# Ball joint How To



## Gmember (Oct 31, 2015)

I couldn’t find much info on replacement of the lower ball joints on a 2006 X-trail XE so I thought I’d add this description of today’s effort. I started by making sure the rear wheels were blocked, and jacked the front end high enough to raise both wheels . I used two stands for safety and left the jack in place as well. I used a second jack to support the left side of the vehicle as well. Don’t cut corners on your own safety. It isn’t worth the risk. 



















I gathered a set of metric wrenches and sockets and a long handle ratchet. After removing the wheel, I wire wheeled all of the threaded fasteners, I planned to removed, and sprayed them with penetrating oil. I have a Dremel tool with an extension which allows me to clean the threads quickly and easily. 22mm and 19mm are the wrenches and sockets most important. 










I chose the toughest looking bolts first as indicated in the above pics. They weren’t too bad but some extra length for leverage was required by interlocking a couple of wrenches. 










Next I tackled the two bolts shown above which showed evidence of thread lock when they came out . They required a long extension on my ratchet but both surrendered with a bit of grunting. 










This allowed the lower control arm to simply drop which I thought would be an advantage when tackling the ball joint retaining nut. Problem was there was nothing supporting the axle and CV joint so I had to rethink this. I replaced one of the bolts and used a screwdriver to hold the arm in place while I removed the ball joints nut. At this point I decided to remove the calliper and rotor to allow a bit easier access to the ball joint nut. I fashioned a hook to support the calliper ( thanks to advice from another forum post). 











The nut was a real pain . A 22 mm wrench felt too loose, so I tried a a 7/8” which slipped . There’s no room to slip the box end of a wrench in here since the axle is just too close to the top of the thread. The nut is so tight, the open end of the wrench just slips around it. I considered using a zip cut wheel to chop the top off, so I’d have room to get the box end over the nut, but was worried about cutting in such close proximity to the cv joint boot. Also considered sacrificing a box end wrench by grinding it so thin it would fit. The solution for me was to drive a 21mm open end wrench onto the nut with a good size hammer and crack the nut loose with a four foot length of tubing over the wrench. This worked great and once cracked I was able to remove the 21mm wrench and finish with the 7/8 wrench. As the nut is unthreaded it eventually runs into the axle spindle. One quick blow to the top of the control arm will dislodge the tapered balljoint pin and give more room for the nut to be removed. 










This allowed the old arm and ball joint assemble to drop out. 











A quick comparison of the old and the new part, (R is for Right), and a good clean up of all fasteners and mating surfaces, and I was ready to start installation. A bit of removable lock-tite on each bolt adds a little peace of mind. 



















I reversed the order of assemble and made sure the ball joint nut was started on it’s thread before anything else was tightened , just to make sure I would not have difficulty fitting the nut between the axle and the bolt. 










Note the pivot bolt has a slight step , I assume to insure a snug fit into its hole. I don't think this indicates wear, but should the shaft of this bolt appear eccentric, I would replace it. .










I found the stabilizer bar link tended to turn in its housing as I tightened it so I opted to use a 6mm allen head socket to tighten it while holding the nut with a wrench.










That was it and here’s a shot of the newly installed lower ball joint.














Incidentally there are a number of different suppliers of the part ranging in price . I chose a mid range price of $250 Can. per side with lifetime warranty, and my supplier had them in stock. Other options were…. $108 US per side on Ebay,…. $363 per side from local garage,…. or $298 per side from local Nissan dealer. 









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The cost is up there, but I required these parts to pass a safety check so it was unavoidable. Having heard quotes in the range of $1400 to do these at a dealer I feel like it was three hours of my time well spent.

Besides my Exy was just not ready to retire yet.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Nice job GMember. I have nothing but admiration for anyone who performs an outdoor repair in December. Thank goodness for the mild weather to date.
Did you change the Left side as well? Its a shame we have to replace the entire control arm rather than just the ball joint, but the new bushings do make a difference. I am sure you found that your steering felt renewed. Next spring or when you feel so inclined you might consider redoing the front struts. You will feel the difference as well. 
Nice to see you are maintaining it. Its a bit of a shame to see the odd one being left to rot, but then some people are neglectful and others dont have the skills or money to properly maintain a more complex vehicle. But there are also a lot of owners who obviously care for theirs-- we can add yours to the list!


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## Gmember (Oct 31, 2015)

*Thanks Quadraria10*

Yes I did do both the left and right side. Took about two hours for the first one and an hour for the second. I enjoy working on my own vehicles regardless of the weather, but your right about this extended warm spell does help. I have a garage, but I like having a bit more space to work around Exy. Tomorrow, once Nissan gets my parts in, I plan to replace the rear e-brake shoes and check on a seized ebrake cable. I'll take a few shots during the adventure. I will be looking into the struts once the Exy is on the road but thought I would check into a mild lift as well and do everything at once. My strut boots are falling apart so at the very minimum I'll grab a set of them as well.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Hi GMember, I noticed when I bought my Mevotech links I could get them with grease fittings which I did. Never seen the control arm ball joint with any. Makes me wonder if such a thing is available. And just so you know you could have gotten them from Rock Auto for about 175 each delivered, and even a bit cheaper if you went for the Beck/Arnley which are very similar and may be even better quality.
I am curious if you bothered with an alignment afterwards?

As an aside, I find it strange that for the Rogue in 2008 they went for straight steel rather than a lighter alloy.. Same thing for front brakes where we got 2 pot front calipers and the Rogue only one pot. When you compare the X trail to the first gen Rogue you can see some later cost savings where Nissan cheaped out.


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## Gmember (Oct 31, 2015)

*Thanks Q*



quadraria10 said:


> Hi GMember, I noticed when I bought my Mevotech links I could get them with grease fittings which I did. Never seen the control arm ball joint with any. Makes me wonder if such a thing is available. And just so you know you could have gotten them from Rock Auto for about 175 each delivered, and even a bit cheaper if you went for the Beck/Arnley which are very similar and may be even better quality.
> I am curious if you bothered with an alignment afterwards?
> 
> As an aside, I find it strange that for the Rogue in 2008 they went for straight steel rather than a lighter alloy.. Same thing for front brakes where we got 2 pot front calipers and the Rogue only one pot. When you compare the X trail to the first gen Rogue you can see some later cost savings where Nissan cheaped out.


Considering the price I would think the ball joints would be a better candidate for grease fittings, but I'm not aware of that option. I believe mine had gone over 200k before requiring replacement though, so maybe it would be considered overkill to try and have them last much longer. As I mentioned I did get a lifetime warranty on these so I'm not too concerned. It's tough to decide on parts when presented with such a wide range of prices. I went mid range to find quality and value but it sure makes you wonder if there really is any difference between the parts. 
I read an article on replacing just the ball joint, when using the steel control arms, on another Nissan model. I'm wondering if that contributed to the decision to go to all steel control arms in the Rogue. It seems a better idea to minimize the unsprung weight so I'm thinkin' the aluminum control arms provide a bit more peppy suspension performance. No I didn't bother with the alignment, simply because there were no adjustable features on any of the parts I replaced. They had no choice but to bolt directly back into the same position. Having said that, it would also rely on both old and new parts being exactly identical, which I felt was the case. Truck drives nice and straight without any pull to either side so I think all is well. It'll be a different story when I tackle the front strut but even then I've had some luck with center punching the connecting bolts to assure they go back in correctly. Not sure I want to risk a new front tire to find out though


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Only asked because I didn't bother either,nor did I after changing the struts. I have had it long enough to know what it feels like when its aligned and she is fine. I did get it done after changing the front bearings which required the hub to be removed. When you change the strut and disconnect it from the hub, just make sure to support the control arm with your jack.
Just looked and you are right you can buy just the ball joint for the Rogue front control arms, but not much point when you can buy the arm with it for as little as $71 and with the beck/arnley going for $95. And I was the guy who was quoted 1400 +tx from a mazda dealer where I was getting an oil change. Never got a complete quote for front struts but the ball park to redo them with new struts, mounts and belows was pushing the 900 + tx for parts only at the Nissan dealer. 
Glad you found a service manual. Its been a revelation to me. Never want to own a car without having one again. That and a good forum for the model are musts! Cheers.


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

the rubber looks good doesn't?

















Cv joint?


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Cv boot looks to be holding-- no grease spatters. The bushings on your control arms are degrading. I would plan on changing those at some point. You will like what the new ones do for your steering and handling.


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

I ear a metal to metal grinding when going over a speed bump.
I m always nagging the wife that I m driving a boat lol.(compared to a civic coupé)

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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Eric the car guy has a pretty thorough video on the subject. My guess ball joint, outer or inner tie rod end, or a bad sway bar link. Possibly a rear one too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scFbb43fwqk


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

I m with him when he says the tires could make the steering wheel wobble.
My tires are 10 years old, i bought them the first year i had the car.
Now that i ve changed both tie rod ends,i ll print a winter tires exemption from saaq and reinstall all season tires for a test drive.
This guy has good tricks for a diagnose on cars. I knew pretty much all of them but i m missing some practice( i only drive the car once a week or so).

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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Darn right tires can make your steering wheel shake at speed. Had that today with excess ice on the rims, but I think my winter tires need rebalancing. Got a great deal on Bridgestone Blizzaks but I dont think the installer did a good job balancing them. He sure did not pay any attention to lining up the dots on the tires with the blue dot on my rims or the valve stem. May have to have them unmounted and remounted properly and then balanced. I hate to say but ever since I have been informing myself and doing some of my own mechanical, I have become aware many mechanics are all too human and sometimes make mistakes and do dumb things. Then again the guy who installed my tires was probably brought on for the rush period and may not have received a lot of training. I also wonder how old their balancing machine is.


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

If you can talk to him while he s doing his job,you can ask "innocent" questions about mounting tires and balancing.

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