Installed yesterday along with oil and air filter change, however we couldn't tighten down the driver's side LCA pushing pin nut. I just went to a shop to have them do it, but they said they "didn't have the right tools."

Since last night I've noticed that the front of the car is CONSIDERABLY more solid. There are a few slightly off-camber turns, and some on rough pavement that before I could feel the inside wheel scattering for grip and the front of the car flexing. Completely different story now, no drama whatsoever. Front suspension compression, even over speed bumps also seems smoother and the car feels more composed in general. I haven't driven in the mountains yet so have yet to comment on understeer issues, but around the city the front end seems to bite better now as well.

Anyway, anyone have some advice on the nut? It's just sitting in there now--probably not going anywhere--but I've noticed a little clink whenever I load and unload the left front suspension, very infrequent but annoying. I just really don't like the idea of a nut in the suspension lacking... tightening.

Can't wait to tighten that sucker down, get a set of 245/45 kook RS2s, a set of camber bolts and a badly needed alignment...

 

You didn't strip the nut, did you? What's the reason you can't tighten it down, is there something in the way, or does it just not have any resistance?

I agree on the effects of the LTB, though! When I first installed it, it was night and day. Now that I've taken it off (fitment issues ) my car feels just so sloppy over bumps and steering response really took a hit. Good luck with yours and just realize that you have 1 1/2" inches or so less clearance now!

 

The nut is off-center, it's not stripped but you can't fit a socket in there to tighten it up without some serious sledgehammer action. It's hard to turn so I don't think it's going anywhere though.

Yeah I'm really happy with it, whenever I scrape it's on the middle of the car (b-pipe) and I haven't had any scraping issues. It's ridiculous how much you notice the difference though if you pay attention.

I'm only dreading the day that I get a ypipe or something and have to take it off and reinstall it... and it doesn't fit with headers or a 3.5, does it? Gay.. =\ What were your fitment issues?

 

it *should* fit with a 3.5.. I don't see why it wouldn't there- all of the changes are above the oil pan on that engine, and the 5th gen 3.0 and 3.5 LTBs are the same.. the headers will not fit unfortunately. I wish I had the time to make another design that will work with them, but there's not much I can do right now.

As for getting the other bolt tight, try sticking the socket on there and giving it a few good whacks with a hammer. it's a tight fit, but the bar is somewhat flexible and should allow you to get the socket on. I've had to do that many times in the past on various cars to get them tightened, but it's no big deal.
I've also used a crowbar between the crossmember and LTB sometimes to make it center up. just stick one in there and rock it back and forth. you can usually move it enough to make things center up nicely.

 

The same thing happened to me. What you need to do is loosen all the other corners then push up on the bar. Then install the front bolts first so that you can make it so you have enough clearance with the socket, and as Matt mentioned, hit the socket with a hammer a bit...it'll go in there albeit with a very snug fit.

 

it fit fine for a while, but for some reason that right rear corner just does not want to stay attached.

The first time I installed it, I thought it was good. Then when I was in dallas for maxus, I hit the LTB on the ground turning into speedzone (getting off the highway) because the road was so uneven. Well that's when my problems began. It knocked that corner loose and when I went to fix it, the LTB was pulling toward the front of the car and as I went to re-tighten that bolt, the threads stripped off the bolt from rubbing up against the LTB. When the stripped bolt went into the tap, it stripped that, too.

Since then I've re-tapped it quite a few times and used heli-coil kits with new bolts to no avail. It still is loose and makes an annoying creaking noise whenever I accelerate or brake. So I just took it off and re-tapped the hole one last time (it can't deal with any more ) and now it doesn't creak becuase there's nothing pulling on that bolt for it to come loose again. I'm just going to replace that whole subframe piece and get it up on a lift to re-install the LTB but that'll be a while, sadly...

 

ouch man.. that's crazy.
I've bent up a couple of LTBs so bad, I had to take them off with a sawzall.
http://blehmco.com/pics/track_pics/t...4/IM001392.JPG
http://blehmco.com/pics/track_pics/t...4/IM001394.JPG
(notice the dents in the crossmember and the Y pipe where the front bar crosses)

Even after that, I grabbed another off my shelf and bolted it right on.

i'll have to tighten the bolts on mine every few months or so because the nylock nuts are so worn, but other than that I have zero problems with it.... and I don't think there's anyone that drives a Maxima harder than I do.

 

@ that LTB! I don't think mine is bent, it just needs to be shifted back a little upon installation in order to fit correctly. The first time I installed it, I used zip ties to hold the bar in place so that I could put the bolt in at the same time. I should have done that when re-tightening it the first time I'll get it eventually.

 

How was the install? I hope to purchase the LTBII when I do suspension this spring (cross fingers).

 

easy as unbolting 4 bolts and re-tightening....hardest part was jacking the car up..just be sure that all the holes are ligned up perfectly. If they're not, zip ties are very useful to help hold a corner or two into place until you get the bolt in.

 

Wow sounds good. Can't wait to get on this mod.

 

What I do is 'hook' the bar on the front two points, then hold it against the chassis with one hand while I load a bolt in a socket w/ extension and shove it in the hole in the back. get it started a turn or two, then the bar is essentially there. I get the other one started as well, then crank the rear bolts down.
once those are done, I hit the front two and pound them down with the impact. (I have energy suspension bushings, so it's easy.. I don't have to load the suspension first like you do with the stock bushings. )

that's all there is to it. remove jackstands and drive happy!

If you have access to a drive-on lift and air tools, this is literally a 5 min install.

 

No access to lift or air tools...

 

call up your local oil change places and ask them if you can do a bit of work over one of their pits, or call an alignment shop and ask them...

you can always use drive-on ramps from the parts store... should provide plenty of height to get under the car.

also note that sometimes it's easier to pay someone a few bucks to help out than to spend all day cursing under the car just to say you did it yourself.


all that said, you can still do it in just a little while with hand tools... probably a 1/2 hour to an hour.

 

Yeah I have access to ramps, plus I have a while before I get to this. Supposed to have an impact gun coming to me from my fathers work.

 

you should be good to go then.

 

The last time I reinstalled my LTB-II (after installing ES bushings), I decided to try something different to make it easier: I loosened the link bushing pins (the silver piece with 3 bolts directly below the tranny in this photo).

Then I put the bar on and was able to retighten those three bolts pretty easily. This was quite a while ago so I don't recall the details. I do remember, however, that when I went to tighten the nuts in the rear two corners of the LTB (which are supposed to be over 100 ft-lbs I think) I couldn't get them to tighten nearly that much. It seemed like the bushing underneath was spinning or something. At first I thought I had broken the "cup" part of the LTB there. It really seemed like it but I suppose that's unlikely, eh? I didn't want to mess with it so I just left it. The bar seems tight but I wish I could get those tighter.

 

I do that as well...gives you a couple more mm of play.

 

 

I think most of us have had the fitament issues with the passenger side rear bolt mount. Every time I've put my LTB on (about 4x) it's been off by about 1/4" or more, and every time I've stripped alot of thread off the bolt trying to tighten it (and stripped the thread in the subframe). I have a stash of several of those bolts sitting around so I always use a new one when installing. I also have a SnapOn tap set in that size and have re-tapped the hole recently when I took the LTB off for the winter.

While the bar is off for the winter, I plan to "modify" it to fit correctly. Tired of the massive struggle to put it on every time. Basically I'm going tto have the back right collar on the LTB modified (or do it myself) to allow more clearance so the bolt can go in straight and without stripping.

I love the LTB, but both of them that I've had (remember, I had a LTB2, cut it to a LTB1, sold that, then bought another LTB2) have had the same fit problems. No big deal, but now it's time to fix it once and for all.

In any case, the tough fitament and hassle is still well worth it for the handling improvement the LTB2 provides....so i'm only complaining a little

Things are alot easier when you have a good impact like I do, though. Highly recommended that you loosen all 4 bolts on each of the bush pin link to get it on.

ALSO, I have two of the same (32mm IIRC) big sockets for teh LCA bolt, so I put both in the collars BEFORE retightening the bush pin (4) bolts. That way i don't have to "hammer" them in to fit them in teh collars.

 

The bar


My bane..grr.

 

Yeah there's a ridiculous handling improvement, I love it. I'm going to wait until I get back to Santa Barbara, put my shit on a lift, try jamming a crowbar in between the xmember and the bar and prying it back, and maybe have a friend hammer in the socket. 32mm, thought it was a bit smaller, but wouldn't be surprised. We actually didn't have the right socket, but there was an SAE that my friend happened to find that worked so we used that. Oh, and what's the torque spec on those bushing pin nuts? I wound up just cranking the other one on pretty tight with a breaker bar since I didn't have my chilton's manual handy.

 

On the 4th gen the big nut is definitely 27mm.

On future versions Matt should make the collars bigger IMO.

 

+1, I got mine used for an awesome price so I can't really complain, but Matt, it's such a PITA to get the socket in there, why not enlarge the collars? The socket barely fits as it is...

I can't stress how awesome it is though, I just took a 4-hour trip to Sacramento and back, and I hit basically every semi-safe-looking pothole I could, thrashed the car around every onramp I could, and steered towards all the rough pavement I could find. The front end soaks everything up cleanly now, and I'm more mischievous behind the wheel, but unfortunately I now crave SFCs...

 

I'll see what I can find on getting some larger tubing to make that out of. realize that's going to require a complete redesign of the bar and I've made easily 100 of these with only minor inconvenience install problems.. I don't see much requirement for that, but if that's what the customers want..........

 

my i bought a socket form autozone for my stage 1 bar and it fits perfect....its the same part.......i need Stage II like yesterday do u have any in stock Matthew

 

heh.. I haven't had any 4th gen bars at all for several months. I'm working on trying to get some made, but my day job doesn't allow much free time anymore.

 

Hmm... we may be in for a competition.

 

Sorry to keep PWing in this thread, but I've noticed another awesome benefit of the LTB2: all but eliminated wheelhop. There's still a little bit of minor hop, but for the most part it's completely clean wheelspin. My tires are starting to get worn as well, so that also contributes to it... I dunno. We'll see when I get the RS2s.

 

it helped dramatically on mine too.

keep it up.. you're making for a great sales pitch.


..... and yes, I drive it harder than you do. how many trannies have you gone through so far? (I'm on my 5th.)

 

I haven't gone through any trannies... I've only had it for 30k miles, and I go easy on the tranny--never really powershift or launch, because I'm afraid it WILL break. The tires, engine, suspension, and sometimes handbrake (and crossmember unfortunately), however, are not so lucky... there isn't a single person who's ridden in my car who hasn't had to make a blind grasp for their ohshit handle, closed their eyes and uttered something vulgar.

EDIT: I go easy on the tranny because I completely trashed my dad's '97 prelude tranny, my mom's '92 Legend tranny, and wound up totalling my '86 Volvo 740 without hitting a single thing--they somehow found the battery upside-down in there, and I didn't jump any curbs or anything either. I think mom's Miata's tranny is kind of on it's last legs as well... so as I see it I'm on my 4th tranny, and that's at 21 years old.