|
Bad Ball Joints
While the Maxima was in the shop getting
the alarm system removed, the mechanic noticed that the Drivers side
lower ball joint was worn out pretty badly, as well as the passengers
side outer tie rod end. When I picked the car up, he told me not
to drive it until I replaced the ball joint. I took that
warning to heart, and the car stayed parked for about two weeks.
My inspection expired at midnight on Saturday, March
31st. On Monday, April 2nd the weather was good, and it was time
to take care of things. I started on the Drivers side. I
loosened up the lug nuts, jacked up the car, supported it with a jack
stand, then removed the wheel. Next, I removed the cotter pin from
the castle nut at the top of the ball joint, and used a 22mm open end
wrench to loosen the castle nut. With the castle nut loosened, I
put a pickle fork in place, and a couple of swift whacks with the hand
sledge broke the ball joint loose. I used a ratchet wrench with a
17mm socket to remove the three nuts that secure the ball joint to the
control arm. A pry bar helped hold the ball joint down away from
the drive axle enough so I could remove the castle nut, and then I used
the pry bar to work the ball joint loose from the control arm. The
new ball joint went in pretty much the same way.
The 22mm wrench, and a pair of vice grips were used to
loosen the jam nut from the tie rod end, then I removed the cotter pin
from the joint, and removed the castle nut. A couple of good
whacks with the pickle fork and hammer separated the rod end from the
steering knuckle. I then removed the rod end from the tie rod, and
screwed on the new rod end. When the new end was in place, I
slipped the stud back into the steering knuckle, and replaced the castle
nut. Then I tightened up the castle nut and jam nut, and put in a
new cotter pin.
The last part of the job was the brakes. I
removed the cap from the master cylinder, and used a big "C" clamp to
seat the piston in the caliper. I then removed the two bolts that
hold the caliper in place, and slid the caliper off. A bit of wire
held the caliper out of the way for the time being. I then removed
the bolts that hold the caliper bracket in place, and removed the
bracket. With the bracket off, I replaced the old rotor with a new
one. Then, I put the caliper bracket back in place, and put in the
new pads. I greased up the slides, and put them back, and then
bolted the caliper back in place. The last step was to grease the
new tie rod end, and ball joint, and then repeat the job on the other
side of the car. |