For some time, I have had front end clunking noises when going over bumps (especially when hitting bumps while making a left hand turn) . Also, the streering/handling didn't seem to be as tight as it once was. I had a mechanic look at it a couple of times but they were never able to find any looseness in any of the streering/suspension components...none of the components seemed to have any play with everything attached. The noise seemed to come from the right front, so I removed the right side control arm to inspect. The sway bar end link was good (it been replaced recently) and the inner and outer tie rods seemed OK. The sway bar bushing had also been replaced recently and was still good. I found that the ball joint however was very worn and sloppy. So, I got a new control arm with ball joint and put it all back together. The noise is gone now and the handling feels tight again. I'm surprised at how that bad ball joint could not be diagnosed while it was attached. This writeup for the LCA replacement procedure was very helpful: http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....&highlight=LCA
I did not have an impact wrench to get the hub nut off, so instead I bought a 36 mm socket with 3/4 in drive and a long 3/4 in drive breaker bar. To break it loose, I left the wheel on and just popped the center cap off the wheel...my 36 mm socket just fit through the center cap hole. Breaking the hub nut loose was no problem at all like that.

 

Did you get an OE arm? How would you rate this install on a scale of 1(easy) to 10(hard)?

 

No, it's not OEM...it's an aftermarket arm that I bought on ebay. I would rate the difficulty maybe around 6. It's not overly difficult, but you need good strong tools with lots of leverage because the hub nut is highly torqued and those nuts and bolts on the control arm both highly torqued and seized from rust. Also, a ball joint separator tool and a tie rod separator tool were required...it cost me under $30 for those two tools.

 

cool, thx.

 

yea the most difficult part is the axle nut without a impact. i did mine without an impact with my 3.5 swap, god what a pain that was.

 

so did you have a problem getting the bushing pin off of the old control arm? from reading several post on here about LCAs it seems like thats a common problem

 

I had a similar issue. struts were under factor recall and were replaced

 

Nope, once I got some 3/4" drive sockets and a monster 3/4" drive breaker bar, I had no problems getting the hub nut and the bushing pin off...Again, it's all about having tough tools and lots of leverage.