The Nissan Path

So I ordered new ball joints and tie rod ends from rock auto, all Moog parts. They all had the grease boots except 1 of the lower ball joints. I was pissed and contacted rock auto. Apparently Moog has redesigned their joints and seals. I've requested all new parts, but haven't heard back from them yet. I wanted to let people know before one of these weird looking joints shows up for them.

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php ... 67&jpid=12

Well rock auto customer service sucks. They cannot guarantee me all the same type of part if I return them. Plus they refuse to cover the shipping to send the weird one back, so I can just buy one local. They say the fit and function should be the same, but the new one is obviously thicker. I really don't like putting mismatched stuff on my truck. I'm sure it would be fine, but the lack of symmetry bothers my ocd.

Not say that wouldn't be upsetting to get mismatched parts but from what I can see the ball joint is still sealed.... hard to tell even after zooming in on the pic. just the boot is a lot smaller and compact.
Why are you just buying the ball joint and not the entire control arm? I found it necessary to buy the whole control arm( due to alignment issues)

Ball joints are cheaper than the whole arm. But, Nissan doesn't recommend replacing the ball joints, which is why they don't offer them. If the arm stretches too much where it press fits around the joint during the R&R, the ball joint can fall out of the arm, being held in by only the snap ring. A better repair is to install a pair of Dorman control arms which have a lifetime limited warranty and aren't that much more expensive that a good set of ball joints.

I didn't know that Nissan didn't recommend replacing ball joints. I guess they should have put them in more permanently then, or just made it one solid unit.

My bushings didn't seem bad on the control arms so I just opted for the best ball joints I could get. They aren't all bad yet, but since I'm putting a lift on it I figured I ought to replace them. One boot is completely destroyed already and has no grease left in it. The other 3 boots look pretty cracked. Everything still feels tight and I don't have any noises up front yet.

Just a heads up if your do change the whole control arm buy new bolts and nut and be prepared to cut out the old bolts. They WILL be seized in the bushing and will be required to be cut out or torched out.

I found that 3 of the 4 rear shock bolts were seized into the bushings. Even after using penetrating oil for a week before trying to remove them, I ended up cutting 2 out. What a pain in the ass. I can imagine the control arms would be just as bad. I need a bigger compressor before I try taking control arms off. My 6 gallon can't feed my impact. I also broke a 19mms craftsman socket and 24" breaker bar trying to free the seized bolts. Here's what my shock looked like when I finally got it out.





Cracked craftsman socket.
And look at where craftsman in made now.

Seems everything is made in China or somewhere close to it, these days. I've been shopping for tires and, having once owned a terrific set of Micheline LTX M/S2's that were made in the USA, I looked into their replacements, the Defender LTX M/S. While they are still rated among the best, it disappoints me to find out that they are now made in Vietnam.
As far as the control arm bushings, if the bolts are seized, a bigger compressor may not do any good. As the sleeve to which the bolt is seized is encased in a rubber bushing, the bushing will absorb and negate much of the force of the impact gun. The best thing to do is just cut them out. Also, chrome sockets are not recommended on impact guns. That said, myself and I'm sure most of us have used them that way at one time or another!

I have impact sockets. The chrome craftsman socket broke with a 24" breaker bar.

I had a seized bolt when I was replacing the shocks as well. This stuff worked wonders -- https://jet.com/product/detail/d13e8749 ... code=PLA15 -- If it's your first time ordering from Jet you also get 15% off your first 3 orders.

It's an industrial strength penetrating oil that actually dissolves rust it hits. It's a little pricey, but it's great.

My dad would always have some of that aero kroil stuff in the garage when I was growing. It worked amazingly. I'd all but forgotten about until I saw that Orange can in the link. I just assumed nobody made it anymore since I haven't seen it in a store. Thanks for the tip underworld.