Can anyone tell me the best place to buy the lower control arm bolts? I am trying to change out my bushings on my lower control arms and the bolts are rusted and have to be broken off. I know the grade is 10.9 but don't know the exact size that is needed.

Thanks

I am the guy that hates buying from the dealership, but I would probly resort to them for a few bolts including these. Expect to pay $5/bolt though

Really, man that sucks. just my luck they'll be out of stock on them too. Thanks for the reply.

Well you dont HAVE to, just a suggestion. I personally dont trust the grading pressed into bolt heads anymore after a few mishaps. I had some suspension bolts break off at the head on my Crx, they were labelled grade 8 (m10 X 1.25 to be exact) And i had a very scary situation on the highway when the last one gave way.

Being as I worked at a bolt manufacturer at the time, I went to the store (princess auto) 3 months later mind you, so probably from a completely different batch of bolts even so not even a chance of the company just putting out a few bad bolts, and grabbed a few of the same "grade8" bolts. My coworker tested them and said they were garbage and were heat treated incorrectly and were brittle as hard nipples, said they may pass for a grade 4 BEFORE heat treat

A lower control arm pivot bolt isnt exactly something I want breaking while driving....

Im pretty cheap, but not with bolts anymore

i replaced mine with the nissan bolts from the dealership. if my memory serves me correctly, i think i spent around $50 for the 4 bolts. took a couple days as it was a special order. the tip of it is tapered which make the install foolproof. also, just so you know - 2 were longer and 2 were shorter but i cant remember which ones

Okay, got the bolts from the good people at 4x4parts.com. Since they were local to me I was able to pick them up today. They were really a life saver. But now I have a question, I picked up the 4 bolt and they are all the same size. Are there suppose to be two different sizes?

nah theyll probably work fine. Its just not OEM. 4x4parts been selling them for a long time. But i know that the OEM bolts are definitely 2 different lengths. Im pretty sure it was the rear of the LCA that was longer. So the front ones (where the LCA connects to the unibody) youll probably have like an extra inch of bolt sticking out.

may i ask what grade bolts they gave you and how much you paid

Okay, false alarm. 2 of the bolts are slightly longer than the other two. Everything is all good! I called and spoke to the tech at 4x4parts and he explained the differences to me. Simply had me stand them up side by side. Now I feel like a a**. Oh well, but sure than stupid. 4x4parts.com was great, really took care of me. My suggestion for anyone looking for Nissan / Infiniti suspenssion parts.

The bolts are Grade 10.9 and it only cost me $20 buck with a few cents for them. They actually sell the whole set of 8 for about 38.00 but broke it up for me since I only needed the lower arm bolts. Big props' to Mike the Tech at 4x4parts.com.

It may not be rust. It may just be REALLY torqued on there. I've replacedthe bushings on my '01 PF upper (I think) control arms 1.5 times (twice onone side, once on the other). The first time around, it took Ingersol-Rand'sbaddest 1/2" impact wrench (they say 1000 ft pounds) some serious bangingto get three of four loose. The fourth had to be cut off with a pneumatic cutofftool. There was no rust anywhere (California truck since new, and I don't ski).

BTW, the FSM says to replace the bolts and nuts.

I should be good then since I'm replacing all four lower bolts and bushings. I changed the shocks out which were completely dead so far. Real difference in the ride now. I'm having the bushings changed out this evening so by tonight it should be all good.

"done by tonight" hahaha that the same way i think..... $20 says you dont get done by tonight!

Okay, so it took an additional day but hey, its all done. Changed plugs, rear shocks and replaced old worn bushings with new, better, energy bushings. Truck runs smooth and straight. As a bonus, I added a new Alpine Amp and Box to keep me moving down the road. Riding good, sounding good.

Thanks to all whom helped me understand and work this out accordingly.

For the record, on an '01:

On the lower trailing link, the rear bolt is longer from the head to the far end of the threads, but doesn't have the nipple on
the end (that looks kinda like a Torx wrench) so is shorter overall than the front bolt which does have the nipple.

On the upper trailing link, the front bolt is longer and both have the nipple.

I'm in the middle of replacing all the rear bushings with poly today and tomorrow.

Two trips the hardware store (one to get a Mapp gas torch (mine is at the beach house, duh), two to get a come-along to pull
things into alignment. I'm taking notes and will post.


Chuck

Need some help please.

I'm taking my PF to an independent to replace the trailing arms which arrive today.

However, he will likely have to cut the bolts off. My local dealer said no dealers have the bolts in stock. I have a local hardware store that has a large selection of high grade bolts.

Can anyone tell me the specs/dimensions of the bolts I will need? I hate to wait until the mechanic has the bolts to then go get them.

Thanks in advance.

The bolts and nuts are supposed to be replaced even if they don't have to be cut off.

I'd just order the bolts and nuts from a dealer. It only takes a couple of days.

FWIW, I just did my lower control arm bushing. All the nuts came off with Ingersol-Rand's baddest 1/2" impact wrench.

Chuck,

Thanks for the input.

I got one off with my breaker bar, stripped the corners off the second nut and gave up.

My problem with ordering from dealer is I need it by tomorrow morning so it can be repaired before the weekend for a Thanksgiving trip.

I'm hoping the mechanic has an impact wrench that will work so I can at least try to match the bolt size.

Thanks,

Scott

I'll bet you used a 12-point socket on the nut that stripped.

Yep. 12 pt was all I have.

Ended up going to a local Aamco and he broke the others loose with a better impact wrench. THan I came home and cut off the stripped one.

Replaced all the arms with ones from RockAuto. Rides great!

thANKS FOR THE INPUT

W O T wrote:Well you dont HAVE to, just a suggestion. I personally dont trust the grading pressed into bolt heads anymore after a few mishaps. I had some suspension bolts break off at the head on my Crx, they were labelled grade 8 (m10 X 1.25 to be exact) And i had a very scary situation on the highway when the last one gave way.

Being as I worked at a bolt manufacturer at the time, I went to the store (princess auto) 3 months later mind you, so probably from a completely different batch of bolts even so not even a chance of the company just putting out a few bad bolts, and grabbed a few of the same "grade8" bolts. My coworker tested them and said they were garbage and were heat treated incorrectly and were brittle as hard nipples, said they may pass for a grade 4 BEFORE heat treat

A lower control arm pivot bolt isnt exactly something I want breaking while driving....

Im pretty cheap, but not with bolts anymore

Ok...No offense, but you worked at a bolt manufacturer and you don't know your grades of bolts? If your "grade 8" metric bolt was actually a grade 8.8 it's equivalent to a standard grade 5. Manufacturers obviously make mistakes when it comes to manufacturing bolts but they go through a lot of testing due to all the liability. Never had a reason to not trust what's stamped on the head, even though I fully agree that not all bolts are created equal.