Looseness in upper kingpin area on passenger side front wheel.

[mattd1979]

I posted this originally under the "problem with tie rod end" heading but since I have moved on to another subject then maybe it would help if I post it under another name. So here goes.

I recently replaced the upper and lower bearings and lower seal along with a new kingpin on the passenger front wheel to get rid of the play but there is still play. I wanted to know if any one else has had this problem and what did you do to resolve. The alignment shop will not align until this play is removed. ThanksMatt

[maxnix]

I guess I would have to ask, "In what component is the play located?"

[Q45tech]

Went thru the same time wasting proceedure, replacing bearings and kingpin when the problem was actually in the third member..........bearing socket wear and kingpin.

Cost effective to replace whole member [which typically gets bent from wobbles in upper link].[comes with kingpin and new bearings as a unit................when changing upper link doesn't return camber to midpoint of range --------minus 0.7 degrees.

Eventually at some mileage point you must resolve yourself to replacing every component in the entire suspension.........the only things as built on mine are the HUB and ABS sensors and wheel hub and lugs............everything else has been replaced or rebuilt [calipers] plus I've replaced upper links 8 times............in 308,000 miles.

[mattd1979]

Q45tech...Is the third member the part that has the upper and lower bearings? I look on the "Fast" system and it is called a " complete knuckle arm extension". There are 5 different part numbers for the same part that I am looking at and they all start with 54590. The first full number is 54590-60U25, but I think that number is for active and my mom's is standard. I can give you the VIN on her car so that you can look it up if that would help. Here it is...JNKNG01C5MM109819. ThanksMatt

P.S.

maxnixThe play is in the area where the kingpin goes into the upper control arm..the same arm that the strut attaches to.

[maxnix]

Good, then you have it isolated to the correct assembly.

[mattd1979]

Q45tech.........I called EverythingInfiniti today and talked with Dan Smith who in turn talked with Joe and Joe said that I will have to buy all of the parts individually because he says the upper arm assembly does not include any bearings or kingpin installed. Where did you buy yours from?

[sijoko]

I have the same problem. I replaced the kingpins and bearings but the looseness is still there.

When I ordered the kingpins from EverythingInfiniti, I noticed that there were two kingpins: one for the regular and the other for the active.

I wonder if there is a difference in kingpins or bearings between the active and regular models. Maybe the ones I received were not the correct size.

As far as the third member wearing out: the bearing and kingpin take all the abuse. When I pressed the new bearings in, the bearing socket was not worn out. So just wondering how a new third member can take care of the slack between the kingpin and bearing.

I am going to order some new kinpins and bearings. I still have my original kingpins saved so I have something to compare the measurements with.

[Q45tech]

Been 9+ months since I replaced mine maybe all the good cheap preassembled ones are gone and now left with individual parts.

You never know with just kingpin and bearings if it doesn't solve it then you get to change the whole link.

Fixing camber is the side benefit.

[mattd1979]

You say cheap..do you just mean that the quality is the same, just that it is cheaper because it is preassembled? Where did you buy yours from? When I talked with Dan at EverythingInfiniti, he was talking like there has never been a preassembled kit before and that I would have to buy the individual pieces. Unfortunately they have none in stock to look at to verify and the warehouse cannot look at it he says because the parts people at the warehouse do not have access to the part to look at it and verify.

The third member is $133. How much did you have to pay for yours? If yours is the same price then maybe it does come with the parts installed, just that the diagram they look at shows an exploded view. Let me know.

ThanksMatt

P.S. Dan told me that the last time they sold one of those third members was about a year ago. Maybe you are the one they sold it too if you bought it from there.

[mattd1979]

Anybody here purchase a 3rd member within the last 5 months and if so, did it come with the bearings already installed? How much did you pay for the part?

[mattd1979]

Bump

[mattd1979]

Update....I went ahead and ordered all of the individual parts including the third member from EverythingInfiniti. The parts came about a week later and I was going to have the bearings pressed into the new 3rd member so I decided to start unpacking everything and pulled the 3rd member out and what do you know, it had everything installed. Thinking that maybe they had it all assembled, I began to dig further in the box and found that there was a bag with both upper and lower bearings and seal which is no longer needed. I called back and talked to Ralph and told him the situation and he was stumped. He said that he had never heard of the 3rd member coming pre-assembled. I told him to make a note in there computer for future reference so that this wouldn't happen again to anyone else and he said he was going to look further into it. He sent DHL out to pick up the unused portion and I got credited back. So there you have it.Oh, and as far as there being play in the suspension........all is well.

[Q45tech]

See $133 is a cheap fix................budget for both sides eventually..........now you upper links will be the weakest part as designed.

[squeefoo]

Just wondering. Is the hole straight through? -non-tapered?

What I'm getting at is.. Would it be possible to knurl the I.D.?Or TIG and ream?

...If they decide to discontinue it or all one could find is wiped out 3rd members.

[mattd1979]

No, the hole is not tapered. As far as the knurling, it may work but not sure for how long.
Modified by mattd1979 at 9:30 PM 10/25/2006

[3Q Jay]

Matt-can you post pictures---or at least part numbers of what you used, and what you didn't need?

[mattd1979]

I didn't take any pics during or after so all I can do is give you the part number and the name of it and a description of what I did.

It is called a complete knuckle extension. Part number : 54590-60u26. This is for the passenger side. Not sure what the driver side part number is.

The part came complete with upper and lower bearings and lower seal already installed.

What I did was jack up the front of the car under the radiator support and placed 2 jackstands on either side under the subframe. After I took off the wheel, I disconnected the strut from the Third link(knuckle extension), removed the clips that attach the brake line to it(there are 2), removed the bolt that attaches the third link to the third member, pop off the grease seal that is on the top of the third member(looks like the dust seal on a front hub assembly) and there will be a nut, cotter key, and washer behind that. After you remove all of that you should be able to left it up off of the steering knuckle assembly. Clean off the kingpin and add some wheel bearing grease to it. The new third member drops back in place of the old one and everything is reverse order. Tighten everything to specs except the bolt that attaches the third link to the third member. It says to wait until there is weight on it so that once the third link is tightened then all of the suspension will be under the same stresses. What I did was jack the car up off of the stands and then I lowered it down to it's level position and used another jack to jack up the wheel assembly to where it would be if it was on the ground with the wheel attached and then I torqued the third link bolt to specs. After this, I jacked the car back up, Put the stands back under the frame, reattached the wheel and took it to the shop for an alignment.

The torque specs will be in your FSM.

Hope this helps.

[3Q Jay]

thanks. i get it this time. so good to go if all the third links come with bearings pre-fit.