welding a lower ball joint to LCA?

[eddie]

hi people i was wondering if welding a lower ball joint to the control arm is ok ? i replaced the ball joint but it kinda has slipped out of its hole , it’s done that before and that’s when i decided to get it replaced , now it’s doing it again. car is a 2001 nissan sentra.

old bad ball joint https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ8c4oLfGTw&feature=youtu.be

here it is again poping out again. new one . it doesn’t go bang bang like the video but it’s starting to .

Topic

[Bluesnut]

Is the ball joint slipping out of the control arm or is the stud part slipping out of the steering knuckle?

There is no way I would weld or cobble something together that could make me dead in a heartbeat.

[eddie]

ball joint is slipping out of the control arm . i guess the hole got too big, normally the ball joint didn’t have splines on it , the new one did but thought it might provide a tighter fit.

[Andrew Button]

in a word, No. If that weld breaks, its game over.

[Bluesnut]

It hurts to even look at that. Time for a new control arm and probably both sides.

Not too many years ago a ball joint snapped on a lady here while she was rounding a sweeping curve on the highway and her Buick rolled; killing her on the spot.

[Ingvar]

CA is one of the most important weight bearing suspension parts. Every time you weld to stamped or heat treated or forged metal, you weaken it locally.
DON’T

[Gary]

I agree with the above, don’t risk it. That’s bad.

[Ingvar]

Hmmm… This is what you can do.
1. Take a center punch. Remove ball joint from CA and punch a whole bunch of craters inside the joint seat. Every time you do this, you create a bump. As the result, you are narrowing the seat. I used to do this for slipping guides in press stamps. It lasts a reasonable time. Shoul;d get you by for the time you obtain a new CA
2. Remove ball joint stud. Find suitable washer large enough to slide over the stud. Have several handy. Then reinsert stud and tighten the nut. What it should do is to pull BJ into the seat and secure there for some time.
1 way or another, you need new CA. Should you be real good with rod welder, you could weld small spots, bumps, inside the BJ seat. Those bumps are normally very hard. Then reset the BJ inside.
But all this is just patch work. Temporary.

[Jason White]

I work for Nissan, and we do not practice this doing just ball joints thing. For one thing, if your ball joints are going out, I can bet you that the control arm bushings are not in good shape. No doubt the clicking and popping is probably coming from the bushings. Those control arms are not designed to be servicable and although you “can” it’s not right. Did you price out the control arms? If you had, you would have been done with this job a while ago with better results.

Can you weld, yes of course. How it will hold has to do with your welding skills.

[eddie]

so i have decided to buy a new LCA , i wanted to buy one that’s grease able but there seems to be non for my car ? i look under rockauto.com, my car is a 2001 nissan sentra 2.0 SE , i look under the 1.8 L section and all LCA’s that supposed to fit my car(2.0 SE) fit the 1.8L, but the 1.8L has the moog greaseable . under my car section it doesn’t have it? should i go ahead and buy that moog LCA or just stick with the doorman , which has performance package … my vehicle uses performance package parts.

[Jason White]

The non-greeseable will last a long time, probably out last the car I am willing to bet. The 1.8 and 2.0 are the same suspension wise. I am biased towards Moog suspension parts, but doorman is good too. If your car has something different then go with doorman. I’ve never had issues with doorman suspension parts.

[Ingvar]

Buy zirks, drill suitable hole in BJ flat metal plate, self tap in zirk, pack with grease, be happy. You need a drill bit depth stopper though, not to drill into the ball itself. But even with that, a little is OK. How do I know? As I done it.

[zero]

I’ve done it. It’s by no means the best choice, but in some applications it’s near impossible to find a properly fitting press in ball joint. For whatever reason the old one probably came loose and being loose led to the fitting on the LCA to wear to the point where the replacement would not properly press in. Anyway if you do decide to make sure the person that does the welds, several spots as opposed to a single bead, knows what they are doing and how to set the welder for good penetration.

[eddie]

hey guys going to go an replace my LCA , just wondering if you have any tips on getting the ball joint out of the knuckle , i know hitting it with a hammer but if that doesn’t work , what else can i do ? i have a torch btw . also any videos or threads you think that may help post it here , hopefully all goes well . last time i couldn’t get the ball joint out , i had to take it to the mechanic. i tried the pickle for , doesn’t work

[EricTheCarGuy]

I’m not going to read all the responses, but by the look of things it’s either an issue with an aftermarket part, or the installation. If it’s the installation the LCA is likely junk so welding can’t make things worse. You just need to be mindful of the heat created by welding as you could damage the ball joint if you spent too much time on it. A couple of tacks should do the trick.

Sorry if that’s already been covered. Good luck.

[eddie]

hi just an update , i replaced the whole control arm and as i suspected the hole that the ball joint sits in had gotten too wide. when the mechanic took it out i decided to see what’s up and i could jiggle the ball joint up and down … it wasn’t the thread / ball itself they where solid . I asked my mechanic to put some anti seize on the 22 mm bolt that goes through the LCA and 3 other smaller bolts 14mm that bolt to the under side of the car , and he put some on the threads so it won’t get stuck in the knuckle . I was wondering if all this was o.k. to do .

[Author]

Replies