Ive tried searching and found an interesting post by Dave B about drive axles and transmission bearings. But im still a little confused.

My mechanic says he needs to replace the passenger ball joint (nissan says the lower control arm should be replaced too)...do I really need to replace the control arm?

Back to the driver's side drive axle, I don't exactly know what the problem is. I have vibration under braking, but I thought that was due to a warped front passenger rotor...(so I bought brembos).

Now this drive axle is gonna cost me large, and ive read that I might need a tranny rebuild....I was planning on getting an exedy stage 1 organic clutch installed later this year...so I am worried about my tranny to say the least. Also the shifting on the car is very sloppy, it jerks alot between the 1-2 shift unless i strain my left foot to the point of nanometer precision....i thought it might be the tranny mount/motor mounts....and i really wanted to change them. Could I afford to ignore the drive axle and just replace the mounts?

And I recently put progress springs on the car and am waiting on fixing the drive axle and ball joint before getting an alignment. I could really use some recommendations as right now I really dont know what to fix first. Im looking to spend no more than 700 for these issues...

BTW: Do I tell my mechanic to get a locking or non-locking axle version? Im sure its locking...no lsd right?

 

Locking == LSD. LCA doesn't have to be replaced but the price difference is negligible.

 

If your ball joint is really bad, and you don't mind turning a wrench, you could take out both LCA's and get ES bushings installed in the existing LCA and get both ball joints replaces at the same time. I pulled my LCA's and got a machine shop to remove the old stuff and put in new ball joints and the ES bushings for $100
vibration could be struts too, see if they're leaking.
drive axles aren't that expensive, and why do you really think you need a new one anyway? Is your CV joints clicking when you turn? If your tranny fluid is leaking out near the axles it's most likely your tranny seals have you checked your clutch fluid recently? Are all shifts bad? sloppy shifting might just be your linkage is messed up on stock struts?