By replacing ball joints ( Lower control arm from Ebay) and inner tie rods.
I can not believe on how much play was there in the ball joint when compared to new one , and inner tie rods were very loose as well.

I bought the LCA from ebay for $55 shipped and inner tie rods for $36 shipped.

The replacement of inner tie rods took 2 hours and there was no need for lossening the steering rack mounts or anything like that.

After having alignment done i was stunned on how smooth the car rides and how tight the steering feels. Finally my car rides the way i wanted it to ride for over year and half.

If you have loose steering and vibrations: balancing tires and alignments seem not to help - have your ball joints replaced along with inner tie rods.

those should be on everybody's maintenance list after 100k.

here is the write up i've made for replacing inner tie rods;
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/348507/13

Here's write up for replacing Lower Control Arms and Sway Bar bushings/endlinks

pic of loose inner tie rod:



pics of loose balljoint and LCA bushing just falling apart after 145K



Nick.

 

Nice i am in the process of replacing mine. I have to change my LCA and my motor mounts as well. Nice ride up. Good luck. BTW the worst traction problem i had do to a bad Lower control arm is during the rain season. Car has no traction even with good tires. Too much play causes traction problems. Real bad...

 

New balljoints rule !!!



Nick.

 

I have a '95 GLE with 128K. I have a "clunk" in the right front going over bumps or when not moving and turning the wheel to the right. There is a very little bit of play to the right before the clunk and it is the same clunk and area when going over bumps.

Front struts and strut bearings are original. There is also a sound when turning the wheels left or right, moving or not. This is not the same clunk - it's more of a metal click (not electrical).

I've the had the bushings re done and a lower tie rod was replaced last year due to a crack.

Everything else seems tight. An indie shop believe it's the rack but I'm not convinced (why I am posting here).

From what I have read it sure sounds like strut bearings.

Thoughts?

 

yeah try them first -

 

nice
Added to my list

 

The clicking sound is probably those strut bearings. Easy to replace if you borrow a spring compressor.

Regarding the clunk, I'm not sure. Could be one of many things.

 

Nick, very helpful, thanks.

Inner tie rods joints are the only part (short of the rack itself) I've yet to change on my car.

I have been tolerating a loose steering feel for some time now, and am in process of installing urethane bushing and new balljoints on a set of junkyard control arms. I'm hoping this fixes it. I will also have a writeup, mind if I link to yours from my site?

I already had the steering rack tension readjusted ($$), new swaybar bushings, new struts and springs, new outer tie rod ends, new steering rack bushings, and many alignments. Whattapain.

Dave

 

nick i just a bunch of stuff from this guy......and i didnt score the inner rods...but i did get outer and arms and endlinks....should i edit my order??

 

Nice write-up.

In my case, I asked the shop to look at these items last year--I was having 4 new tires mounted/bal, alignment, and inspection. They assured me that the tie rods/ball joints were fine, because if not they would fail me for inspection. Therefore, as luck would have it, my shakes did not go away (98 SE w/90k at the time).

I bet if I replace mine it would solve the problem. Our cars are not rocket science, there is a cause/effect for everything. Also, what about the outer tie rod, don't need that? And did you have to buy new boots as well? The OEM stuff lists for $188.27 each side (LCA), so even with 25% off it's double what you paid.

Good job.

 

How is the quality of the Ebay control arm? Did you use the bushings supplied with them? Do you have the part numbers of all the parts you replaced?

 

Nice hob, that should go to How-Tos.!

 

Dgeesaman: you are more than welcome !!!

Ticking VTC: yes order inner tie rods as well , i bet yours are very loose if they were never replaced.

Frank Fontaine:I wanted to replace to outer ones as well , but i just didn't want to wait any longer for shipping and parts arrival, I can only work on the car on Friday , and I 've had appoitment for alignment.
Those outer tie rods are cheap to replace , i will redo mine sometime next year - right now i just want to enjoy driving the car again !!!
You can reuse the boots if they are still fine.

Jsutter: Ebay LCA are great quality, they come with bushings and zerk lubrication fittings so you can regrease the balljoint.
here's few pics:





Nick.

 

Where did you get special tools for the job?

 

I've done all the work at local military auto skills center, they have all the tools.

the inner tie rod tool could be purchased from Ebay, or Peepboys sells them for $49.


here's one on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW

Nick.

 

Nick, i see you went for the Ebay LCA's. The grease fitting works great. I might have to look into purchasing some inner tie rod ends too now. Which ones wear out faster, inner or outer?

 

good question ,The outer tie rods were still tight when moved around(joints) , the inner ones were loose and limb as hell !!!

Nick.

 

Damn it all to hell! Now I'm gunna spend more money. lol. Will it ever end!?

I reciently drove my friends G35 which has such beautiful handling and steering. I was very shocked actually. I always wanted to get rid of the slop in the steering and now I have the answer. Thanks nick BTW did you get the rear suspension all set up?

 

The only LCAs on eBay right now are $66-$68 PLUS over $10 shipping...same seller?

 

After 135K 96' has as much play in the steering as my dads 68 dodge truck. Well maybee not that much but this is next on my maintenance list. Thanks for the info!!

 

I need to do this...

 

Saw this, just wondering, its for A32 Cefiro... is this just OEM replacement, or an upgrade/performance part?

http://city-racer.hypermart.net/ste...0tie%20rods.htm

 

there is few guys on ebay with LCA's , the one i bought from has a warehouse in Chicago.

its still well worth $78 shipped

Nick.

 

My 99 SE (100 k miles) has vibrations above 65 mph, but steering seems tight. I've done alignment and balancing, and neither helped. So should I just replace the inner tie rods? Or should I do the LCA as well?

 

Rotate the tires first and see if the vibrations move around. If so, it's a bad tire.

 

just curious, but aside from the shimmy, and play in the steering, did any of these make noise or anything like that? i think im gonna get a lil annoyed if changing my whole suspension doesnt do the trick, and i gotta do this too to get the car to ride nice.. honestly though, ive been drivin the car so much much and im so use to it, i dont even know if id be able to realize if the steering was sloppy

 

bump... good thead anyway

 

Bump : J/w if anyone knew the answer to my previous question

 

your link doesn't work


Nick.

 

It did up until yestarday for me.. hmm.. weird

 

very curious.. what exactly does having the steering rack tension adjusted do??

 

It wastes money.

Actually, it's an adjustable steering gear with a nut that presses the gear to the rack and reduces feedback to the wheel. They tend to loosen some as the parts wear, and Nissan actually increased the spec according to a TSB.

It was difficult for the mechanic because this nut is almost flush against the firewall. I suggest you find a mechanic who is familiar with this procedure or else you may pay an astronomical labor fee while the putz around with it.

Dave

 

thanks for the reply.. was just curious though cause i had never heard anyone mention somethin like that b4.. just finished "restoring" my suspesion, so now im debating if attacking the steering is gonna be next on my list..

 

i have this same issue, alignment, balance, re balance, brand new wheels and tires (which reduced it a bit), brand new suspension, alignment, alignment, balance, balance, no beans.

perhaps try this, but i cant rationalize that these would be the problematic parts

 

If I had the passenger side LCA replaced 2 years ago (20,000 miles) should I bother replacing both LCAs or just go w/the driver's side only?

 

20K is nothing for LCA, do the driver side only,

Nick.

 

hey nick you remember who the vendor was that you got your parts from? i see world suspension, and easter imports i think..

 

bought mine from this guy , quick shipping

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WD1V

Nick.

 

Please let me know how it works out for you, too poor to try everything.

 

I made a post about this a while back and I was asking what suspension parts I need to replace b/c my car seemed to drive bad and couldn't hold an allignment. I have Sprint springs but plan on switching to H&R.
I really don't understand the suspension that well but replacing the whole LCA would be replacing the ball joints,right? Aren't there upper and lower ball joints,though?
I guess to make it simple can someone break it down on what to replace to make my suspension like new. Nick talked about replacing the LCA and inner tie rods and that seemed to make a huge difference. What else would need to be replaced on a '95 with 130K. After I get the H&R I want to not to have to worry about the suspension anymore. Thanks!