Hey there folks. I'm replacing my front struts on my '90 Maxima SE and I've run into a bit of a snag. My steering knuckle decided to face downwards on me and now I can't get it back to a straight position. I've got the new strut assembly fastened at the top and the very bottom bolt. However, because the knuckle is pointing downwards, I can't install the top-most lower bolt. Here is a pic of whats goin on.



Any help with this would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!!!!

 

undo the ball joint, bolt the 2 strut bolts then do the ball joint.
either that or get a second jack and lift the arm so it pushes the knuckle straight

 

The jack in the picture isn't holding anything up, its sitting there from multiple attempts to lift the arm up, but the knuckle continues to point downward. I even used a wood block with the jack to push upwards from the edge of the brake rotor itself to hopefully straighten things out, but the damned thing just won't budge.
If I undo the ball joint and it frees up the knuckle, after I install the strut bolt won't I have an issue putting the ball joint back on??? Oh...and I do appreciate your help.

 

You sure the driveshaft's inner splined section is actually meshing in the gearbox?

Make sure before you start jacking anything else you can damage either/or/both the box and the shaft

 

You should not have fastened the the bottom strut bolt yet. Undo the bottom strut bolt and the top three screws, then see if you can push the knuckle into the middle of the strut so that the two bolt holes are aligned, then put both of the screws in place but dont tighten yet . Then make sure the top holes are aligned and put the screws on them, then tighten everything up and you should be good to go!

 

make sure that your lower bolt that you have shown there is loose, then try turning the wheel one way or the other a little bit to see if that helps (then do what greeny says... see below). I've unbolted and reattached the knuclke without touching the balljoint on NUMEROUS occasions, never had a problem once.

 

PUSH...........

 

My neightbor came home and I asked him to take a look at it. He is one of those automotive sevant types and from taking a good look at and playing with it for a bit (even gave it a good couple of swings with a wood block/hammer) he said it looks like one of the CV joints popped out. He said If I removed the axle and rotated/pushed on the cv joint it should pop back in. Does that sound about right to you guys? If this is the problem, then I've got a bigger issue as I have neither the knowledge or tools to remove the axle. I'd just drop this off at a mechanic, but with the condition the car is in, I can't move it.

 

you don't have to remove the axle to do that. follow the axle toward the transmission, and in the middle of it you'll see a big cylindircal thing attached to a bracket by 3 12mm-headed bolts. does there appear to be any gap between the bracket and the part attached to the axle? if the bolts are tight and therre is no gap, the axle cannot POSSIBLY be out. this only applies to the passenger side. driver side has no bearing in the middle. if you live near me i can come fix it for a small fee.

 

Thanks for the info CapedCadaver. I looked and all 3 bolts are snug with no gaps. While I would vastly appreciate physical help in this (I would be willing to pay), I'm in Portland, Oregon. A wee bit away from North Carolina.

 

well one thing you can try now is stepping on (or otherwise pushing down on) the control arm on that side. I would disconnect the swaybar endlink from the control arm so you aren't fighting the tension of the swaybar. that way the whole steering knuclke will act like a lever and either line it up, or at least make it easier for a helper to push on. I had to stand on my brother's control arms on his camry to get his balljoints reattached after an axle replacement and we left the swaybar links attached and BOY was it tough!

 

First things first - have you tried pushing down on the control arm and pushing in against the outside of the brake rotor? Pushing up on the steering knuckle (brake rotor side or not) with a jack just pushes up on the control arm, which will force the unfastened end of the knuckle up and away from the strut.

If that doesn't work, try unbolting the strut from the steering knuckle. Can you turn the push the steering knuckle into the proper angle by hand now? If so, I'd think that the strut is hanging down too low in relation the control arm. This could be caused by:
A) a strut assembly that is not at the right height (check and make sure you have the strut top nut fully fastened, and that the threads on the top hat of the mount are all poking through when you're trying to do this
B) something is keeping your lower control arm from extending downward - check for binding, etc.

If you still can't - check and make sure that the axle nut on the hub is tight and the outer joint doesn't slide back and forth in the hub.

Good luck!

 

Well folks.....ITS IN!
I straightened the steering wheel, dropped the arm about 2 inches and gave it a couple whacks with the end of a 2x4. It sunk right back into place and 5 minutes later the strut was installed and the wheel back on. I took it for a short drive around the block and all is well. I thank you all very much for your assistance in this matter and wish you all a great day!

 

good to see you have it figured out.

I was about to send MrGone down there to fix it for you...

 

Well if you send him...he could replace the tie-rod ends for me.
Local place is gonna charge me $60 to do it. :P

 

wow $60?? thats like a 1/2 hour job.... He's gonna eat good that week :P

 

60 bucks ,... that doesn't sound too bad,... I'd try to get it done for like 50 though ... now if it was for both the inner and outer,.. well 60'd be a good deal IMO

 

Well considering all the other shop around town wanted around $130, I think I got a good deal. Anyways, the mechanic also notified me that my driver side bearing is on its way out. I figured it was since there has been an odd light grinding sound that was matching the speed. So, theres more fun for those guys.

 

are you referring to book time or actual time? they are very different things. shops charge book time. It helps keep pricing comparable between shops

 

I had a bearing that spun the race a bit,.. and that sucker sounded like a prop plane going down the highway at 65mph,... I never did figure it out until I changed the axles out and discovered that the bearing was about shot .. So how much are they going to charge for the the tierod ends and the bearing? ..

 

Well I already got the tierods installed and took my car over to the closes Les Schwab and had them do a front-end alignment. All I can say is....YAY! My steering wheel is back to straight and no more rattleing/thumping. I'm gonna call Vina Autocare (the guys who did the tierod install) tommorow and see how much the bearing replacement will be.

 

Well I called over at Vina Autocare and they wanted $136 to replace the driver side bearing...and that includes me supplying parts. Les Schwab wants $180 out the door and Nissan Specialty wanted $324. I think I'm gonna let Les Schwab take a stab at it.

 

Buy the parts you need and and drop them off to a machine and let them press on the bearings for about $40 and install the rest yourself!

 

Well Les Schwab is being stupid. Their quoted price is way off as I called again and now they want $310 to do their $180 job. I've checked a few other places and they seem to be around $250 for replacing the drivers side wheel bearing and the 2 bearing seals. Does this sound about right to you folks???

 

WHEEL BEARING- REMOVE & REPLACE
Front,One Side Includes: Replace inner and/or outer bearings and cups and repack where applicable. B 2.10

Rear,Hub & Bearing Assy,One Side Includes: R&R inner and outer bearings, cups, seals and repack where applicable. B 0.90

the # is the time in hours that the labor guide says the job should take.

 

So basically 3 hrs for labor X $60-$80 per hr labor rate(varies by location)= $180-$240 just for labor...

Autobotguy: does their quotes include parts? or just labor with you buying the parts?

 

depends on front or rear. I clarified my post a bit.

 

I just looked at an invoice for my passenger side wheel bearing I had done.... $156 parts and labor.
This was at my cousin's shop he owns, so he probably didn't charge me book time


edit:made mistake on the price, its fixed now

 

you pay for labor at your cousin's OWN shop

 

The prices I listed all include parts and labor...except for the quote from Vina Autocare. If I was to take it to Vina...what parts would I need to take to him for the complete job? Would I just need the Bearing and the inner + outter seals?

 

What you should do, if Portland has them, is find out where the chop shops are - where all the unlicensed mechanics work (alot of them new to the country so no citezenship), there you can get deals galore...cash only deals, no receipt usually. You can walk around and get quotes from shop to shop, since many can be situated close to eachother.

Paying a regular mechanic is a waste of money in my opinion for the repair you need done...it's not a difficult job. Buy the parts yourself and hand them to them, and bring a stop watch - that's what I did - you can stand in the area to watch at the ones where I went.

 

ya, he's got alot more business these years. back when I was younger he wasn't so busy and did it himself and didnt charge as much, he has 2 guys working for him now so he charges me a bit more.

although he has done a couple of things for me for free and with my truck he found a couple of minor things that needed done too while he was working on it and he did it no charge, where most shops would charge ya likes its another item thats completely seperate and bill ya up for more labor.

 

Maybe that was a good idea for you, but you are an idiot to recommend this to someone in this forum.

Is he going to get a warranty? umm, **** no..

Is he going to have to go to the "bad" part of town to get this done, yes, is this a smart thing to do just to save a few bucks, NO

Is the job going to get done properly with him standing there with a ******* stopwatch, again, NO..

Do not recommend this stupid sheit to any one on this forum again..

 

LOL....I can't beleive what 1993-VG30E-GXE posted. Seriously dude....those kinda transactions should be kept to yourself.

Anyways, I checked through Courtesyparts.com and found:

[40210] BEARING ASSY-FRONT WHEEL = $57.04 (x1)
[40232] GREASE SEAL = $14.59 (x2)
[38514] RING-SNAP = $5.34 (x2)

Are these the only parts I'm gonna need for a bearing replacement? I know I can get better prices through local stores, but I will need to purchace the snap rings through Courtesy since that is not gonna be an item that a local store will carry.

 

Now now greeny, don't get all personal. First off, you do get a warranty - the warranty at some of these places, in fact these guys give you better service than a major shop in my opinion. Better customer service too. I wouldn't call Scarborough a bad part of town - now maybe in the US that's different, these kind of shops could be near crossfire but portland? Is that really a dangerous place?

Really when it comes down to it, these types of jobs like he mentions are nothing, literally bolting something together - pressing something in. The more I work on this particular car, the more I realize the scam that is all repairs charged by a mechanic. If you don't stand there with a stop watch, what they'll do is put your car up on a lift, along with 4 other cars in a row. Then, they'll simultaneously work on all the cars at once, while taking 'breaks' leaving your car waiting at times, with the clock running, to justify the time. I'ts like the GM guy with a mop making 100 grand a yr.

Regular mechanics have set rates i'm pretty sure, in a computer, for any certain job. Un-licensed mechanics / shops that have a good reputation, will bill by real time. Regular mechanics exagerate things to hell on the invoice.

What I say you do is read the service manual for just that part, then you'll know if his hrs are reasonable or not.

 

LMAO!!!!!!! uR BUGGIN not knockin u, but stuff like that could get people hurt and theres no proof who it was done by....

 

Just check the FSM they have a blown up view of the parts then cross reference with the courtesy website. I don't think I should keep those transactions to myself - if you didn't have sharp guys like me around, the un-informed wouldn't get those 'hints' if you know what I mean. But, at the end of the day it's all opinion, and that was just my opinion.

 

Ok, so I'll get get what I listed as far as parts. What brand name of bearing do you guys use? There are quite a few manufacturers and some are names I've never heard of. Timken, NSK, SKF

 

Just buy the cheapest that fits your model. It's all good enough. Unless you are going to keep the car forever, you probably won't reach the repair limit on the new ones. You can try partsbin and other people mention rock auto....or internetauto guy on this site.

I think my OEM ones were Koyo.

 

wtf r u serious why not just say "if u need spare parts u can always steal another car strip it and use those parts"

DO NOT GO TO A CHOP SHOP

thats why your car has so many problems dude they prolly have been stealing parts of your car and throwing in peices of **** to replace em'