Thanks so much for this video! You saved me thousands! To anyone who is having trouble getting the upright to detach from the ball joint, keep working at it. I spend hours and days hammering on it with the sledge, I threw some more wd40 on there before I left the shop for the night, then decided: why not just hit it one more time for good measure. One single tap with a small hammer and it dropped right out.
Great job explaining the whole process thoroughly. These jobs are time consuming and the repair shops love them. Saved me a considerable about of cash. Thank you!
Since you asked, watching from Mexico! Have a 2001 xterra, 3.3, 4x2, need to get front end ball joints and tie 4ods done you make it look so easy! I think most of my bolts are on there from day one, should be fun!
Finally finished this up today and what a PITA job ended up being. I had to go to tractor supply and get those washers also. Replaced the axel and both ball joints
Thanks for another great video. This is on my to do list in a couple of months for my '02 4x4 manual Xterra. Keep it up, great job on all of the videos! -Houston, Tx
@@evanferree Nice! Is it a 4x4 or 2wd? I just did this with my mechanic and one of the ball joints was welded on from the previous owner so we had to replace the whole lower control arm on the passenger side. What ball joints are you using? If you want to meet up let me know I am also in the Houston Xterra group on facebook.
Watching from Northern Vermont. Thank you for the video, it was a huge help. I have a '04 Frontier 4WD that the lower ball joints needed to be replaced, I ordered the set from Amazon and the lower had to be pressed in, they did not need the washer. The lowers are Moog part # K80591. A perfect fit!
@@jlusink1423 seriously , the g clamp is more powerful than hardware store variants and brake pad spreaders , I use my kit to push back the pistons in the caliper , where I'd struggle with the other tools which I have incidentally
Thank you for your video's!! I have a 02 Xterra that I have pretty much done everything to and now getting ready to do a 03 Frontier 4x4. I am doing the rear main seal, oil pan gaskets and Ball joints. You videos were very helpful when I was working on the Xterra. Heck, I even bought the same puller set as you. lol...
Man when I had that explorer I needed a special bottom ball joint to get out!!!! Why can’t they make em like most common ways!!! Great job Nate. I’ve learned a lot from your channel man.
Nathan, i'm in Texas. This was a great video, it gave me the confidence to do this job myself, it was my first time replacing ball joints, and saved me a lot of money. Now i need to do the brakes as the next project. And thanks for the tip on those bushings, I bought them ahead of time and was prepared, only thing is i ended up putting them on top and then the nut instead of underneath. I have a rear wheel drive instead of a 4wd. Thanks man
Watching from Massachusetts and my reason for going to this video was exactly the problem you’re having with the lower ball joints I didn’t know what the heck I was gonna do put them in there the nut bottoms out the whole ball joint moves now I got to go look for some shims like you got thank you very much
Ran into the same issue with the lower ball joint still being loose after tightening the holding nut. My fix was: using a angle grinder, grinding down the first shoulder down a little more than 1/16" ( basically allowing the ball joint to move further up) so that the contact face of the ball joint would seat against the surface of the control arm.
@@FixingWithPassion Issue with using the shims is that the ball joint itself is never in contact and secured to the control arm which could cause it to rotate.
I’m currently doing this same project. Initially just doing the cv axel but as usual NOTHING goes according to plan!! Went and got this puller tool so hopefully tomorrow get it done and I’ll see about the washers for the gap too, interesting that the new one was really loose
It might be worth pointing out that you don't need to pull the hub completely apart to get the CV axle out of the steering knuckle. Just need to remove the clip.
560 dollars???? What a steal lol a local mechanic wanted 1,300 dollars to do the upper and lower ball joints on my 02 xterra and another shop estimated 1,800! Planning on doing them this weekend haha thanks for this video!
Same thing happened to me with the loose lower ball joints, i ended up getting a moog i believe they were the oversized version but boy were they TIGHT, i used a pipe wrench and a 4ft long pipe to pull it up through the arm, next time ill just buy the arm assembly instead of going through that nightmare again
I have an 06 Xterra an just had the UCA replaced due to wear. The rattles noises are gone but the ride feels pretty stiff now. I have noticed that when looking straight at the ball joints from the front that the UCA-to-spindle angle is quite sharp. The mechanic says the joints are at the proper angle, but it almost looks like the CA is not long enough and thus leading to the sharp angle. In other words, if the CA was an inch longer then the ball joint itself would sit more straight up and down. I have compared old pictures and the angle of the BJ is far less severe. I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.
in your opinion is it safer to just replace the upper and lower control arms, vs just changing the ball joints? I'm on the fence because as you know its much easier to just change the ball joint, much less work and no alignment.
That lower threaded ball joint, it virtually fell out the second time, so when u put new washer on did it need pressed again, or did it just tighten up with the nut ? I am about to "try" and change one on a 2005, Nissan Navara !!
Its funny on the upper ball joint, have seen other videos where people take a chisel and hammer striking the top of the upper ball joint, knocking it out of upper control arm. They don't look underneath for snap ring.
Nice video brother, what brand of ball joints did you use, I gotta do the same job on mine and I ordered some Moog joints, I hope I dont run into the same fitting issue when installing them, Thanks ✌
Hello @Nathan Rohrbough, I'm on the home stretch finally on getting my driver's side lower ball joint replacement done. Right now I've hit a snag. The studs for the ball joints and outer tierod end keep spinning when tightening the castle nuts. I've been reading online that people just jack up or lower the LCA enough to put tension on the joint. Did you have this problem? What did you do? Thank you.
what are the specs on the snap ring pliers you had to use during this im in portland doing the same repair and am having issues getting the correct tool to complete this part
Be careful and don't forget to check the FSM for instructions on how to preload the bearings and how to torque them properly. The bearings are actually not very tight at all. Not knowing this cost me a lot of time and money only to find out that my bearings were too tight.
Instead of a super charger, why not do a VQ35 engine swap from a 2002 pathfinder? That engine I believe had 250 hp. It was the engine upgrade for the pathfinder that the xterras and frontiers never received (sadly).
