Suspension Parts for Dummies

[grunze]

Re: 94-96 Q

Below is a list that Joe was kind enough to provide to go along with the Tokicos. He also sent 4 IPB jpeg's with some actual labels for us suspension dummies. Email me if you're interested. Total cost is a shade north of 1k.

Please let me know if we are missing anything.

I wonder if Q45tech would mind estimating the labor?

Thanks guys.

HU2890A 2 94-96 Q45 TOKICO 716 2 FRONT TOKICOSHU2892 2 TOKICO BLUES REAR 716 0 REAR TOKICOS54034-60U05 ASR 2 SEAT-RUBBER,FRONT J29 4 $17.76 $35.52FRONT SPRING SEAT54050-60U10 ASR 2 BUMPER ASSY-BOUND J30 7 $16.50 $33.00FRONT STRUT BOOT54320-60U05 2 INSULATOR-STRUT M J30 8 $45.84 $ 91.68FRONT STRUT MOUNT54329-60U00 ASR 2 SPACER - FRONT ST J30 3 $3.00 $6.00FRONT STRUT GASKET55034-60U05 ASR 2 SEAT-RUBBER,REAR J32 2 $16.58 $33.16REAR SPRING SEAT55248-2Y000 ASR 2 COVER ASSY-BOUND J33 2 $6.24 $12.48REAR STRUT BOOT COVER56217-71L00 ASR 2 BUSH-SHOCK V07D 6 $1.95 $3.90REAR UPPER STRUT BUSHING56218-01U00 ASR 2 BUSHING-SHOCK ABS V07D 4 $4.85 $9.70REAR LOWER STRUT BUSHING54476-35F20 ASR 2 BUSHING-MOUNTING J31 1 $25.05 $50.10TENSION ROD BUSHINGS54525-66U20 ASR 1 LINK COMPL-FRT SU J32 3 $99.65 $99.65UPPER LINK LEFT54524-66U20 ASR 1 LINK COMPL-FRONT J31 2 $99.65 $99.65UPPER LINK RIGHT48203-27C26 ASR 2 BOOT KIT-POWER ST J28 3 $15.74 $31.48RACK BOOTS48521-68U25 2 SOCKET KIT TIE RO 0 $64.24 4128.48INNER TIE ROD54613-60U11 ASR 2 BUSHING STABLZR V07C 2 $5.65 $11.30SWAY BAR BUSHINGS56112-A0100 ASR 2 BUSHING V07C 4 $2.24 $4.48SWAY BAR LINK BUSHINGS UPPER56112-V0100 ASR 2 BUSH STABILIZER V07C 6 $2.46 $4.92SWAY BAR LINK BUSHINGS LOWER48520-33P26 ASR 2 SOCKET-KIT SIDE R J28 6 $41.76 $83.52TIE ROD END

[cccpman]

Well you can DIY with a toolbox, a spring compressor, and a friend and have it done that same day with plenty of time to spare. I was a fellow suspension dummy up till a couple days ago when I did it all with the help of a friend (not much brighter in the suspension realm)

I would hate to throw away all the money it would cost to have somebody else do. I did check around and the labor estimates (besides most refuse to install parts you bought yourself) were pretty high (we are talking 85-150 for an upper link alone)

Food for thought, you could pay for a nice set of rims and/or the highest end tires to compliment the suspension upgrade or pay someone else

[AlabamaDan]

I'd be interested in those JPEGs. Maybe just upload them here.

[grunze]

Never been successful following the pic instructions. Don't know why it should be so difficult to attach.

[AlabamaDan]

Hmmm....I'm putting together my order now. Did you ever get yours done?

[elwesso]

fire me an email with the pics and ill post em.

[grunze]

Hmmm....I'm putting together my order now. Did you ever get yours done?

Still trying to accumulate the cash and in the meantime have developed an apparent rear end problem that forced me to go to a dealer for a test drive. I now have an insider friend who likes the older models and may be able to provide some custom help.

BTW Joe's list is missing the 2 rear strut boots which were included in the jpegs.

Good luck with yours.

[grunze]

fire me an email with the pics and ill post em.

Not sure if this is a repeat but you already posted the jpeg's that I sent you back in August. Thanks.

[AlabamaDan]

Do you know where the jpegs are posted?

I think the rear strut boots are missing. According to my invoice they are:

55240-60U05 and they're $31.10 each.

[elwesso]

Not sure if this is a repeat but you already posted the jpeg's that I sent you back in August. Thanks.

were they just the parts diagrams from joe?

[AlabamaDan]

Probably.

[grunze]

were they just the parts diagrams from joe?

Yes.

[grunze]

Do you know where the jpegs are posted?

I think the rear strut boots are missing. According to my invoice they are:

55240-60U05 and they're $31.10 each.

Here's the link: zerothread/272303

Joe had the rear strut boots on the 4th jpeg but not listed on the parts list. I called him about it and he has obviously now included them with the collection of parts.

Are you installing yourself? If you are using a mechanic how much is he charging you? I still need to get a couple of quotes.

[AlabamaDan]

Alright! I'm bitting the bullet and ordering the parts to fix mine. After countless conversations with Infiniti of Scottsdale (Thanks Dan!) what I'm ordering:

HU2890A 2 94-96 Q45 TOKICO 716 2 FRONT TOKICOS

HU2892 2 TOKICO BLUES REAR 716 0 REAR TOKICOS

54050-60U10 ASR 2 BUMPER ASSY-BOUND $16.50 FRONT STRUT BOOT (2)

54320-60U05 2 INSULATOR-STRUT $45.84 FRONT STRUT MOUNT (2)

56217-71L00 ASR 2 BUSH-SHOCK $1.95 REAR UPPER STRUT BUSHING (2)

56218-01U00 ASR 2 BUSHING-SHOCK $4.85 REAR LOWER STRUT BUSHING (2)

55240-60U05 BUMPER ASSY - REAR ASSY $31.10 REAR STRUST BOOT(2)

54525-66U20 ASR 1 LINK COMPL-FRT $99.65 UPPER LINK LEFT 54524-66U20 ASR 1 LINK COMPL-FRONT $99.65 UPPER LINK RIGHT

The following parts, after talking to Dan I'm not going to replace because they're not parts commonly known to wear out:

54034-60U05 ASR 2 SEAT-RUBBER,FRONT $35.52 FRONT SPRING SEAT

54329-60U00 ASR 2 SPACER - FRONT $3.00 FRONT STRUT GASKET

55034-60U05 ASR 2 SEAT-RUBBER,REAR $16.58 REAR SPRING SEAT

55248-2Y000 ASR 2 COVER ASSY-BOUND $6.24 REAR STRUT BOOT COVER

We discussed replacing the outer tie rod ends and the tension rods (or bushings). I was basically told that if they're not leaking, they're good. Who knows for how long, but for now anyway and given the way money is flying out of my wallet I'll wait on these. Advice?

We also talked about the sway bar bushings, but are they really worth it? I looked at mine and they don't look distored. Then again the price is relatively small so maybe I should. Again I ask advice.

54613-60U11 ASR 2 BUSHING STABLZR $5.65 SWAY BAR BUSHINGS (2)

56112-A0100 ASR 2 BUSHING $2.24 SWAY BAR LINK BUSHINGS UPPER (2)

56112-V0100 ASR 2 BUSH STABILIZER $2.46 SWAY BAR LINK BUSHINGS LOWER (2)

I have installed a "Touring" sway bar on the back and some of the bushings on it were a little worn. Not the ones that connect to the frame, but the small ones on the linkage. I may get those and when I do I'll post the part numbers.

I'm also going to do the steering rack boots. I think my steering linkage looks good. It was still lubricated well and I haven't felt any steering problems.

Finally, I bring this thread back to life not just to solicit advice but to share with others what I'm doing. Total cost right now is about $450 in parts (less the Tokikos which I already have.) Add those and we're looking at about $700 in parts to restore my suspension to NICO standards.

I think the total of grunze's initial list would have been around $1020 for parts. Most of this stuff is moderate skill to replace I'd say so I'd think most people around NICO could do the labor themselves. No telling what a dealer would charge for that!

[AlabamaDan]

Oh one more thing before I finalize this order. I've read around here about people interchanging 300zx suspension parts such as the upper link and torson bar onto the Q45. Any benefit?

AND, I'm interested in having it perform well, but still have a luxury car feel. I'm not looking to turn it into a track car or something. It's my nice car.

[jjbuzzman]

I bought the suspension package from Scotsdale a few months ago that susposedly included every rubber part in the system. Mine must have been the "mid-grade" package since it cost about $500. I bought Tokicos off ebay for about $250. My local Chevrolet dealership has a first-class, computerized alignment machine and an old guy who has worked only on suspension for the past 20 years. This dealership did Nissans for about 10 years a while back too. He started on my '90 at 9:30, took a half hour for lunch, and finished at 3. We negotiated $500 for the rebuild, which included a 4 wheel alignment. With 3 kids and some special projects going on I didn't have time to do myself although I would have enjoyed it.

The improvement in ride and handling was literally amazing. Then I put on new tires and the combination felt like I just bought a new M45. Well worth the cost, especially since most of us like performance and handling.

[AlabamaDan]

Ok Finalized my order. I added the bushings for the sway bars. The final list of items is:

HU2890A 2 94-96 Q45 TOKICO 716 2 FRONT TOKICOS

HU2892 2 TOKICO BLUES REAR 716 0 REAR TOKICOS

54050-60U10 ASR 2 BUMPER ASSY-BOUND $16.50 FRONT STRUT BOOT (2)

54320-60U05 2 INSULATOR-STRUT $45.84 FRONT STRUT MOUNT (2)

56217-71L00 ASR 2 BUSH-SHOCK $1.95 REAR UPPER STRUT BUSHING (2)

56218-01U00 ASR 2 BUSHING-SHOCK $4.85 REAR LOWER STRUT BUSHING (2)

55240-60U05 BUMPER ASSY - REAR ASSY $31.10 REAR STRUST BOOT(2)

54525-66U20 ASR 1 LINK COMPL-FRT $99.65 UPPER LINK LEFT

54524-66U20 ASR 1 LINK COMPL-FRONT $99.65 UPPER LINK RIGHT

56112-A0100 ASR 2 BUSHING $2.24 SWAY BAR LINK BUSHINGS UPPER (2)

56112-V0100 ASR 2 BUSH STABILIZER $2.46 SWAY BAR LINK BUSHINGS LOWER (2)

56612-01P00 REAR SWAY BAR BUSHINGS $2.31 (6)

54612-35F00 REAR SWAY BAR BUSHINGS FOR TOP $4.37 (2)

There you have it. If you just have normal wear and tear on your Q and need to refresh the suspension those should be the parts you need. There are some other rubber parts, but after discussions with Dan and Jeff they really don't wear out on a normal course of business. Total Cost is approx $700 including shipping.

[Q45tech]

If a $1500-$2,000 suspension rehabilitation lasts 7-9 years that's only $175 - $285 per year prorated aginst the annual cost of $3,000.

Shocks per se only last 4-6 years depending on annual mileage and roads.But I've had good luck with shock boot /bumper stop life and generally replace those every other ~~ 8 years.

Unfortunately people wait unil the cars needs $6,000-$10,000 [transmission]then faint.

[AlabamaDan]

Well I finished this past weekend with my suspension maintenance. I replaced the shock/struts, boots and bumpers, upper links, shock bushings and sway bar bushings that I ordered back in November. My upper links didn't really look significantly worn compared to the new ones, but I replaced them anyway. The upper strut mounts on the front looked the same as the new ones, so I didn't replace them.

The big surprise for me was the rear bushings on top of the strut/shock assembly. If I had not had new ones to compare them to I would have thought they looked fine and reused them. However, in comparing them to the new ones I found the used bushings to be about 25% flatter than the new ones! Same for the sway bar bushings.

Drove to work this morning and what a difference it makes to have all those new parts under the car!

I also replaced the steering rack boots while I was under there. Cleaned off the old grease and put some new grease on before the new boots when on.

Difficultly rating for DIY mechanic at home = easy. Hardest part is taking the stuff out of the trunk to reach the top of the rear strut mounts.

Now for a good alignment.

[Q45tech]

If alignment does not allow camber to reach [return to] nominal -0.7 degrees you have more work to do after replacing upper links.

Usually the third link is bent and the lower arm rubber bushing is worn or even the shock tower metal in bent.

Hopefully you can visualize how little it takes if 4 items are equally bent to arrive at a 1/8" total error.

[goody90q45]

Well I finished this past weekend with my suspension maintenance....My upper links didn't really look significantly worn compared to the new ones, but I replaced them anyway.

I replaced my upper links for the first time a few weeks ago and mine looked to be in pretty good shape also. They didn't have any of the cracking or unbonds that I'd seen on the transmission mount, exhaust hanger and sway bar bushings. My last set of tires wore out on the inside edge so I knew the links needed replacement.

Take a look at the pic though and you can see that the rubber bushings have been compressed and the center shaft is a bit off center. All 4 shafts are going through the link at a bit of a diagonal. In the pic the amount of rubber is thinner on the inside edges compared to the outside edges. It was the same for both bushings on both links. We're looking at maybe 0.030" difference but that's quite a bit in wheel alignment numbers.

Is this what you saw in your links Danny or did I just replace a perfectly good set of links and my new set of tires are still wearing bad?

[AlabamaDan]

Yeah that's about how mine look. I expected it to be much more worn. But, as Q45Tech said above, maybe just a little makes that much of a difference.

[Quantico11]

Hey is anyone is interested I have a complete set of Tokico blues fronts for a 94 Q45. Plus.....I also have all of the rubber suspension parts mentioned above inthis thread, Pluss.....I also have both of the tension rod bearing which I was going to replace.....Plus I have two left Upper Links (Scottsdale made a mistake and I never caught it). Basically, I had already rebuilt my back suspension and planned on doing the front, bought all of the parts, never did it and I then sold my 94 Q. If anyone wants these 50cents on the dollar I will sell them. Please email pm me if interested.

[qship96]

Besides the 2 front shocks,upper links,and tension rod bushings,exactly what other parts are you offering for sale?

[OwnerCS]

I found this old thread about suspension parts.

Would the sway bars from a 94 touring model bring an improvement to a 91 base model?

[Q451990]

Q45Tech's research always pointed to adding the active rear bar, and replacing the front bar with one from an active as well. There was a lot of math and science involved that is way over my head... so I just bought the parts. Haven't installed them, but I bought them...

Man, I miss Dennis.

Heath

[OwnerCS]

Dennis is definately missed around here for sure.. I hope all is well..