I was reading the Chiltons and it looks fairly simple for the 3rd gen, dont even have to take the control arm off...now I was wondering if it was almost the same procedure for the 4th gen? I've been hearing that it's impossible to replace it on ours, but clearly there have been people that did it, and advanced auto parts sell a replacement....so....how exactly did all you do it?

 

www.rockauto.com
they sell the bj replacement for what i heard you may have to take the control arms to a shop to have them take out old ball joint some did it on their own

 

on 4th gens u usualy change out the whole control arm.
on 3rd gen, u unscrew the 3 nuts holding it in and it pops out of the control arm

 

I replaced mine on my 4th gen. I called my friend who works at nissan, and he told me that they do not just sell the ball joints, only the whole control arm. He said to just pick up them at Napa and get the old ball joints pressed out and pressed back in. Since your gonna have that pressed out, you might as well get polyurethane control arm bushings. So i took it down to a machine shop, the guy said that the ball joints were a piece of cake, but the control arm bushings were a PITA. It cost me a little bit over $100 for the ball joints, bushings, and labor. Hope that helps.

 

I just went through this with my right-side ball joint. In the end, I opted to replace the whole control arm instead of pressing in a new ball joint. There's no option to unbolt the joint on the 4th gens. And I've heard enough bad things about pressed-in joints failing that it was worth the extra cash to me.

The joint itself would've been $30 for the part, while the control arm was more like $200 plus another $150 in labor. If you're ambitious you could probably do the control arm yourself. Also, I found that my swaybar endlink bushing was also bad, which was causing one hell of a clunking sound. Check to see if yours has any play in it, replace as well if necessary.

Here's my previous link - http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=318958

Good luck,
TOM

 

You dont need to take out the control arm... I dont know why you guys did that. The ball joints have a lock nut that you need to take off and you can bang out the old one... while the control arm is still on the car.

 

went to napa brought replacements. and i did take off the lock nut thingy. and they are originally pressed in. let me tell you, they dont just bang out. i tryed that yesterday, and was impossible without a press. what makes it worse is if your ball joint is already worn bad that its got so much play in it. its even tougher to get it out. like me so i said f*ck it... lol anyone need 2 2 brand new balljoints?..... jk going back to store tommorrow

-rafal

 

They come out, beat the crap out of them. Its not like your going to need them. You dont have to get them pressed out. I did it right in front of my house in the street and didnt have a problem.

 

lock nut? or snap ring?

i bough control arms replacements fo 45 each and installed ES bushings

 

I'm having the same problem that you are all having or had. Can you guys link us to site where we can buy this arm control thing or should we get it off the Nissan dealer. I dont want to spend that much money, but i want it last for quite a bit since I'm probably going to keep this car for awhile. thank you

(I'm sorry PoePoe2797 bumpin in)

 

For the right-side control arm, the part # is 54500-41U02. You can verify part numbers @ Nissan4Parts.com. The cheapest I found it was $141 plus shipping @ Everything Nissan, but I don't know if they are reputable or not. Their check-out page is not secure, so I'd order over the phone if anything.

Good luck.
TOM

 

I bought my control arm off of ebay. Just do a search for 'maxima arm' and it will pull it up if there are any for sale. I picked mine up for about $80. including shipping.

 

What are some signs that your ball joints are going bad? I'm thinking I need to take a look at mine.

 

Some signs are a hollow clunk going over bumps, play in the wheel, erratic steering/cornering, and leaky boots.

I took a quick look at the ball joint today and if it did need to be pressed out, I dont know how someone would fit a press in there because the axel is literally directly over the nut about an 1" space in between. But even then, if by some way i got the joint out, I wouldn't know how to press a new one in with no space. I was really hoping to replace it w/o taking off the control arm, but i honestly have no clue

 

well, you must of beat the living sh*t outta that ball joint ant i was ready to take it all out and grab a few swings with the sledge hammer.

but signs are clunking on turns like the guy said, and thats exactly what i always get. ****ing me off

-rafal

 

To check for a bad ball joint you'll have clunking but the easiest way to check is to simply jack up your car and try to move your wheel around. If you have play on the wheel when you shake it in and out towards yourself the ball joint is bad.

And yea its a pain to take out but theres no need for a machine shop to take your money.... did you get to take it out?

 

first to separate the ball joint from hub you nees a special tool of course you can do it the hard way but using tool is a lot easier


this works good but tend to tear the ball joint boot not good if you are reusing it

ball joint tool


after control arm is separated from hub(thing that hold disk,bearing etc..) you can take off the ball joint from control arm and replace with new one or you can replace the whole control arm either way you can find both items for a good price(replacements of course) at www.rockauto.com

ball joint part #k9818 $23.79+shipping
control arm part#5343A61 $42.79+shipping