I had my car in for an oil change and rotation today ($20 bucks ) and they said that one of my ball joints are loose. He said that the whole control arm would have to be bought because its one piece. He quoted $240.99 for the part and $129.60 for labor.

I know I need tires here soon and after I buy the new rims and tires, then I'm going to get an alignment. [as of right now I have no alignment problems) But the guy at the shop said that I am unable to get an alignment until I have the control arm replaced. Is this true?

I'm wondering if this is a hard part to replace and wondering if it sounds like he's blowing smoke up my a$$? any takers? thanks.

 

It's easy to do on your own, buy a haynes manual, 1-2 horus, check www.pinnaclenissan.com part is about 140 shipped. If it's only your ball joint, then get a new one pressed in after you buy one from me ...

 

he's blowing clouds of smoke up your ass you can do this yourself as NmexMAX has stated. There is also a great seller on ebay who sells new control arms for our cars about $80 shipped I want to say. Search on ebay, dont know his name but his images of the control arm have a green background (like it was shot on a greenscreen)

I'd handle reapirs first before doing luxuries. . . I also should take my own damn advise.

 

Yeah, buy the part, do it yourself, but you will need an alignment afterwards.

Jack up your car and look at it yourself, both of mine look pretty rusted and I'll be replacing them both this summer. If your control arm itself is in good shape, you can buy just the ball joint ~$30, but then you have to have a ball joint press to get the old one out, and the new one in.

 

Well, I'll probably get the whole control arm and joint together and take care of it myself. I appreciate your suggestions everyone.

 

Common guys, $130 for the labor is very reasonable. I'd say take it if you are allowed to bring the part to him. Hell, I'd be tempted to replace them as a pair. That'll be one less thing to worry about for the next 100k miles.

 

But to think about how easy it is and think about what you could've done with that money /

 

More money for more neons...right NmexMAX?

 

get energy suspension bushings for the lower control arm

 

Yeah ... :

 

it may be reasonable but if he can do the job himself that $130 saved.

 

I can definitely say that after replacing mine, the steering was no longer sloppy and the factory-new suppleness of the ride was back!

Also, if you do it yourself it definitely helps to have air tools. The metal sleeve of the bushing would not come off on mine and I had to carefully use a cutoff wheel to filet the sleeve and then pryed it off. Also, getting that axle nut off by hand is no fun--an impact wrench is definitely helpful.

 

uh oh . . . not even with a 3 foot long break bar? uh oh I might have to get creative since i have no air tools and a axle in need of changing.

 

Autozone has the balljoint press as a loaner. Works great. Press out, press in.

 

good to know.

 

changing the LCA could be really frustrating when working in driveway , and without power tools.

I have changed mine with the car on the lift and power tools on hand, job wasn't so bad , just don't round off the nut on lower balljoint , than your car will Own you !!!

$249 for LCA it must be your local dealer price, get one from Ebay or one from Pinaclle Nissan for $140 and either DIY or have you mechanic do it.


I bought mine off this Guy, email him for one from 95-99
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...spagename=WDVW


Nick.

 

Who knows... maybe you'll have better luck than some. Also, to access that nut while the tire is still on and contacting the ground (so it doesn't move), yOu have to put on the spare. That is a pain in and of itself! The axle nut and the crank pulley bolt are among the two toughest to loosen up the first time around.

 

Thanks. Think I'll tackle that myself soon. Gonna let a shop do the inner & outer tie rods though.

 

Autozone pitman arm puller and inner tie rod tool make those easy as well. Really, they aren't hard - the hardest part of the front arm job is getting the control arms switched because they are big and the bolts take a good bit of torque. I used an air impact wrench on them, but I think an 18" breaker bar with a jack handle cheater bar should do reasonably well also. But if you're only changing the ball joint itself then the arm can stay on the car I think.

Definitely need a full alignment.

Dave

 

All you need is a picklefork, aka ball joint seperator, and a breaker bar, I used a 2 ft fence post.

You don't need to remove the axle nut. GET A HAYNES!!!!!!!!

 

do it yourself !!!! I have a wirte up in my Signature


Nick.

 

So how is the shop "blowing smoke"? Of course you can do it yourself, but that is the whole reason why shops exist. So a shop saying that something needs to be replaced and they will do it for X amount of money is "blowing smoke"?

According to Nissan the whole control arm is supposed to be replaced, it is not made as a removeable ball joint. Although it can be done via pressing out the old one and pressing in a new one. It is not a bolt in type ball joint.

If you own a shop, you can't buy an aftermarket control arm for a Maxima from a parts store, it is a dealer part only. If the shop calls a local dealer they will pay about $200 for a control arm then mark it up. That is how shops make their money...mark up. That is how every company makes money. Control arms can be found on ebay, but shops don't shop ebay for their parts. 99% of customers would not like to hear "The part will take a week to get here, I am getting it off eaby". Come on now.

$140 for labor is reasonable, it is about a two hour job and most shops charge $60-$80 an hr labor.

You pay a premium for being able to drop your car off at a shop, go home watch TV, and pick it up later with all the repairs done. So a saying a shop is a "rip off" because they offer a service for a fee is stupid.

Of course you can save money doing it yourself. You can save money by making dinner yourself instead of going out to eat. You can save money by mowing your own lawn instead of having a service do it. You can save money making your own clothes instead of going to the Mall.

This is not directed twords you MDeezy, I just get sick of all the people here saying this and that is a "rip off".

I do just about everything on my car myself becasue I like to do it and I save money. That does not make the shop down the street from a me a "rip off". I don't like to cook, so I go out to eat alot. To someone who does like to cook may think I am a fool for going out to eat.

 

I should re-word my post, the amount he is charging isnt a rip of, I considered it a rip off because he could do the work himself and save the money. Similar to if a dealer charged say $50 to change spark plugs, We'd consider it a rip because its something we could easily do ourselves, so in correction the price isnt a rip off, you could do it yourself and save the money, assuming you have the tools needed and enjoy doing repairs yourself.

 

True. But if the nut on the ball joint is rusted to hell and won't budge with an open-ended box wrench, you risk rounding it off.

IMHO, especially if you have air tools, it is much easier to remove the end of the axle from the knuckle and hit the ball joint nut with the impact wrench.