MrFancypants Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 So this weekend I began the front suspension tear down. Found my first rust problem -- after scraping off the undercoating in the wheel well under the battery tray. Cant say it was unexpected, but still annoying. At least everything else came off easily. Everything was covered in goop, but once the bolts came out they still had the zinc coating on the threads! Both ball joints and tie rod ends are really gritchy. They looked like they hadnt had fresh grease in years and whatever mud/undercoating was just caked on everything. It was a huge mess but the end result is I need new ball joints and tie rod ends. Who's the recommended ball joint source? Nissan? NAPA? How about tie rod ends? Can you press out the tie rod end or do you have to replace it with the tie rod? Since Im going to be lowering the car, I'm going to need bumpsteer spacers -- is there an aftermarket tie rod that eliminates the need for a bumpsteer spacer, or do you have to make your own? - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Courtesy Nissan for ball joints and tie rod ends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete280z Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 I'll probably get smacked for this, but I just ordered ball joints, tie rod ends, steering rack boots and RCAs (bump steer spacers) from MSA. MSA recently accepted a gift certificate that had technically expired, so they earned the repeat purchase. The prices from Nissan were steep and opinions about aftermarket suppliers varied pretty widely. The safe bet would be to buy it all from Nissan though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 I just went to AutoZone and got all Duralast stuff. They have LLT warranty on everything so I figured the risk was lower than ordering someplace on-line. Still cost me ~$160 - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Just an FYI. http://www.partsamerica.com lists both ball joints and outer tie rods for $130. LLT on their stuff, too. They are suppliers for Schucks, Kragen, Checker, etc, so you can usually order online and pickup locally or get free shipping if over $50. I'd rather save my time & gas by going online & have it show up a day or two later w/ free shipping, but that's just me. Wait, that's what I do for a living (driving traffic to online companies) and I get paid on the back end from those companies, even Parts America. Gotta love the web! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 Just an FYI. www.partsamerica.com lists both ball joints and outer tie rods for $130. LLT on their stuff, too. Yeah I forgot to mention I got 2 ball joints, 2 tie rod ends, and two steering rack boots for $160, so just the ball joints and tie rod ends were $130. Wouldnt be surprised if they came from the same place and just got rebadged. - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Mileski Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 rockauto.com has Spicer ball joints ($35 each) and Spicer tie rods ($24 each), for a total of $118. Mike Mileski Tucson, AZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 OK, so you did alright. I'm sure they'll do the job, not matter who's name is on them. Just keep everything clean and lubed and they'll last a long time! Got the same stuff ready for my car and just thought that I should probably be doing front wheel bearings & seals while I'm putting on everything else new. Never know if those current bearings have been changed and better to have new ones with the increased demand coming from the 12.2 x 1.25" GT rotors and Wilwoods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 OK, so you did alright. I'm sure they'll do the job, not matter who's name is on them. Just keep everything clean and lubed and they'll last a long time! Got the same stuff ready for my car and just thought that I should probably be doing front wheel bearings & seals while I'm putting on everything else new. Never know if those current bearings have been changed and better to have new ones with the increased demand coming from the 12.2 x 1.25" GT rotors and Wilwoods. You know, I dont know if the front bearings were ever changed on my Z, but when I pulled apart the hubs, the bearings and seals looked brand new. Not a hint of corrosion or gritch on any of them. I was truly shocked. Seems like the front undercarriage was sprayed with some muddy undercoating crap -- had to scrape what seemed like pounds of material off to get to the parts underneath. It was a pain, but when I pulled bolts I could still see the cad coating on the threads! I was afraid I'd have to rebuild the steering rack but after I cleaned it up it looks brand new -- not a hint of rust. The boots are dryrotted and it will get fresh grease but the metal parts are pristine. All the front suspension bits are at the powdercoater... will look brand new underneath the car at the end of the week I'm going with the same front brakes, and will be upgrading the rears to the 11.4" disc setup. More on that to come later! - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 I'm going with the same front brakes, and will be upgrading the rears to the 11.4" disc setup. More on that to come later! Yep, having a layer of protective "crap" isn't always a bad thing. I figure that spending $40 for new bearings and seals for the front is cheap insurance, as I don't want to have to "wonder" if they will last. Sounds like we'll both have enough braking power. I'm going with 12.2' front & rear with 1.25" in the front and .810" rear. Wilwood Superlite 4s front & rear with 1.75" bore in front & 1.38" rear. Definitely more than enough, but recommended by one of the guys at Wilwood who has a Z. More is good, since you have to slow down when you make it accelerate quickly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnosez Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 Having just purchased a set of tie rods, boots and ball joints from Courtesy I ended up spending a bit more as I got the inner tie rods as well. Aftermarket versions are only available for one side. I was thinking of just buying a rebuilt rack but got limited "feel good" feedback from other Z owners. After finding out that Nissan has but 4 of the nearly 16 parts you need to rebuild the rack, I began to wonder what parts the reman companies are using.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HizAndHerz Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 After finding out that Nissan has but 4 of the nearly 16 parts you need to rebuild the rack, I began to wonder what parts the reman companies are using.... They make up for the parts they can't get by spraying on an extra layer of paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 Ok my parts came in. One ball joint is a McQuay Norris -- same brand sold by Suspension.com and are a reputable aftermarket unit. The other came in a Dana box. Must be the exact same ball joint sold by Napa for $49.99, then. In other words, AutoZone just rebadges the ball joints as Duralast with their own part number -- and sells them for a pretty damn good price. The ball joints do not have zerks on them, but the ones that came off the car did. Im not too worried about this since I will just replace the whole unit under LLT warranty rather than try to service it. They also have nylon lock nuts rather than castle nuts. Shouldnt be a problem since Ive never had a ball joint that didnt pretty much seize up under the weight of the car anyway. The tie rod ends do have zerks just like the ones that came off the car. My steering rack boots did not fit. The ends towards the middle of the rack are too big ID and therefore won't seal. Need to find out why the special order parts didnt fit. Anybody know the difference between a 240 and 260 rack? I would assume it has the original 260 rack. Anyone got an AutoZone part number they know works on a 260? - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete280z Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 My steering rack boots did not fit. The ends towards the middle of the rack are too big ID and therefore won't seal. Need to find out why the special order parts didnt fit. Anybody know the difference between a 240 and 260 rack? I would assume it has the original 260 rack. Anyone got an AutoZone part number they know works on a 260? I had heard that the boots available from Autozone, NAPA, etc would all be wrong in the way that you described. The advice I got was that Specialty Parts is making boots that fit well and they are sold by MSA as "Aftermarket steering rack boots." I ordered some on Monday and expect them any time. I'll post again once they're on the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 I used auto zone type parts of the first few times for ball joints and tierods. Each rebuild was after a season of open track days and was necessary because of excess play in a ball joint or tie rod. The last rebiuild, I used nissan parts from courtesy. I'm on the second year now and all parts are fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage42 Posted March 2, 2007 Share Posted March 2, 2007 I had heard that the boots available from Autozone, NAPA, etc would all be wrong in the way that you described. The advice I got was that Specialty Parts is making boots that fit well and they are sold by MSA as "Aftermarket steering rack boots." I ordered some on Monday and expect them any time. I'll post again once they're on the car. I know the MSA boots (Specialty Parts) will fit just fine. Here's a pic (sorry for the bad quality) and the big end is about 1/8" smaller in diameter. Here you go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Found out from another thread that there is a universal fit steering rack boot from AutoZone that will work (Part# UF2020, $10 EA). I picked up two of them last night and will let you guys know how they work. They do not show up in the parts database and you have to ask the guys to check their universal fit boots in the back. - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I used auto zone type parts of the first few times for ball joints and tierods. Each rebuild was after a season of open track days and was necessary because of excess play in a ball joint or tie rod. The last rebiuild, I used nissan parts from courtesy. I'm on the second year now and all parts are fine. The difference between factory stuff and parts store stuff has always been an important factor for me, price be damned. Thanks Mark for some real world comparison. Ball joints and tie rods are important parts! On the rack bellows... I've seen them from 15 bucks up to sixty. You really think your getting the same quality for that much of a price difference? I bought a rebuilt rack, I was adjusting toe and the twisty wire thing used to clamp the boot to the rack held just tight enough to cause the cheap boot to tear when I twisted the tie rod. You get what you pay for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete280z Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 There are simply too many variables involved to always assume that higher price == better quality. I see where you're coming from as my experience tells me that the factory Nissan stuff seems better to my untrained measures. But $40 - $50 for a rubber boot indicates that scarcity (real or perceived) is probably playing a role in the pricing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFancypants Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share Posted March 4, 2007 There are simply too many variables involved to always assume that higher price == better quality. I see where you're coming from as my experience tells me that the factory Nissan stuff seems better to my untrained measures. But $40 - $50 for a rubber boot indicates that scarcity (real or perceived) is probably playing a role in the pricing. I agree 100% with this. $100 for a factory ball joint has little to do with quality and a lot to do with scarcity. It's already been posted that you get about a year more out of a NISSAN ball joint under hard use than an aftermarket one (and we dont know WHICH aftermarket one it was). NISSAN ball joints dont have a LLT warranty either, so as long as you dont mind changing ball joints, the aftermarket ones will be a better buy even if they last half as long. Luckily the ball joints in the Z are really easy to install and dont need to be pressed in. Im also not going to pay $100 for rack boots. I can replace the cheaper quality, LOCAL versions 5 times for that amount of money. - Greg - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.