Jdpathy

That is too bad that wasn't the problem, sorry I didn't get back to you sooner, but I think fla answered the question for you. See you later and good luck

Are you talking about the compression rods. Cause when I replaced the bushings and sleeves on those all I needed to do was unbolt them with the tire removed and slide them out and when I installed them I put them back in and snugged the bolts then set the car down and tightened them>?

I measured the sleeve and it was approx 2 13/32 It is not 2 3/4, but it was my old sleeve so I don't know how accurate it is. I can't get to my new sleeves cause I already installed them.

Cool, learning something daily. I wondered what the strut rods were. I guess thats what I get for buying from the dealer As soon as I get home, I will run and measure it for you. It looks to me like your bushings are better than mine, cause mine have a really deep valley in them while yours are shallow, so they won't wear out quite as fast. Edit: refer to post at bottome of page 1

Nissan quoted me for fixing my car and they had the compression rods and strut rods on separately, so I don't know what is going on there.

I am not sure what the strut rod is Nissan told me I had to replace mine but I didn't know what it was, so I didn't but I know that the compression rod bushings are not strut rods. Yeah I ordered the bushings from the dealer. If you want I can dig up some part numbers for you. My mounts were ovalled and I just installed the bushings without fixing it at all I thought about putting some kind of washer on there because i wasn't sure whether there would be a lot of up and down movement, but I decided not to. I think that the strut rods have something to do with your sway bar. I think that they might be your uprise bolts. Oh yeah on two wheel drive models the compresson rods are referred to as tension rods

This is a picture of one of the bushings (rather torn up) and a sleeve. You can buy the bushings and the sleeve. The bushings cost me approx 80$( I will check the receipt now cause since superson got them for 15 a piece I think something went awry) for the 4 required to do both sides. The sleeves are 7 dollars each and you would need 2 if you are replacing both sides. I was lucky and did not have to buy a whole new compression rod but my frame brackets widened out a little bit because I had bad bushings and the brackets would have been about 75$ apiece and the old ones would have needed to be cut off the frame and new ones welded on. so I just bought the new bushings and sleeves and tightened them down as far as I could. Haven't tested it yet, but I think that it will work. This picture Is of ONE bushing that got torn up and a sleeve that was torn up as well. Edit: The bushing was not 80 some dollars I was looking at the wrong numbers sorry.

this is a photo of the bushings and kind of how they are spost to look

I consider myself an expert when it comes to compression rods cause I just did mine. Here are some photos to show you a little bit there location is that short rod that connects the lower control arm to the frame. some pics I can't figure out how to put them all on one page so you will have to deal with lots of posts.

On my 91 pathy I have a drain plug and the cross member is not in the way. I have been considering changing out the fluids and now I am positive and I am going to do it.

That with the lower bj? Because my ball joint was sandwiched in between the lower link and the cv assembly, so there was no way I could simply remove it.

Thanks for all the help guys, I finally got the other side done. I was able to do it this time without taking the cv assembly off. These were my steps for removing the ball joint: :cool2: 1. loosen the tension on the torsion rod 2. remove the shock absorber 3. break the ball joints loose, I left the nuts on mine while I was doing it so that it wouldn’t fall or anything (upper and lower) I used a pickle fork, but only because I did not have access to a different type of bj remover and I was replacing the bjoints anyway. (I accidentaly tightened my bjoints up and I needed them loose again, so I found that if you tap rather continuously on the arm that the joints (the link????) connect to, then they break loose it takes at least 15 minutes for some lightly tightened joints) 4. Loosen the (freewheeling) hub assembly, but do not remove it yet. ( I needed someone to step on the brake for me so I could loosen the bolts). 5.remove the brake caliper and set it on the upper control arm 6. seperate the tie rod ends 7. remove the hub assembly (try to keep it all contained, so that you don’t lose any important washers or anything) set it in a place where it will not get dirt in it (At this time it would be a good idea to support the wheel assembly some how so that it doesn’t fall on the ground like mine did) 8. remove the c-clip holding the second group of Items on the shaft, set the c-clip and items in a place where they would not get dirty. Remove the bj nuts if you haven’t already. 9. pull the wheel assembly off the shaft being careful not to drop it or injure the rubber seal inside the back of the assembly (the only way I know of that you can injure this if you are being relatively careful is if you let the shaft hit it but because of its placement I found it rather easy to pull off) 10. set the wheel assembly somewhere where it won’t get dirt inside with the bearings. 11. now once you’re done working with whatever you were going to do, installation is just about the reverse of deinstallation (just don’t forget to clean the shaft and regrease it so that it doesn’t fold the seal over as it goes in.  These were the steps that I took to remove my lower ball joints on a 91 Nissan pathfinder with auto locking hubs.

I had that problem, but it was happening because the compression rod bushings were just about gone and the assembly was moving back and forth, but since they didn't diagnose that on yours then the only thing that I can think of is maybe your cv boots are just making noise. If it was your cv boots then the noise would only happen when you are making really sharp turns, so those are the only things that I can think of.

I am about to turn 200000 and it is still running really strong.

I don't know if you saw it, but there is a post by MrJim about his snowriding and I am trying to find it. I have put my pathy in 4x several times on Ice and it never seems to effect anything. I know you can take them on the highway in 4 the surface just has to have enough slip so the differential doesn't bind or something like that . found it. <Extraction Machine> :type:

Thanks, got it off finally, I ended up having to disconnect the cv assembly at the differential. I was trying to get it off all kinds of different ways and at the end I had the brake line disconnectedl, tie rod ends seperated, hub removed, cv assembly removed, and all kinds of great stuff. So now comes the fun part of relubing and putting all the stuff back together. I'd show you some photos if I could figure out how to put them on the post. :type:

Darn, and I just tightened the upper ball joint nut also because I replaced it. Hmmm... :o

I looked everywhere and could not find another post about lower ball joints. I have been using a pickle fork on it because I am planning on replacing the ball joints as well.

I have tried shifting on the fly with my 91 and I think that if you don't engage the hubs before you start then it gives you trouble, because one time I tried to throw it in 4Hi while going about 20 in a wash without the hubs engaged and there was a really nasty grinding noise, yet I tried to force it in again for some strange reason and the tires locked up and I slid to a stop, but I have never had a problem since with anything. I have stopped and engaged the hubs then tried it and it seems to work just fine. I just don't shift on the fly any more.

I am replacing my lower control arm bushings and I can not get my lower ball joint off because it is sandwiched in between the lower link and the cv joint. Any Ideas?