Repack Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 The compression rod on the driver side lca of my '95 cracked (common problem). I've been told the the broken piece (a bolt on) is no longer made and that I will need to buy an entire lower control arm through the dealership. Anyone know where I might be able to find a replacement rod or two? I'm assuming that the mount on the other side is about to break. Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 If it is the compression rod that snapped, you can buy that part at a dealer....at least you still could about a year ago. Though for both sides (all new parts) will be about $90 I think I paid. That was the 2 rods, sleeves and nuts(they are nylocks, 1 time use type), and the 4 bushings and bushing washers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Repack Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 Wow, I'll have to check that out. $90 would be a bargain comparred to what I was bracing myself for. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkakee Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 I had to replace my tension rod for my 93 XE Pathy about 7 years ago passenger side. My drivers side is now busted and needs to be replaced. I just noticed it about a week ago. I saw a listing and diagram for the part at courtesy nissan: http://www.courtesyparts.com/betasite/path..._5668_5670.html Now that I think about it, I had bought new tire tires about a year ago and had a realignment done. As I was driving home from the garage and traveling about 70miles/hr I heard a loud sound from the under carriage, I bet that's when mine broke. I have been driving it ever since, till I noticed it last weekend when I was replacing Half shafts due to busted CV boot. If this is a common problem then it is probably not a good idea to get one from the junkyard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkakee Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 By the way, it is my understanding that the compression rod is also known as the tension rod or radial rod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 Yes, I've heard it called a tension rod, though, the radial rod I've never heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 As I was driving home from the garage and traveling about 70miles/hr I heard a loud sound from the under carriage, I bet that's when mine broke. I have been driving it ever since,... I highly doubt that. When mine broke you could tell there was something very wrong; first I heard the pop, then the front kinda sagged and the steering felt way off, hit a bump and it felt like my shock was gone because it was kinda spongey and bouncey. Mine broke as I was backing out of my driveway, I drove about 100ft and knew there was something wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Repack Posted July 27, 2007 Author Share Posted July 27, 2007 The first dealership I called today has them: $46.85 each, including bushings. I wouldn't bother going to a junk yard. It would be like putting on a used tie rod, but even more dangerous. Unless you get lucky and find a low-mileage Pathy (is there such a thing??? Mine is at 190K) they will be too worn to be of any use. You'll snap the rod trying to get the end nut off. A friend of mine has a parts Pathy in his back yard (he's owned ~4 over the years). When I went to salvage a tension rod, it had worn down from about 1" dia down to about 3/8". It snapped while trying to remove it, which is what I expected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkakee Posted July 27, 2007 Share Posted July 27, 2007 I highly doubt that. When mine broke you could tell there was something very wrong; first I heard the pop, then the front kinda sagged and the steering felt way off, hit a bump and it felt like my shock was gone because it was kinda spongey and bouncey. Mine broke as I was backing out of my driveway, I drove about 100ft and knew there was something wrong. Well mine was not that Noticable. I had bought new tires for the front about a year ago. During installation I had them Reallign the front wheels. On my way home from the garage, I heard the pop you speak of but when I checked under the car I could not find any problems. I saw the Broken tension rod, this past weekend when I had changed the half shaft due to my CV boot. After the job was done I double check the torque's on all of the nuts and low and behold I noticed the nut was missing from my tension rod. It seems the nut had sheared off of the rod leaving enough rod to protrude into the hole of the frame but not enough to completely separate away. Lucky me? In any case I will have to replace it as soon as possible so I can start work on rusted frame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted July 28, 2007 Share Posted July 28, 2007 Ah, mine broke in front of the frame mount and the bolt end went rolling down the road, while the LCA end was hanging down about 6" below where it should have been (got a pic somewhere). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted July 28, 2007 Share Posted July 28, 2007 The first dealership I called today has them: $46.85 each, including bushings. I wouldn't bother going to a junk yard. It would be like putting on a used tie rod, but even more dangerous. Unless you get lucky and find a low-mileage Pathy (is there such a thing??? Mine is at 190K) they will be too worn to be of any use. You'll snap the rod trying to get the end nut off. A friend of mine has a parts Pathy in his back yard (he's owned ~4 over the years). When I went to salvage a tension rod, it had worn down from about 1" dia down to about 3/8". It snapped while trying to remove it, which is what I expected. Told you about $90 for a pair . Yeah, unless you are planning to use the J-yard set as a trail spare they aren't worth the hastle. Low miles wouldn't mean anything either, especially in the salt belt, if it has seen even 1 salty road, it'll have some salt stuck up under the bushings destroying things. I replaced mine early in my 88, they were still OK (frame mount was wallowed out but didn't fix that, DOH!) So I kept the old ones for my trail spares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Repack Posted July 30, 2007 Author Share Posted July 30, 2007 (edited) Told you about $90 for a pair . Yeah, unless you are planning to use the J-yard set as a trail spare they aren't worth the hastle. Low miles wouldn't mean anything either, especially in the salt belt, if it has seen even 1 salty road, it'll have some salt stuck up under the bushings destroying things. I replaced mine early in my 88, they were still OK (frame mount was wallowed out but didn't fix that, DOH!) So I kept the old ones for my trail spares. I was a little off in the pricing. $46 was retail price for each rod with NOTHING else. Each nut, bolt, bushing etc has its own part number. The dealership didn't have the busing kit or the bolts that anchor the rod to the LCA. I can re-use the bolts that I have. They are still in very good shape. The good news is that the guy at the parts counter seems to have given me the repair shop price. When he told me that $105 worth of parts were going to cost me $78 I didn't ask any questions! I got the arms for $34 each and the nyloc end nuts for about $3. I found the bushing kit on advanced auto part's website for $20 per side. So all told I have spent about $130 and have all parts needed either on hand or on order. FYI: If you try to order the bushings, Advanced (same as Parts America) had the bushings listed under "strut rod assembley" (or something close) so they can be a little tricky to find on the site. They were not listed with the LCA bushings. Only the fronts came up when I searched under LCA. Edited July 30, 2007 by Repack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkakee Posted July 31, 2007 Share Posted July 31, 2007 I was a little off in the pricing. $46 was retail price for each rod with NOTHING else. Each nut, bolt, bushing etc has its own part number. The dealership didn't have the busing kit or the bolts that anchor the rod to the LCA. I can re-use the bolts that I have. They are still in very good shape. The good news is that the guy at the parts counter seems to have given me the repair shop price. When he told me that $105 worth of parts were going to cost me $78 I didn't ask any questions! I got the arms for $34 each and the nyloc end nuts for about $3. I found the bushing kit on advanced auto part's website for $20 per side. So all told I have spent about $130 and have all parts needed either on hand or on order.FYI: If you try to order the bushings, Advanced (same as Parts America) had the bushings listed under "strut rod assembley" (or something close) so they can be a little tricky to find on the site. They were not listed with the LCA bushings. Only the fronts came up when I searched under LCA. I just got a dealer quote for the tension rod $42.00x1, washers $7.00x2, bushing $19.00x2, collar $8.00x1 and nut $5.00x1, total :$107.00. These prices are from my local dealer. The tension rod was not in stock at the dealer. I decided to by the comlete set from Courtesy Nissan, the complete tension rod with washers, bushings, collar and nut costed $79.00 which inludes shipping. Although, Courtesy Nissan did not have the parts in stock, they claimed that they will get the parts from the warehouse within two to three days. Hopefully, I will receive the parts later next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kn0xville Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 i just ordered a tension rod and bushings from AC, came to 67 bucks shipped to Michigan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Boy Posted August 11, 2007 Share Posted August 11, 2007 i just ordered a tension rod and bushings from AC, came to 67 bucks shipped to Michigan. Do you have a link? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kn0xville Posted August 12, 2007 Share Posted August 12, 2007 Do you have a link? i had to call them at 954-971-3510. And have your VIN number handy for that part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grie78 Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 I have to replace both of mine, but the only dealership near me wants $85/ea. side. unfortunately, I can't order parts by phone or website, (no credit cards or accounts - long story) so I'm kinda screwed as far as where I can get parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pavelow Leaks Posted August 20, 2007 Share Posted August 20, 2007 I got mine from NAPA, and I dont remember exactly how much they were, but I know it was nowhere near $80 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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