I was told the Nissan ball joint assembly is a sealed unit. There is no way to keep them lubricated. But an after market unit can be lubricated. Will the sealed unit last as long as one that can be maintained. I'm thinking that a ball joint is something that only needs replacing maybe once in a car's life time? What do you think?

 

There are guys on here with cars that are almost 10 years old with over 250,000 miles on the original sealed units. There are also guys on here with newer cars that have had ball joints fail at 50,000 miles.

I wasn't aware that aftermarket joints for our cars even came with a grease fitting on them? Most newer cars on the road today are "maintenance free", meaning there is nothing to grease or lube on the suspension.

 

Thanks for the reply. Wow someone close to my age.

 

I am going to replace my driver side ball joint sometime next week,
Njmaxseltd - is it possible to replace the inner tie rods without removing the steering rack? I am experiencing great amount of " road feel " through the steering wheel - the tires were balanced and I am not having any vibration issues , just the road feel - every crack and bump in the road is felt through the steering wheel and it drives me crazy.

during the last alignment , my tech told me the inner tie rods need to be replaced
How do you tell those things are in need of repalcemant?

I am leaning toward repalcing the whole steering rack all at once.

Thank You

Nick.