I actually came across the FAQs for 1st gens and then started browsing and saw the topic. Hopefully that clears up what I was doing. Crossing my fingers on the alignment being somewhat better but if not Im sure I'll do ok, I mean I can live with a slight pull and a 1 degree slope in tire wear. Now on to more mods! :]
The Story of my bad balljoint w/ pix
6
Bad Balljoints and UCAs w/ pix
So here is the story of my suspension adventures.
It all started with a clunky balljoint which made a clunk sound when I hit a bump.
Here is my truck as I bought it about a year ago with fabtech uca's, aftermarket shocks, and slight larger (30x9.5/15) tires.
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The balljoint did not clunk when I bought it, but this is what caused it to clunk.
![]()
As you can see the boot is torn, and the camber was off by atleast +1 degree.
So what am I to do? My alignment was off so I decided to order some new stock control arms off an internet parts website. (autopartswholesale.com I believe) They said it fit my truck, sweet only 300$ for both.
I got them shortly after and took the fabtechs off and put the ones I got on.
This is what happened.
![]()
![]()
Uh ohh camber is way off now
Aparently I got v6 4x4 uppers I believe, (part# 54525-8B550)
So what do I do? Take those off of course.
So I get them off, this is all in the course of the same day and I was pretty frustrated.
I read the return policy on the website and if you read it you will see, its a PITA.
You have to fill out a form, which I did, and they send you an email saying it will be looked at (which I got)
Then you are supposed to wait like 30 days for it to be reviewed, 30 days to have it processed blah blah blah
so I opt to screw that and buy some new balljoints for the fabtechs and be done with it.
I called up Fabtech to see what balljoints are in them, and they say all of my year nissan arms had hardbody balljoints.
So a trip to Napa and 60$ later I got them. (lucky they had them in stock) I have the part # on the balljoints somewhere too in case I need more.
![]()
So I still have to get my alignment closer in spec right? Well I talked to a guy via e-mail who
was interested in my arms on craigslist and he said he needed longer control arms because he had too much
negative camber from his lift. (I know we will chat soon I hope again because you are a member here) So what I do
is research how to lift my truck on where else, ClubFrontier.
So I crank my torsion bars up about 8 turns each which gave me I believe 2" of lift.
![]()
This is where I sit now, I have not had an alignment done as of yet. I'm probably going to
crank the bars up another 4 turns, I think I still have room on my bump stops
and If I dont I can cut them.
I'm planning on some new (probably smaller) tires and then having an alignment done to
see if Im any more in spec than before.
Any questions, comments, and discussions are welcomed.
So here is the story of my suspension adventures.
It all started with a clunky balljoint which made a clunk sound when I hit a bump.
Here is my truck as I bought it about a year ago with fabtech uca's, aftermarket shocks, and slight larger (30x9.5/15) tires.
The balljoint did not clunk when I bought it, but this is what caused it to clunk.
As you can see the boot is torn, and the camber was off by atleast +1 degree.
So what am I to do? My alignment was off so I decided to order some new stock control arms off an internet parts website. (autopartswholesale.com I believe) They said it fit my truck, sweet only 300$ for both.
I got them shortly after and took the fabtechs off and put the ones I got on.
This is what happened.
Uh ohh camber is way off now
Aparently I got v6 4x4 uppers I believe, (part# 54525-8B550)
So what do I do? Take those off of course.
So I get them off, this is all in the course of the same day and I was pretty frustrated.
I read the return policy on the website and if you read it you will see, its a PITA.
You have to fill out a form, which I did, and they send you an email saying it will be looked at (which I got)
Then you are supposed to wait like 30 days for it to be reviewed, 30 days to have it processed blah blah blah
so I opt to screw that and buy some new balljoints for the fabtechs and be done with it.
I called up Fabtech to see what balljoints are in them, and they say all of my year nissan arms had hardbody balljoints.
So a trip to Napa and 60$ later I got them. (lucky they had them in stock) I have the part # on the balljoints somewhere too in case I need more.
So I still have to get my alignment closer in spec right? Well I talked to a guy via e-mail who
was interested in my arms on craigslist and he said he needed longer control arms because he had too much
negative camber from his lift. (I know we will chat soon I hope again because you are a member here) So what I do
is research how to lift my truck on where else, ClubFrontier.
So I crank my torsion bars up about 8 turns each which gave me I believe 2" of lift.
This is where I sit now, I have not had an alignment done as of yet. I'm probably going to
crank the bars up another 4 turns, I think I still have room on my bump stops
and If I dont I can cut them.
I'm planning on some new (probably smaller) tires and then having an alignment done to
see if Im any more in spec than before.
Any questions, comments, and discussions are welcomed.
