Does anyone know the nut/bolt sizes on LCA's? Any recommendation? Or tips for LCA replacement?

 

I did my driver's side LCA a little while back. I got an OEM LCA from the dealership (employee priced around either $125) to avoid any fitment issues from after market manufacturers.

The reinforcement bolts are pretty big. I want to say maybe a metric 22. I cant remember for sure. I tighten them down while the car was up in the air, and then retorqued them on the ground. Pretty straightforward.

 

good luck...there are about 20 nuts and bolts...all diffirent sizes...i had to cut off two of them

 

The socket size is 22mm on the king pin bolts, and the nuts at the end of the king pin require a 27mm socket So the 4 in a row are M16 bolts and the end nuts should be M24

 

I used this and it made the job super simple...



Take your time and it will be easy. I did both sides then had to replace the drivers side about 6 months later due to a incident this past winter hitting, then driving onto a mediam/curb. I found this to be one of the easier things I've done. Lot's of bolts, but that's the only issue.

 

i had an air impact and still had to cut two nuts off

 

Any electrical Impact will be stronger than low end quality Air Impact.
I had to use the electrical to get the 22mm bolts out.

 

Sorry to hear about your "two nuts".










[and we're walking...]


:metalmax:

 

why you calling my air tools "low end quality"?

 

Dang! 27Mike-Mike??

WHo the he[[ has one of THOSE in the toolbox?!?!

I mean, dang...I've got a 30/32/and 28mm -- but looks like I'll be needin' another new size.

Any issues with removing the LCA's sprung or unsprung?!
.....just checkin'.....
this is next on my list -- and then motor mounts.

gr

 

you also have to disconnect the struts, so 17 & 19mm, remove the axle nuts 32mm, end links 14mm wrench and socket, and the ball joints are 17mm as well.

 

Ah-HA!
...thought so!...
But nobody mentioned it thus far.
I just had the struts off the car last week -- oh well. No biggie.


Didn't somebody mention that you DON'T Have to remove the axle nuts?!
I'd rather not -- I don't have a tq. wrench that goes to 235!!

THanks for the fyi Knight -- good stuff.

gr

 

You don't have to do all that to remove the LCA...tell your boy he's got his head buried too deep in the FSM .

 

pretty hard to get the ball joint off with the axle in the way. Much easier with the axle off and use a gun.

 

I'm pretty sure the FSM DOES illustrate the axle-nut removal for the LCA's removal.

Seriously - can you explain how to do this without Removing the Axle Nuts?!?!?
I'd rather NOT have to remove that bugger!

gr

 

Can't be done. The axle is too close to the ball joint nut as knight_yyz stated.

It has to be removed to remove the nut. No other way.

 

x2

 

My mechanic replaced my passenger side LCA on saturday without removing the axle nut.

 

 

I dont know what the hell you are facepalming me for.....care to elaborate?

i stood there and watched him.....he had no problem with clearances. Getting the bolt off itself was a bit of a struggle because the cotter pin was rusted into it. I think he may have turned the wheel a certain direction which made it possible.

 

It's not possible...



...I don't care how long he's been a Nissan/Infinity tech for. You should know by now, that means NOTHING. It's all personal knowledge. I trust no Nissan/Infinity techs because the majority of the time, they have NO clu what they are doing. 15 years or not.

and I'll elaborate for you...



The axle and the ball joint do not move, no matter what direction you turn the wheel. There just is not enough room between the ball joint bolt and the axle housing to remove the nut.

EDIT: Stand corrected. Ah, unless he actually loosened the ball joint nut, then smacked the ball joint loose, and let the LCA hang while loosening the nut. If he did that, then I DO see how he could have removed the LCA w/o removing the axle. But I still stand by my comment regarding Nissan Techs...

 

Sorry dude....
I wasn't FP'ing YOU so much, as I was the fact that there seems to be no definitive answer to this question.

I'm not doubting anyone -- just looking for the easiest way to remove that *****!

gr

 

You do realize that when you loosen that nut, the ball joint bolt moves down.....and therefore, the nut does not have to move up into the axle housing.

NP....its cool.

 

Check my post, the edited portion. I'm thinking it can be done after thinking about it.

Just to comment, removing the axle nut (w/a Impact wrench) is not that difficult, but if you do not have access to one, I can see why having to remove it becomes a hassle.

 

Not unless...
1. You use a ball joint remover which there is not enough room in there to do with axle in place.
2. You smack the hub assembly with a BFH and it pops out
3. Your hub assembly is messed up and ball joint moves freely (bad, very bad)

BUT it can potentially be done with option #2. Is this what your mechanic did?

 

I had to cut that nut off when I replaced mine. The nut was so rounded (tried removing it with open end wrench without removing axle)nothing would grip it. Nothing I had at my disposal that is....

 

You are talking about the ball joint coming out of the control arm. The ball joint is pressed into the control arm, not the hub assembly.

When you loosen the nut in the picture above, the ball joint and control arm will move down as one piece as you turn the nut.

It can be done without removing the axle nut.....but you are limited to an open ended wrench to do it which normally rounds the nut.

 

Also, while we are on the LCA topic, I had my passenger side replaced this past weekend. I got the part from Dave B, and after my mechanic took the old LCA off, we realized that the part I got was for the driver side.

Luckily my mechanic still gets the employee discount at Nissan so i ran down there and picked up a passenger side LCA and we replaced it with that.

So I have an extra brand new driver side LCA sitting in a box. I am debating on either sending it back to Dave B, or holding onto it for when the ball joint on the driver side goes. I will be doing the struts, mounts etc. in the spring so I may just have him replace it anyway at that time. I have 134k on my car now.

So what would you guys do? Send it back for refund, hold onto it for whenever the driver side ball joint goes, or just replace it anyway in the spring regardless?

sorry for the thread jack.....

 

You know as soon as you mail it out your gonna need it. Keep it....

 

Did you actually watch this mechanic work on your car?? If your ball joint simply just dropped out of your hub assembly w/o any ball joint separator or a BFH on the hub assembly, you've got other issues that need addressed with that hub assembly and/or ball joint.

The ball joint is pressed into both the LCA AND the hub assembly. Why do you think they make a ball joint separator (NOT ball joint service press, a ball joint separator).

The ball joint does not move once it is compressed into the hub assembly. Yet another reason to remove the axle, so you can torque down the ball joint nut properly and seat the ball joint into the hub assembly.

 

It's only torqued on at about 40 lb/ft of torque so if the nut was installed with a crapload of anti seize I can see it coming off with an open ended wrench. But most people don't use anti seize and all the cars I have worked on show tons of rust. so an open ended wrench is just not going to cut it. All the cars I've worked on have needed an impact gun to break the loose the rust.
And plus one for how the heck do you torque it down properly without a torque wrench?

 

Devils advocate here....

But 40ft.lbs ain't that much.

You can achieve that by not much more than one turn of the wrench past hand tight.
It won't be "specifically" torqued tho....

I'm just sayin'.

gr

 

Crow's foot attachment would get you close to torque spec.

 

I went back to my mechanic because my alternator died and talked to him about this......he said that the ball joint is pressed into the control arm, but it is not pressed into the hub assembly. That is just a tapered connection....it may get a bit stuck in there due to rust or a small bit of friction, but it should come out with a couple taps (or whacks i guess) with a hammer. He said the way he does it is to loosen the nut on top of the ball joint a few turns, then break the ball joint loose from the hub assembly, then remove the nut and the LCA will fall right out.

so right back at ya!!!

 

I've take a ball joint out for replacement and never removed the axle. It is a tight squeeze but as you loosen it, it lowers itself and is JUST enough to remove the castle nut. Anything is possible (Garnett's scream)

 

I just changed both of my LCA's out and didnt loosen the axle nut..was actually pretty quick..just loosened the nut and used a ball join seperator..was probably a twenty minute job on each side.

 

CLearly you live in an area that sees no snow or salty roads!
I spent more time putting anti-seize on everything than I did anything else!

There's no way I could've busted THAT nut ( ) off the lower balljoint without the impact....and THAT necessitates the axle removal.
Hell - I even had trouble re-torquing it once it was replaced!!

20 mins??
I don't THINk so.
Maybe removing the LCA itself -- but not all the peripherals, brakes, struts, wheels, bolts, cotter pins, etc. AND installing the new one, and torquing it all properly?!?!

Sorry dude...I call b.s. on 20 mins -- PARTICULARLY if you don't have an aerial rack and all the proper tools.

even a pro mechanic would bill-out 1 hour PER SIDE, min. -- more like 2 hours per side, is my guess.

gr

 

Well I'm really glad I read this thread before making a real attempt at trying to get the balljoint off. I've been soaking the nuts on the LCA's, balljoints and tie rods with PB Blaster for the last few days, and tried to get the balljoint nut off today with just a wrench with no luck. Now I know that I need to get an electic impact gun, ball joint seperator and the axles off.

Thanks guys.

 

A few winters ago I bent the LCA on my Maxima by sliding into a curb...the night before I was to drive the car to California on vacation. After paying through the nose (to the tune of $240.00) for the part at the dealer as I had to have it that morning, I replaced the LCA in exactly one hour. I used only a breaker bar for the 4 big bolts that connect the LCA to the bottom of the car. All of them came off with hardly a fuss at all. As a matter of fact, I didn't have any trouble with the other bolts either. Of course I knew exactly what to do as I had done the exact same job an a 3rd gen Max a few years earlier as my wife had nailed a curb with hers.

Reading through this thread I get the idea that some Maximas must be rusted to Hell and back underneath! I know in my town they use a "light salt/sand mixture" in the winter and I guess this is why my car, and most others here take forever to rust. I'd hate to see my car getting eaten away by that crap!

 

C'mon man...loosen the nut and progressively force the LCA down. The idea is to keep the nut at the same spot(height) while the LCA go down and out of the nut. I just did it. And I'm doing it either today or tomorrow depending on the weather. Don't make me post pics. I read your posts and I know you're not a rookie .