I don't think I'm going to post a how-to on the forum, but some members of PNWX (Evergreen and Synchro) and I replaced my lower control arm this weekend. The reason is the lower ball joint was bad along with a torn boot. Nissan doesn't make the ball joint a separate replaceable part (even if they did, you still have to pull everything apart to get to the ball joint.
I picked up a low mileage LCA from a junkyard for $125. Nissan wants $200+shipping. BTW, if you have Nissan do the work, they spec 6-8 hours and if you offroad I bet you can expect even more charges once they see what you do with your truck.
To do the replacement you have to remove the torsion bar, shock absorber and stabilizer from their anchors. The half-shaft needs to be removed before you can go after the ball joint with a pickle fork. Then you have to support the brake assembly and upper control arm before you remove the LCA.
Since we were in there already I ordered new pivot bolts and the forward bushing. The rear bushing is on national backorder so we used the old one. The forward bushing has to be pressed in at a machine shop.
Doing the replacement is pretty much the reverse of what I just wrote and you'll need an alignment after working with the t-bars.
We tossed in some Warn hubs and repacked the bearings while we were in there.
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03-31-2004, 01:52 PM
