well, today I replaced the lower ball joints on my 94 SE. Although the gods were not kind to me(it started to rain in the middle of doing the job) I got both of them done in about 3 hours. I'm going to take a little time to pass on some hints and also a little info about ball joint.

What are ball joints and why do they fail?

Ball joints connect the lower control arm to the spindle assembly. They allow for the movement of the tire when your car hits bumps, etc. They fail because either the boot that keeps the grease in gets torn and foriegn debris gets in there or in my case, the car takes so many bumps from the road that they just wear out. (again, I love chicago's roads ) There are a few ways to tell that they are going bad. Vibrations at higher speeds, a clunk noise when going over bumps(that can be worn struts too), or uneven tire wear too. There is a simple test to see if they are worn out. Jack the car up and pull the bottom of the tire towards you. It should not move at all or very little. if you get movement then it's time to replace.

I recommend replacing both at the same time. If one is worn then the other one is probably worn too. You have two choices. 1. take it to a shop and have it done. Around here that was about $280. 2. Do it yourself...The parts cost me $53 with tax.

Tools needed:
22mm open end wrench
17mm socket with a breaker bar.
needle nose plyers
Pickle fork
hammer
small screw driver.

How it:

1. Jack the car up and remove the tire and place the car on a jack stand.
2. take the small screwdriver and bend the cotter pin on the top spindle nut so that you can remove it. Pull it out with the needle nose pliers.
3. Spray all nuts with a penetrating oil to make your life easier. (this is a 10 year old car we are talking about here)
4. Loosen the top spindle nut but you can't remove it yet because the CV joint is in the way.
5. remove the lower 3 bolts that hold the ball joint to the lower control arm with the 17mm socket and breaker bar. They will be tight so give um a good tug.
6. Now, place the pickle fork into the joint and give it a good wack with the hammer until the ball joint seperates.
7. Remove the top nut completely and wiggle the old joint out.
8. Place the new joint into the hole and tighten the top nut as much as possible.
9. Now the fun part. Push the lower control arm down while lining up the three holes. (a helper would be handy at this point.) Thread one of the nuts and tighten till you can thread the other two.
10. tighten all of the nuts and insert the cotter pin on the top nut.
11. Put the tire back on......clean up the tools and take it for a test drive.

I hope this helps everyone.

Mike.


5. Remove the three lower nuts

 

I know for tie rods you also have to get an alignment after they are replaced. Is this also the case with ball joints?

Thanks

 

Not likely. It is always a good percaution, but if it was aligned before the BJ wore out, a new BJ should put it back where it belongs.

 

I wish I could get a BJ...

 

yes, me too.... BJ's are nice!

 

haha, no you don't have to get an alignment as long as you just take the tie rod end and set it aside without turning it.

 

another ball joint writeup with pics
http://www.4dsc.com/articles/suspens...alljoint.shtml

 

Foolish to take a chance on destroying your tires over a $50-60 alignment.

 

So is this job something I can do myself? I've done suspensions and fuel injector swaps. Never have messed with ball joints. Also wheres the best place to order ball joints for the lowest price for Moog or OEM Nissan?

 

it's a very easy job.
3 bolts to the arm, and one nut to the spindle.
the hard part will be seperating the spindle from the Ball joint.

I do handle moog, and the ball joints are now up there as well

 

The manual tells you to remove the axle to get better access to the stud nut on top (and I did), but like Craig's writeup says you don't have to if you can get the nut loose with a wrench. This probably requires a pickle fork to remove then, which WILL destroy the BJ boot, which is why the manual tells you to take out the axle (a special tool is used to press it out instead of pickle forks).

Now that I've got these types of tools (one for BJ, one for tie rod), I don't think I'll be using my pickle forks again... they weren't that expensive either.

I used a Moog balljoint (I hope! LOL) and it's made in Japan and looks finely made, but cheaper than OEM.

 

You are correct Bman..I also have the gear pullers and they work very nice...but if you are not going to put the original BJ back on I use the fork...much quicker job..plus you dont have to remove the axle...

 

what kind of hammer do I need? regular hammer or mini sledge hammer when using the pickle fork?

 

Anything you can wack **** with.


A normal claw hammer should do the job.

 

A mini sledge hammer makes your life easier, and reduces the chance that you'll mis-hit the fork. Even with that I had to whack harder than I expected to pop it. I think the one I used was 6 lb.

 

Bah.. slide a small piece of steel plate between the axle and the nut on the top of the ball joint before you remove the nut. then just unscrew the nut and let it press the metal plate against the axle. eventually it will pop the ball joint out and it won't require removal of the axle or damage any parts. easy stuff.

 

Matt's method worked like a charm for me.

 

what a hack!!

 

thanks of all the advice - I changed my ball joint today in about 2 hrs using the pickle fork.

 

i have a squeekie noise coming form the right tire everytime i hit a bump or the wheel goes up and down on somehitng could that be the ball joints? the squeekie noise is the only type of noise it makes nothing else

 

Holy jezus! 3 hours for a ball joint job?
Listen: unbolt the top nut, heat up the knuckle with a pensil torch and whack the BJ bolt. It pops out after 1-2 strikes with a hammer. I changed passenger one in less than 30 min that way. No pickle fork used.

 

Don't mean to bring an old thread back, but is that top nut really a 22mm? The 22mm wrench felt really loose on it, and each time I hit it with the hammer, it stripped the nut more and more. It wasn't even that rusted. Torch and penetrating oil didn't do much after. All I have left to do is grind it off.

 

Yes its either 7/8 or 22mm, if you feel yours is smaller (no homo) then you should try a 21mm or 13/16 and see if it fits. Chances are its really rusty and worn or someone used the wrong size before

 

Heh, unfortunatly it's a little late for that. You should see what I turned it into. The head pretty much stripped after the first few tries. I didn't have a 21mm on hand because I assumed it would be a 22mm which I believe it was anyway, but I just think I could have approached the situation in a different manner and saved myself the trouble. The tie rod end took literally 5 minutes, and I did a good job on preserving the old alignment specs.

Edit: I almost forgot.. Where is my shoe!?

 

pfff I'm waiting for you to PM the addy

 

Just brought this thread back to say thanks a lot. Years and years later this is still a very helpful, informative guide.

I took a few video clips of before/during/after process.

 

DIRTY WORD COUNT IN THIS THREAD AS OF NOW.......

13 USES OF "BJ"
24 "BALL"S (12 PAIR?)
4 "NUTS"
26 USES OF THE WORD "NUT"
11 "PICKLE"S
2 "WACK"S
AND 2 "WHACKS"
3 USES OF THE WORD "PENETRATING"
AND 2 "HOMO"S

wow.

 

 

you're a bad man .