jp_cout

what is the feeling when your FCA's are gone?...when I turn right, it keeps knocking when I hit bumps and on the left side, nothing? could it be the FCA bushings or something else?

Stuntin' 101

do you mean fca. or lca? (lower control arm ).. i dont know what an fca is

bhmax16

he probably means front control arms, meaning lower control arms. Just so you know...I just replaced all the bushings in my LCBs as well as put in new outer tie rods, lower ball joints, swaybar bushings, and endlinks. I have no more squeaks when going over bumpy roads and the steering feels tighter. I expect the improvement to be even more evident once I allign the car at work on Tuesday. If the original bushings are still in your max and she has 100k or more on her I'd go ahead and replace all the bushings anyway regardless if you feel something is wrong or not. I did and couldn't be happier

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

you must mean LCA lower control arm. That knock is a bad ball joint. I have this myself. There is a write up for installing a new control arm.

How much did your outer tie rods and swaybar bushing and endlinks run you?

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

You can get outer tie rod ends of Ebay from pedro-r for 20 bucks or so for both and end-links for about the same (20 bucks each).

Another option is Brian at internetautomar, PM internetautomar - no its not missing a T - that is the correct spelling. Brian will get you everything you need at good prices. I bought all my suspension/chassis parts off him and his prices were at least as good as Ebay if not better and I prefer to give my business to someone on the ORG whenever possible.

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

thanks Njmodi I'll PM him and find out. might as well takle these as I'm doing the control arm.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

I would definitely recommend replacing the endlinks and outer tie-rod ends while you have things apart. The outers on mine were in good shape, but it's a no brainer to replace those since you have to take the old ones off the old inner tie-rod end.

As for the endlinks... I wish I had known how bad a shape mine were in before I started. We re-used one endlink on mine, but couldn't even get the other one off the LCA... so we ended up having to put the car back together with one old LCA and had to wait until I could get my hands on the endlink. Then we re-did the side with the old LCA and put on the new LCA with the new endlink. The old end-links are quite worn out and rusted.

I know 20 dollars is not affordable to everyone, but here is my checklist of things to do if you are working on the front-end (other than struts/springs).

1. LCAs (with new bushings & ball-joint)
2. Inner tie-rod ends
3. Outer tie-rod ends
4. New end-links
5. New swaybar bushings
6. New end-link bushings (the kits come with new bushings. The kit bushings seem very similar to the ES bushings).
7. Use all new cotter pins, castle nuts, ball joint nuts (etc.)

In the snow-belt, working against the rust is the hardest part. It can make the simplest thing (like moving the endlink from the old LCA to the new one) the hardest part of the job!

I'm just glad I'm done!

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

thanks for the list, I see that list and thin $$$, but I already have a brand new control arm with ball joint ready to go on, I have put in a new axle, and if most of those parts are $20 then I swing it, I know it will be worth it in the end. That will be one busy weekend when I do the work. Thanks again.

jp_cout

yeah that's what I meant to say, LCA....but the noise sounds more like a "loose trailer hitch" than a ball joint..something loose knocking under the car...not really like a ball joint..I'll lift it up and try to pry everything I can to find out what's going on...BTW, how much it is for a front set of bushings??

thanks!
J-P

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

the front ball joint normally if gone bad requires the whole control arm would need to be replaced. An org member bought the actual ball joints off a seller on ebay and was going to have them pressed in. But a whole control arm can be purchased for cheap. I believe it is the ball joint knocking

if not it may be the wheel baring, that usually emits a scrapping type of sound but could be the culprit. In which case new bearing would need to be pressed in.

JoeB

When my control arm bushings went the car would pull when you hit the gas. Kind of like a real bad torque steer. My bushings where really fried though. With my ES bushings the steering is tight on or off the gas.

jp_cout

thanks! I'd like to know where it could be found (the ball joint) on ebay and for the urethane bushings as well..

J-P

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

you could just search ebay for maxima ball joint and (assuming there is someone selling it) it will show up, if not they I'm not sure where you can purchase just the ball joint. I read with bad ball joint the whole control arm has to be changed, unlike the 3rd gen where you can pop it out and pop in a new one.

still have yet to find out if anyone has sucessfully just changed the ball joint on a 4th gen.

CreativeDesignz

iTrader: (3)

i just bought all the control arms, inner and outter tie rods on ebay. should be in on thursday, cant wait!!

bhmax16

I changed both my ball joints a week ago (just the ball joint...still the original control arms). You will likely need some tools that you may or may not have though. I work in a shop so I had access to everything I needed. I ended up having to take a torch to the ball joints then pounding them out of the control arms with an air hammer. After that I just pressed the new ones in with our OTC ball joint service tool (sort of like a big C-clamp with adapters to fit different sized ball joints on it and with a sockete fitting so you can put an impact gun on it to tighten it). I used Moog ball joints from Car Quest and they're great quality. That's my brief summary on how to replace just the ball joints on the max though

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

Wow, and unless you have access to tools like that, or a shop wont charge you out the **** to do that, then may as well buy a whole new control arm.

bhmax16

That's a fairly standard procedure to do ball joints in any vehicle actually. Some you can press out, others you can bang out with a small sledge hammer, and others you'll have to torch and use an air hammer (like the max). It's not hard and it doesn't take long if you have the right tools. I had both ball joints out of the max in less than 10 minutes and the new ones in in less than 5. If you really want to try to save money over buying new control arms and can't find a shop to do the ball joints just ship your control arms and new ball joints to me and I'll do them for ya

MDeezy

iTrader: (27)

Oh I understand the procedure isnt heavily complicated, just you have access to special tools the average diy'er wouldnt have. You could save org member a lot of money by pressing in/out ball joints. I would send mine to you but I already bought a control arm.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

I have two used LCAs (the originals off my car) that someone can buy (for a low price) off me if they want to mess around with (ES bushings and ball-joint replacement perhaps).

jp_cout

how much for these and where do you live?

j-P

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

I'm in Illinois... not sure how much shipping would be up to you... PM me if you are really interested and we can work something out...