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Originally Posted by sncs14
remove control arm from car, put control arm on solid surface, remove the lock ring and hit the ball joint with a big ass hammer. it doesn't matter if you break the joint, you don't need it any more.may want to soak it with some pb blaster first too.
use nismo bushings the extra cost is worth it to not have the hassle of using cheap ones
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Don't listen to this guy. First, once the ball joint is out (if it comes out that way), you won't be able to get it back in. Second, I disagree about the Nismo bushings (reasoning to follow).
As someone who just did this maintenance two weeks ago, this is very fresh in my head, as is/was the aggrivation.
For the ball joints, buy a ball joint press kit. It's $25 at harbor freight. It's a giant C-clamp with deep cups for catching the joint. Using a hammer will take forever, as I used a 1-foot long box wrench and a TON of force turning on the clamp. You'd need so much power behind the hammer that a miss would be devastating to the LCA.
Next is pressing the new ball joint in. The ball joint press kit has reverse cups for pressing. Using a hammer.. I really can't imagine how to *CORRECTLY* install the ball joint.
When spending $70 on the ball joints, and 2 hours of installation, why not buy the right $25 tool?
Next is the LCA bushing. The stock bushings are rubber with a metal sleeve. The FSM says to heat the LCA and press the metal sleeve out. Then remove the rubber (doesn't say how, but a torch makes a quick, smelly job of the rubber). Install the new bush into the stock sleeve, and press back in. Whiteline is the only bushing that comes with new sleeves. And you can't buy the stock sleeve from Nissan. Or the whole stock bushing. Nissan only sells LCA *arms* if you can't reuse that sleeve. When I was pressing, I destroyed one of those sleeves.. and had to wait 10 days for a new Whiteline bushing set to arrive from Canada. If I were to do it again, I'd just get the Whitelines. And, with the Whiteline bushings, you don't need to torch (and gag, and smell terrible for the rest of the day) out the old rubber bushings. Just replace the whole deal. Whiteline is 100% the way to go here. So is the ball joint kit.
-Jeff