So I’m faced with an odd dilemma, scratching my head over. My front driver lower wish bone trianglular brackets say L-h rear on the rear bracket, and R-h front on the front bracket. ???? Wtf??!! So I went and checked the right hand side and lo and behold it says left hand front on the front bracket. I’m searching online and they look like the same plate, however they have different part numbers on them? I’m confused…

 

Someone has been there before and mixed up the front arms. Just put them where they should be according to what is stamped on them. There is a difference between them. They are mirror images. This is probably affecting your suspension geometry.

 

Take measurements with a veneer calliper to check if they are different . Looking at them I suspect someone knows they are interchangeable

 

The hole for the lower shock bushing bolt is not equidistant from the clamping torx bolts on the front bracket so they are, as gd says, mirror images. I can't see how the shock bolt would be square across the brackets if the latter fronts are fitted on the wrong side.

 

AS always micheal ..right but not odious from the photos

 

Agreed - I was trying to line up the bolt from the pics.

 

So they are definitely mixed up, and as a result are more than likely the reason for my lower dampener mount to be trashed. Reason being; having the brackets on the wrong sides the space between bolt holes for dampener was too great and caused excessive play/wear due to the bend in the brackets being in the wrong direction.
thanks for the input guys, now I gotta get the other bracket off to swap them but I parked like a tool in the garage and made it much harder for myself to get to passenger side. I was originally planning on doing just the drivers side and turning car around for more space to do passenger side. Guess that’s not happening now. lol.

badly worn out lower mount

Bracket at my fingertips in wrong side causing bend in bracket to be in wrong orientation, making gap between both brackets too wide

 

Passengers side working room the way I parked like a dummy….whoops!

 

Hehe. You won't be the last!

Be careful - the bracket in your pic. is correctly orientated, it's just on the wrong side of the car. You'll know if you've got it right else the shock bush won't fit in the gap.
I've attached a JTIS snippet that may help.

I think that it's the bushing seals that fail first and then crud gets in and destroys it. I guess the twist caused by the bolt being angled hasn't helped too much. It's clear in your pic. taken from above.
Are you replacing the shocks or just the bushings?

 

You ar doing well ..cannot even open the door to get out in my UK garage

 

Thanks for those images. I couldn’t get my jtis to work. I even tried my old apple laptop I used for jtis when I had my xtype in08 but no luck. Yeah I noticed that the curve of the bracket IS correct based on other pics online and cross references with eBay parts for sale. I got my sand blaster cabinet working pretty good and dialed in for the most part, and only have to blast my hub, (and other bracket from pass side that belongs on the drivers side) and ill hopefully be pressing in everything this weekend and painting it.
to answer your question I have new Bilstein shocks, PHOBMANS upper mount kit, new upper and lower control arm bushings, upper and lower ball joints, new hub bearings, new sway bar end links and new tie rod ends. I already did sway bar mount bushings. For the rear I got shocks, upper mounts(uro) but hey they’ll be new, new bearings (hub) inner and outer with all seals, sway bar bushings and end links. May get more when I start taking it apart but I’m not there yet. I had a lot of rattles and sloppy handling at high speeds and the roads around western MA are better suited for 4x4 atvs than cars, so what started as a small fix turned into a project but with everything apart it’s all getting sandblasted and repainted and all new everything. You know, I’m twenty days deep into that Sunday afternoon fix which seems to happen more than I care to admit, but nothing worth doing well is ever easy, and I plan on keeping car for a long time.

 

By the way, I had another observation/question. My lower rear wish bone has a part number on it of mja1344abf . However in the parts list I have it says for my vin it should be mja1341af, and two other numbers of mja1341ag and mja1341aa. Why is mine not even listed in the part breakdown? Could it be a short lived replacement? Or possibly from an xj8? Another head scratcher here.

 

 

Ok so the more I look into these brackets the more I’m getting confused and at the same time convinced mine are right…hear this out:
The left hand/drivers side, FRONT lower dampener mounting plate fitted to my car clearly is stamped R-H Front, mja1372aa. (Same bracket on passenger side/right hand is clearly stamped L-H Front mja1373aa.) now, logic would tell me they are swapped.
HOWEVER; if I swap them then the curvature of the bracket will be incorrect based on all pictures I’ve seen of used parts for sale as well as the previous posted jtis docs by another member. (thanks again!)
NOW, here’s where it gets weird, I was able to find a brand new L-H front mja1373aa bracket on eBay and it’s orientation of the curvature in the bracket as well as the cut out in lower outer corner for sway bar end link is IDENTICAL to what I have on my car.

Bracket from my car, looking at it from front of car, part number clearly printed, cutout towards outer edge for sway bar link

Sideish view to show curvature of bracket which is correct

The one I found for sale stamped with proper side numbers and has same curvature as mine as well as properly placed cutout

am I losing my mind?????

 

The only logical conclusion is the brackets on your car are incorrectly stamped. The sway bar link relief cut must face outboard and width at damper bolt hole must be wider than control arm.

 

Well, that's a doozy! Baxtor is correct, of course.
No wonder your ashtray is full

The bracket certainly looks original:- I wonder how many escaped the factory like that?

Sounds like a severe case of "WhileI'minthereitis", but you will have ticked quite a few boxes when it's all back together

Did I read that your car has a very early VIN?

 

All advice above is good and accurate, however, I think the reason the lower bush is shot is the fact that it is a green original Bilstein. Time can be a cruel partner.
And how about all these helpful fellows on this forum??? They are the best, I have never seen anything like 'em!!! They jump right in there to help with the best advise on the internet. Just shy of jumping in their cars and coming over to lend a hand. I'm sure that's happened too.
In an effort to pay it forward, I have loaned my super dooper strut compressor to a local acquaintance to help him with his '90 something convertible. I pointed him to this forum and he read up on all he needed to know.
Quite the enthusiast he is, '39-'41 Indian 4-cylinder motorcycles that see usage often, among others. TM

 

I whole heartedly thank everyone for their input, and I do believe my parts are correct but stamped wrong(not sure how that would happen but hey….) and yes my vin is 001363, 97 xk8 coupe black on black, with 69000 mi. Everything is original, nikisil motor, etc. im on a mission now to get it back together so i can do the other side…

 

Unlikely but not impossible. You should take the part number of your inverted brackets and play them in the PowerBall. You might just win...

 

Well folks, just when I thought I was making headway, the cat scratched me again in typical jag fashion! So I dismantled my shock/coil to find that between the coil spring and the lower seat, there was absolutely nothing. Parts book shows a rubber spring seat between coil spring and lower seat/cup, and I have nothing. Maybe deteriorated and gone? Maybe never there? The world may never know. Any one else found this before?? Either way I ordered one for each side as well as bump stops which I couldn’t see behind the boot, and those were barely there as well. This is one feisty feline fighting me tooth and claw through this whole project. When it’s all back together I’m gonna romp the s—t out of this cat and show it who’s boss. It’s gonna wish it just cooperated with me haha!