Guys, please help me figure out W*F is going on... Alright, so I spent the last 3 days replacing my CV axles and the lower control arms on my 1998 Maxima 136k, 5 speed. It took forever, since this was my first time doing anything larger than brake pads and belts... and this job was BIG. At first I got stuck trying to remove one of the ball joins (until I just went and bought a big hammer, then problem solved). Then I had a huuuuuuuge problem removing the passenger side CV axle. Man, this bracket that holds the thing in is a pain in the bu*t to remove...
Anyway, managed to take everything out and then reassembled and things looked good. Took it for an alignment, they said everything looks nice. Then however, when I took it to a longer trip things started to look bad. It's shaking very uncomfortably around 60/70mph.... and I just don't know why. I think the wheels are all good, and well, it wasn't shaking before I did the replacement.

Something else, which might be another symptom of the same issue, or not. I definitely have a harder steering (it's harded to turn the wheel from side to side). When I put everything together and while the car was still on jackstands it was kinda hard to steer from side to side. Why is that? Also, when I am in a parking lot driving slowly and turning the steering wheel from side to side sometimes I hear a click somewhere in the steering. Is it possible that I bent any steering parts while removing all those heavy pieces of rusted sh**t?

Any ideas would be really appreciated. I need to get this thing fixed really really quickly Thanks!

 

How long after the completion of work and the alignment did you notice the steering stiffness and wobble?

 

could it be the rack & pinion ???

 

I noticed that the front feels stiff even before putting the wheels on. While I was putting the CV axles in/out I would turn the steering in one direction or the other to make it easier. I noticed that the steering felt unnatural when I put in the second CV axle and started to reassemble everything. So the steering was kinda stiff even before the alignment. Is it possible that the new ball joints on the lower control arms may make steering harder because they aren't "broken in" yet?

 

I don't even know what/where that is... Is it possible for me to somehow looked at it and see if the problem is there, or should I take it to the mechanic? At this point time is becoming more of an issue than money

 

1. how is your power steering fluid level?
2. how tight were the joints on the axles? it may be possible they are too tight and that is causing your perceived tightness.

 

The power steering fluid has been leaking steadily for quite some time now, but I never had the time to go fix it. But I always top it p, so that shouldn't be the issue.

Actually I was just driving the car in the parking lot a few minutes ago. Every time I turn to the right there is something like a click... hmm... I am gettting tired of the guesswork of what I might have messed up and since the time pressure is high, I will just take this to the mechanic....

 

How far do you turn right before you notice the click? How much free play is in the steering wheel before the wheels turn?

S

 

Single click or multiple clicks?
single click leads me to think strut mount bearing
multiple clicks leads me to think CV axle is bad

 

I don't think you cv joints are installed fully into the( bellows area)cage bearing. Sometimes people pull on the axle instead of popping the axle out of the differential with a large screwdriver! Jack it up and push the shaft back into the cv bering cage fully! You didn't have to remove the axles to remove the LCA by the way!!!

 

Great job!!!

It was a single click, and it clicks almost immediately after I turn to the right. I took the car to the mechanic and he said that the click comes from the strut bearings. No biggie. The more serious issue with the uncomfortable shaking and instability at higher speeds turned out to be because of my brand new tires that were not balanced right... I took them back to the shop - they corrected the problem and said that the wheels were "slightly out of balance". Slightly my ***** - the bastards never balanced them in the first place and then I spend a whole day trying to figure out why my car doesn't work any more

Anyway - thanks everyone for all the help and advice. I fixed the car and immediately left for a trip across the country - Florida to California. The Maxima held really well - not a single problem

 

Both the axles and the LCAs were kaput and had to be replaced...

I think the axles are all the way in. I also removed them by pulling a few times on the axle itself. They come out really easy... kinda unnecessary to go under the car and pry them with anything. Also, only the driver's side needs to be popped out/in. The passenger side just slides in and the three-bolt brace (that is a massive pain in the bu*t to remove the axles from) holds it in place... Or did I really not push it in enough?

 

You may think it's 'kinda unnecessary', until one day you do it your way and pop the joint apart. If you can't get it back together with the boot still on, you've just created a big PITA.

It's reasons like these why people tend to take the extra 30 seconds and do it the proper way.

 

Yep, I know exactly what you mean. After I removed the 3 bolts I was trying to pull out the passenger side axle like this... how naive... At some point the joint just popped apart and since the boot was already broken I just had two completely separate pieces in my hands (and a lot ot messy grease). Being completely frustrated and dumb, I didn't give up and tried pulling it out again until the inner joint also popped apart (but stayed in one piece because of the rubber boot). Well, after that I had to try another way ...


It's good that NAPA never checked in what condition and in how many pieces I was returning the core in. But yep - I would definitely be in bad shape if I was trying to reuse the old axle and was removing if for some other reason...

 

For future reference, Stiff Right side axel support brackets are more easily REMOVED with the axel, then removed from the axel when you have the whole axel and bracket out, clean the bracket ID and reinstall.

Mentioning that you put new tires on would have greatly helped you get a quick response and may have avoided a trip to the mechanic!