I didn't get a chance to even look at the car this weekend.

But with more testing this weekend I see the vibration is coming from the driver's side. Either the wheel (tire), axle, or something loose on that side. Hopefully I can get a chance to check it out this week. It sucks not having a garage where I can work on my car.

 

well i'm having same problem, but i have a 5mt and it generally does it when i accelerate. i'm suspecting motor mounts(in my case) but i am going to follow this post, hope somebody can tell us exactly what's going on!

 

it could also be bent rimz. or unbalanced.

 

I don't think its a tire balance issue as I had them balanced just a couple months ago. But I'll rotate the tires and see if that changes anything.

 

checked control arms, cause mines is doing the same thing, idk y yet though

 

it's not in my case, just had balance and aligment. also it does it with both set of rims i have, which arent bent.

 

Well I took a look at my suspension and rotated the tires while I was at it. I found the ball joint to be bad...it was basically blown out with grease all around the joint.

I am suspecting this is my issues, but I won't know for sure until I drive it tomorrow night.

Question is...do I need a press to replace this? If so, what would I have to remove from the car to take to a shop with a press? Or, should I just forego the repair myself and have a shop do it, if so, how much do you think it would be?

Damn...it seems like one thing after another lately. I hope this is it for a while.

Ryan

 

Well cr*p...after some more research I need to buy the whole LCA. How difficult is this to replace myself? I basically rebuilt the rest of the front suspesion, really the LCA is only part I have no touched. Hmm...doesn't seem that hard. Anyone with a good idea?

 

Alright....lucky me it's not the lower ball joint where you need to replace the LCA. It's the upper ball joint. I got a quote from the dealer for the ball joint assembly and its $80. Has anyone ever changed this before? What is the level of difficulty? I am debating on whether I should do this myself or take it to a shop. Your thoughts?

Oh and FYI...I drained the tranny, pulled the pan and cleaned it up, then refilled with fresh ATF synthetic fluid so that wasn't the cause. My tranny is in really good condition, I think the fluid I had in there was still in great shape, but I'm sending out a sample for analysis anyways. I also checked the tires and I dont feel any shifting of the belts. I rotated the tires just in case. I took it for a test drive and still have the same shuddering so we can check that off.

Here are some pictures...

 

You must mean your outer tierod ends, these cars have no upper balljoints on the front! You should be able to feel the play if that is it with your car jacked up and wheels on. Rocking the tire from right to left, you should feel play in the tierod ends. I thought you looked at all the suspension components already?

 

Oh yeah foodmary, try courtesy nissan or try buying MOOG @ O'rielly autoparts, you can get 2 tierod ends plus some for $80.00....

 

Yeah thanks the tie-rod ends. These don't look too hard to change out. I just need a ball joint puller which I can get from Autozone. Other than that pretty simple.

I will call up Dave B. tomorrow and get a price.

I did check the suspension components and in that I would have noticed the issue. I think it just wore out since I last checked the suspension which was a few months ago.

 

If you don't have ABS, you can whack to steering arm with a big hammer and the tie rod end will pop right out! If you do have ABS don't whack it......

 

I don't plan on whacking anything. I can get the ball joint puller from Autozone for free with a deposit. Why not do it with the right tools if you can?

 

Since you are doing the outer tie rods... check the inners while in there too!

You can also buy the puller from harbor freight for like 5 bucks.. I bought one and its lasted well over the 3 times i have used it.

You will need an alignment once the new tie rods are on there.

If you do have high miles i.e. over 100K do both and save the double alignment cost.

When I did my front end suspension rebuild at 138K I did the struts, springs, LCA's, inner and outer tie rods. Was a fun project. Now with the car at 167K all is still good.

 

It's an old trick we used back in the day when ABS didn't exist! It never hurt anything. We used that same trick on balljoints, pitman arms, etc... and the tapered pins would fall right out...

 

I'll check the inner tie rods. What is the best way to check them? Would I have to remove the boot that protects them? I have searched and heard that you can feel them while someone is turning the steering wheel to check for play. Is this effective?

BTW...I ordered the outer tie rods for both sides. Good advice on doing them both...not sure why I didn't think of that. Original dealer quoted me $80 per tie rod...I called up Dave Burnette and they are $42, so why not change both?

 

If your strong enough you can do it by yourself! But yes remove the wheels and let someone rock the steerng wheel both and forth, wihle you feel for play @ the steering knuckle arm and tierod end..

 

The inner tie rods generally have longer life than the outers but depending on the roads you drive on, and the miles on the car being on the higher side, they can develop play too.

One other way to check the inners is to take off the outer tie rod. If you can wiggle the inner tie rod way too easily then you definately want to change it.

Since you are already at the start of it all, you might as well do both inners and outers to get rid of the issue completely You WILL notice a huge difference in steering stability once this job is done.

 

You can also feel for play(inner tierod) thru the boot without disassembling anything other than removing the road wheels.

 

Thought I'd chime in on this thread since I've been having a similar shaking issue upon acceleration. I have narrowed it down to the Inner CV joint on the passenger side axle shaft. It is the only thing that makes sense at this point. I have replaced the outer tie rod ends, hub assembly, motor mounts, driver side axle, checked ball joints and LCA and all seem to be ok. Unfortunately I've learned that no local auto parts stores carry this axle for a 6MT. Nissan has them for about $600 and I found a local wholesaler that will sell to mechanics and body shops for roughly $300. They are new units. I plan to pick one up today and install this weekend.

Enough is enough with this damn shaking!!

 

I hope you didn't buy the axle yet....check with raxles. They should have what meets your needs for a decent price and great quality. At least this is based on the feedback from this forum.

http://www.raxles.com/

 

Well...the ATF test conducted by Blackstone further concludes that its not my transmission. Actually....my transmission is kicking a*s! It must be the VB mod and the tranny cooler combo I installed way back in the day at about 25,000 miles.

 

Thanks man, I have talked to Marty on a few occaisions already and he is working on making a passenger side Axle for the 6MT. It is still some time away before he's done with it, but I need to resolve this issue asap. If he had it I'd jump on it right away. I'm getting desperate, but not desperate enough to spend $600 from the stealership...