dpassino

Changed my CV Axle on my front passenger side today on my 99 maxima se. Noticed I had a broken part. Pardon the bad photo.. but my camera sucks and it was not the greatest lighting. I forgot to take the picture before I put the wheel back on.

It's broken on the bottom link of the joint.

Might is be a stabilizer joint or something?

have a look please.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

http://www.courtesyparts.com/54618-a...-p-133705.html

dpassino

thanks.. according to that site it's the anti sway bar end link. I'll hit up my dealership and get it from the parts deptartment. I wanna get it on tomorrow. Thank you.

dpassino

Just wanted to make sure this is the part I need yes? The dealership didn't have any instock, so I'm heading to Autozone. Part is 27.00 for the kit.

dpassino

nevermind... my poorly skilled search fu actually turned up a post that showed this part and it's what I need.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

If you're going to do them, do both sides, not just one.

dpassino

roger that. I picked up 2 kits from auto zone. The dealership would have had to order them, and charged like 20.00 more. I'll see if I can get them installed tomorrow if it's not too hot.

dpassino

was getting ready to put in my new sway bar links last night, and low and behold... I don't have my tire iron rod thing to take the lugs off. I may have mistakenly left it on the ground last time I had a flat.. uugh

Other than that, my mother has a 2003 Altima. Same size lugs? Could I use her tire iron thing or so I have to use a socket wrench? ((if so what size mm's))

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Should be the same size.

The lugnuts are all 13/16", or you can use a 21mm.

Snypa

iTrader: (35)

dpassino

holy hell! I was only able to get the passenger side link on before the sun went down and I lost light. The bottom nut was so seized/rusted on. It took an hour but I got it off. LOL

I'll take care of the drivers side tomorrow.

dpassino

turns out something went wrong with the install. the bolt closest to the ball joint that you need to brace while tightening the locking nut came loose and that's the one that tightens now even when you clamp it down.

in other words, supposed to have thread left over when finished on the outer area.. mine has thread on the inner. not sure if that made sense.. sigh.

Need to distmantle it again tonight and put the 2nd kit I got in and hopefully the bolt closest to the ball joint on that one doesn't go loose.

The other question might be.. am I doing it wrong?
When I go to tighten the outer bolt, I brace the inner bolt with a wrench and co clockwise on the outer... that is correct yes?


UPDATE: ok so when I hold the inside nut on the lower part of the joint, and try to tighten the outside nut, it won't budge any further up and if I apply too much tightening to try to make it budge, the inside nut breaks loose and it's seems to be toasted after that. (( it's not stripped as it gets grip still but no matter how tight I make it back towards the ball joint, once I hold it in place and tighten the outer, it loosens back up and spins towards the outer end.))

dpassino

bump for urgency as car isn't driveable right now.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

It's plenty driveable without a sway bar. Just won't handle all that well.

Without knowing how you're referring to 'inside' and 'outside',

Want to do a quick illustration with the above pic?

Really need a picture, the way you're describing it is just confusing.

dpassino

hope this helps...

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

IIRC that stud may very well spin in the balljoint, just how it is. Have you not been holding it in place with a wrench while tightening down the nut? If so, then how exactly is it moving?

dpassino

I hold it down with a wrench. I then use a socket wrench on the outer bolt and turn clockwise to tighten. the outer is a locking bolt. it gets to a certain point and get super tight... I keep trying to tighten it since it still has about a centimeter to go till it's against the metal frame and the inner (the one nex to the ball joint)) goes loose and start to move towards the frame instead.

Greeny

iTrader: (43)

this...


You have to hold the ball joint stud(not the nut) with a pair of needle nose pliers while you tighten down the nut..

dpassino

wait.. am I supposed to hold the rod with a wrench.. or the actual bolt that's closest to the ball joint cap?

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

What do you mean it 'goes loose'? You're holding it with a wrench, no idea what you're meaning here.

Are the threads already protruding from the end of the nut when it gets 'super tight'? If not, that's the threads of the stud trying to cut through the nylon area of the locking nut.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Wait, what rod?

And there are no bolts.

Incorrect terminology is just making this all confusing.

You hold the flats of the stud protruding from the balljoint. You then proceed to tighten the nut on the stud, until it's all nice and tight.

dpassino

Ok that's what I was doing. the stud protruding from the ball joint breaks loose once the locknut on the rod hit the locking area and refuses to tighten any further no matter how hard I try even though there is about a centimeter of stud left to go before it hits the frame/axle/metal ring that holds it in place ( don't know what it's called) so I'm at a loss.


Do you think I have a bad batch of Duralast Kits from AutoZone?

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Again...breaks loose? Do you mean it physically pops out of the balljoint?

And by rod, are you referring to the threads on the stud?

Now that I think about it, you should be using the flanged nut, not the locknut. The nylon locknut is for the bushing side.

dpassino

just for kicks.. this might explain my issue better..... I can't explain it any better this the photo below.

pmohr

iTrader: (26)

Oh, so the rear flats aren't a part of the stud, they're actually a nut?

That's...odd.

So the flanged nut is a nylon locknut as well?

dpassino

yes.

these are the duralast part #18166 from autozone. ( these look EXACLTY like the stock ones.. same nuts and everything though )

When you were talking about flats.. I was like.. wait.. I don't have flats on this. LOL

Sorry for the confusion. Any clue on this issue or should I maybe get some moogs that I read about from Advanced auto parts instead? Apparantly others have installed the moogs with no issues during my search-fu practice.

1999 Maxima SE (don't know if that makes a difference)

wxm

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like a bad lock nut. This kind of lock nut is designed to protrude in, it may "crash" down the threads along with it, but it is by designed not to back out freely (hence not reusable). You might get one that is too tight, I would going back to autozone to check out a different one.

Maybe pmohr can double check whether OEM uses the locknut too, or just a flange nut?

choray911

iTrader: (1)

By looking at the 2nd pic, try turning the nut on the left counter clockwise to lock it down more. I hate lock nuts.

dpassino

i'll give it a go tonight and see what happens. thanks

wxm

iTrader: (2)

Assuming your problem is the locknut, if you have a right tap, you can also try to chase the threads gently. Be careful that you only want to open up the lock part slightly enough for you to tighten down the nut (with about 30 ft-lb as the FSM calls), otherwise it defeats the purpose of having the locknut. Just my $0.02

jdooley

If I was faced with this situation I would try two things; one, try "double-nutting" the stud so that the inner nut can be further tightened against the ball or two, back the inner nut out by it's thickness at least then apply a drop or two of a permanent thread locking compound and let it cure as long as the directions recommend.

If you're unfamiliar with "double-nutting", you find two non-locking nuts of the right thread (probably 8 or 10mm), turn the first nut onto the stud just far enough to get the second one on, fully, right after it. Then, holding the first nut with a wrench, tighten the second nut against the first and don't be shy. Now you have a way of holding the stud portion and you can tighten the nut closest to the ball towards the ball while holding the inner of the two double-nuts to keep the stud from turning.

Actually using both techniques should not be out of the question, just try not to get loctite into the balljoint itself.

jdooley

One last thought, if the nut closest to the ball does not bottom out against anything but the rubber boot then the threadlocker approach is probably better.

maxgtr2000

iTrader: (29)

This happened to me, I believe the control arm/power steering arm has the same type ball joint set up, mine started spinning and wouldn't tighten. Simply put pressure on the joint and tighen the nut. It should work, worked for me.

dpassino

EUREKA!!!!! lol

well.. here's the scoop. I tried to install the new one on the passenger side and..SHOCKER... the same thing happened.. the inner nut came loose...

Went to NAPA instead of AutoZone to purchase new ones of a different brand...with both links and the guy saw it and was like..uuh.. this is wrong. He explained, the nuts that the Duralast used were the wrong nuts for this type of Link/Joint. He showed me a Precision Performance (what they stock) and compared the nuts...

He wasn't joking! The lock nuts on the duralast are going the wrong way for this type of joint which would lock the nut in place prematurely. I bought 2 precisions from him... got home.. put the passenger side in... 10 Minutes! DONE! Installed Correctly with NO problems whatsoever!

Took for a test drive with just the passenger side new one in, and my clunking and squeaking has completely vanished! feels much firmer on the road too!

Going to install drivers side tomorrow when the sun comes back up (ran out of light.) and then drive down to the Zone and get a refund or store credit.

Thanks for the help and tips folks, but alas was bad parts, not user error like I thought LOL.

choray911

iTrader: (1)

It always feels good when the probelm is not your fault!
Congrats!