1995 V6 4x4 5spd with factory? lift - front end advice

[ncerra]

Owned this truck for over 10 years. Been fighting ball joints for the past 5. Not driven the truck much until recently so now I want to get the problem fixed for good. Is unsafe and keeps destroying tires.

Replaced all 4 joints, and both CV axles about 5 years ago. Since then had to replace the top ball joints after about 5,000 miles. Now they need replaced again after another 5,000. Unbelievable, I know. I currently have the Moog ball joints available at Oreilly.

I am about to replace the joints again. Has anyone heard of this recurring ball-joint failure problem? Are there components in the front end that, when bad, could cause ball joints to fail? I'm thinking maybe worn out bushings or possibly the moog ball joints cant handle the factory lift...

Any help (or just thinking out loud) much appreciated

NC

[lne937s]

Not sure. A couple of quick questions:

Do you have stock wheel offset? If your wheels have too much negative offset, it can put some stresses on your suspension that it wasn't designed for.

Do you get it professionally aligned after you replace the suspension parts? Not having it aligned can also cause issues-- maybe something got bent?

I assume you are torqueing to spec and greasing everything up good. I am just wondering if anything changed to cause this issue.

[ncerra]

Wheel offset is stock. I did not have it aligned last time i had the ball joints replaced, could be that. Nothing changed that I know of unless something got bent in the little bit of rough driving that I do.

I've put the same Moog parts on there twice now and they have failed both times. Looking at the broken joints, there is a cap that completes the ball part of the socket. In both cases the cap separated from the top of the ball and fell out of the joint. This introduces about 1/4" of play to the joint which makes a knocking sound when I turn the wheel. I was thinking that the joint was failing due to being under designed for the 4x4 application. Not sure what else could make the joint break into it's two separate components like that. Definitely not wearing out...

[ncerra]

remembered, I did change the wheel offset, but the same problem happened before and after. Had wide wheels when I got the truck and have since gone back to stock...

[Desert Rat]

wheel offset shouldn't make that much difference...not every 5k type difference.

how much space is there between the upper control arm and the bumpstop on the frame? If you have your torsion bars cranked way up where there's no down travel left, that could accellerate wear. If you're buying greasable ball joints are you adding any grease to them? If you're installing them with dry sockets, they'll wear fast. Once you install, add the grease boots, you should be pumping them full of grease. The grease fittings usually come with the balljoints, but often you have to install them.

[ncerra]

Been installing them correctly (installing boots and zerks and filling with high temp wheel bearing grease). I think the suspension may be to blame here. I got the joints at the parts store and all they ask is if it is 4x4, but this truck sits about 4-6 inches higher than both friends of mine who have the standard 4x4 model. I think it has a factory lift and has the torsion bars turned way up...

Do you know of a good source for high-travel ball joints for these trucks?

[Desert Rat]

I don't, but your travel range, even if lifted shouldn't be eating them up like this.

Can you post a pic of your front end set up? I'd like to see the upper control arms and torsion bar mounts. From that I should be able to tell you what type of lift you have and might be able to help further. Will be out of town for a week starting tomorrow, but I'll come back and watch this thread.

[ncerra]

Can't get a photo tonight, but pretty sure it is all stock just turned up. will get a photo up before you return, thanks.

[icrf]

If the suspension is cranked up, it will eat ball joints quicker than average, especially if you're rough with it. I've never heard of good UBJs that resist this, and I used to be moderately involved in the Nissan offroading scene 6-8 years ago. The angle is simply just bad when lifted.

Sometimes with a lift kit, you get new upper control arms that change the angle slightly and make things less bad. I have some from AC on my truck and haven't had problems. I had a friend with similar gear on his Xterra and he just went through them like you (stock Xterra has pressed UBJs, but with aftermarket UCAs, they use the same bolt-on ones for the HB).

I second the suggestion of checking the space between the UCA and the bump stop. If that's cranked up within a half inch or so at rest, and you don't have aftermarket UCAs, I could see that being a problem. You can soften the front suspension or reindex the torsion bars to lower the front end down.

Also, about wheel offset, I never heard about that affecting ball joints. Usually extreme offset can accelerate wheel bearing wear, though.

[ncerra]

Ok, so I stopped to fill up the other day and noticed steel belts hanging out of my passenger front tire again. the tire wears excessively on the inside. Jacked it up to put the spare on and shook the wheel to see if the ball joint is blown. No movement!

Top ball joint appears to be solid on this side although the boot is ripped.So the excessive wear is coming from something else?

Drivers side top ball joint may still be bad, but would that make the passenger side tire wear funny? Going to check drvrs side today.

Here are those suspension pics:

[ncerra]

err photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nccerra/s ... 605209801/ if those continue not to load...

[icrf]

Looks like you're cranked up a little high, but nothing that obscene. Usually the lower control arms are level with the crossmember at rest when stock, and those are definitely stock UCAs. The space between the bump stop and the frame is a little close, that's about how much space you have on aftermarket UCAs. I'm not sure if that's too much for stock UCAs, but I wouldn't think so.

My only suggestion here is alignment. If it's bad enough to eat tires, could contribute to UBJ wear. Not sure. Maybe Desert Rat will have a better idea.

[Desert Rat]

Based on your pics, the issue right off is that you have the torsion bars cranked too far, especially with stock upper control arms.

Aftermarket arms that can be purchased with lift kits (superlift, calmini, automotive customizers, etc) correct those balljoint angles.

This means if you want to maintain that ride height, your balljoints will live a lot longer with a set of aftermarket arms. You can see yours are darn near on the bumpstops. With a stock ride height, the angle of those lower arms in relation to your steering crossmember is almost flat - that should give you a point of reference.

A couple hundred bucks will get you a set of aftermarket arms that'll help your balljoint situation significantly. When it's cranked up like that, the stock UCAs are too short, and you have camber issues as a result that are eating up the inside edge of the tire. Picture in your mind if that UCA was a little bit longer, how the camber would correct itself. The aftermarket lift arms also address this.

Good luck.

Here's a couple sites where you can obtain aftermarket UCA's:

www.purenissan.com
www.4x4parts.com

[ncerra]

Makes sense. Not interested in turning down the sus, so I guess I'll have to spring for the UCAs. I'll do the install myself with new shocks too (probably control arm also) then run it into the tire shop for new tires and an alignment. Any trouble getting an alignment after installing the aftermarket UCAs?

[ncerra]

Any advice for a better shock to handle the lift?

[Desert Rat]

interestingly, the lift arms don't do anything for suspension travel. It lifts the truck at the expense of down travel, and you'll simply have more up travel, so the same shorty shocks that work stock should work with the lift.

Go with a good quality gas shock like a Bilstein 5100, KYB Gas-aJust, or Rancho 9000 for the best performance and realize that because these things are so short, they heat up quick and fade is something you just have to deal with.

As for the arms, they're easy enough to install, and you should be able to get a shop to bring your alignment into spec. You can replace the upper arms and balljoints without taking tension off the torsion bars as you've probably already figured out.

[ncerra]

"easy enough" haha. Thanks for all the help. should be back up and running smooth soon.

[icrf]

The hardest part for me was always the bushings. A cheap press from HF made that easier, and I've used it many times since for all manner of things.

[ncerra]

I've used a old socket and a hammer before...

[Desert Rat]

Aftermarket arms will come with new urethane bushings that should slide right in. Do ensure you grease them to help with the squeaking. They're nothing like the OEM stuff with the vulcanized rubber in the steel sleeve.