.
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Thanks @sk66! That's what I needed. Looks like these are available at wallyworld? I don't particularly like to shop at walmart, but they are coming up in a google search with oem mits packaging and inexpensive.
 
probably wallyworld online only... from a third party (they're trying to do their own version of amazon reselling).
 
Yup, having just replaced those bushes myself the uppers and lowers are definitely different lengths.
They're actually kind of clever- when you first install them, they seem too long and not fat enough, but they install into the leaf eyes really easily. When you tighten the shackles the bushes compress and expand, locking into place. (Which is why you tighten the shackles with the van's weight on the suspension).
 
I'm looking into replacing most of the parts listed on here. I am having difficultly finding the lower ball joints. I checked the autochassisparts seller on Amazon and nothing is hitting. The part number I have is MB527351 (Left) and MB527352 (Right). Is that correct? Tie rods, upper ball joints, and even most of the bushings I can find equivalents readily available. Any pro tips?
 
oneadVANture said:
I'm looking into replacing most of the parts listed on here. I am having difficultly finding the lower ball joints. I checked the autochassisparts seller on Amazon and nothing is hitting. The part number I have is MB527351 (Left) and MB527352 (Right). Is that correct? Tie rods, upper ball joints, and even most of the bushings I can find equivalents readily available. Any pro tips?
Click to expand...
You have the right part #'s... now just plug them into a cross reference
 
oneadVANture said:
I'm looking into replacing most of the parts listed on here. I am having difficultly finding the lower ball joints. I checked the autochassisparts seller on Amazon and nothing is hitting. The part number I have is MB527351 (Left) and MB527352 (Right). Is that correct? Tie rods, upper ball joints, and even most of the bushings I can find equivalents readily available. Any pro tips?
Click to expand...

Here are the ones I got...

Amazon.com: ALN Suspension 2 FRONT LOW BALL JOINT MITSUBISHI DELICA L300 86-09 4WD: Automotive

Buy ALN Suspension 2 FRONT LOW BALL JOINT MITSUBISHI DELICA L300 86-09 4WD: Ball Joints - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
 
Whoa sk66 that is a great resource! Though it still seems to returning parts from overseas. Which isn't a problem but still seems to be a relatively difficult part to find.

It looks like the Montero 4wd may use the same lower ball joint. Its a different part number though (MB831037 on the left side). Has anyone tried this? Then its just quicker/cheaper shipping, known brand qualities, etc. If no one has tried this, I may just get the cheapest one I can find locally and compare once I take my front end apart.

ccmickelson said:
Here are the ones I got...

Amazon.com: ALN Suspension 2 FRONT LOW BALL JOINT MITSUBISHI DELICA L300 86-09 4WD: Automotive

Buy ALN Suspension 2 FRONT LOW BALL JOINT MITSUBISHI DELICA L300 86-09 4WD: Ball Joints - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
Click to expand...

Ahhh I'm surprised that didn't hit! I found an Amazon "store" for autochassisparts, and looked at that. Looks like it may have to be ALN to work. Thanks for the link!
 
oneadVANture said:
Whoa sk66 that is a great resource! Though it still seems to returning parts from overseas. Which isn't a problem but still seems to be a relatively difficult part to find.
Click to expand...
When the local parts supplier cross references don't work I'll use one like that to get some more options... which might then work locally.
oneadVANture said:
It looks like the Montero 4wd may use the same lower ball joint.
Click to expand...
I would have thought so, but I haven't tried or confirmed. From what I can see though is that the montero part has an indexing (?) protrusion on the side that the delica part doesn't. I'm rather certain it could be ground off if necessary.

2729

I did find this one that also matched the montero (and ram 50) which doesn't have the protrusion... but it also seems to be one that the local stores have to order in.
 
There is a slight difference; the cone on the Montero part is .1mm larger in diameter... might not be enough to really matter.2743
 
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sk66 said:
There is a slight difference; the cone on the Montero part is .1mm larger in diameter... might not be enough to really matter.
Click to expand...

At only a ~3 thou difference I'll take the risk! In a few weeks I'll probably be doing the work and putting parts on, so once I do I'll update with results!
 
Yeah, I really can't see it making a difference. Probably the main reason for them being different parts is that indexing protrusion.
 
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