There is a working "E-MAIL" link at the bottom of my post and in my profile.

I just went out with a flashlight and took a look at mine. I'm having trouble wrapping my head around this. You would need a lot of slop to have your steering hit the oil filter.

While your steering may be shot, that's still a lot of distance. Are you sure the steering hit it? Perhaps something got wedged in there on the trail.

For all the Calmini haters out there, and there's a lot of reasons to feel so, they still have the beefiest idler arm out there; not some modified, sudo, beefed up stock crap.

Still, I have a hard time seeing that slop would hit the oil filter. If there were that much play, your wheels would be going / \ or\ /.

I'm 100% sure it's my centrelink that did a hole in my oil filter.... + on the other side, the alternator bracket is rubbing on the oil filter as well.....
My wheels seem straight.... I'll send you an email with pictures... let me know what you think

Something looks very wrong with your pitman. I need to look at my truck again, but that just doesn't look right to me. Check your steering box bolts and that pitman bolt.

It just doesn't look right.

The steering box is really done & needs to be replaced.... but not sure how that would my centrelink hit the oil filter
Do you have SLR steering also?

Here are the pictures Nick sent me;


That is an SLR IAB.

It is fucked. You must have smacked it real good because the top part of it should be flush with the frame. It looks bad enough to me to have pushed your entire steering linkage back far enough so that your CL could hit your oil filter.
Your ?modified, sudo, beefed up stock crap? SLR arm looks fine. The SLR brace is a POS IMHO and you'd be better of get a Calmini or TC one when you replace it (I have and prefer the TC one but it needs to be modified).

It seems to me that the pin must be bent because the bushings don?t look squished (you?ll need to change them any way) but I could be wrong. I think you will need to get a top part of the idler arm kit from a junk yard or the whole kit from Nissan.
Sorry bro.

Nick,
From what I remember seeing of your steering that day the idler arm is bent back and the steering was very close to the frame even then.

I would say replace the Bent Idler arm
there was one bolt missing out of the frame to idler arm bracket letting it bend back.
clean out the frame threads with a (thread tap) I think it's 10mm by 1.25 thread and then put a new bolt back in the idler arm to frame bracket and you should be fine after that.

I don't think the IA is bent.

ok....
I'm leaving for Arizona at 4 in the morning so I won't be able to get to this until the 2nd week of december!

Tom - are you sure my IAB is done for? cause I looked in the hole & it's perfectly round (not egg shaped like you call it) .... Is it possible all I need is a new bolt to secure the other side to the frame that would push the centerlink down & away from the oil filter?

Does the Calmini IAB fit with the rest of my SLR steering set up?



Ernie saw it last time we were wheeling - I think he meant to say the IAB is all....

On another note...
You should have seen that Tom.... my steering felt soooo loose.... come to find out the bottom bolt of my passenger side front shock was gone.... so my shock was bolted on top & hanging at the bottom (so not bolted in the LCA)!!!! Pretty weird!!!

You mean the IAB right?
If that's all - that would be the perfect thing!!!!

IMHO the IAB is done. The reason I?m pretty sure is be because I went through the same thing with mine. Do you see where the brace attaches to the IA, at the bottom of the pin? It is bubbled out; it should be flush, a flat surface. The hole can be fine but if the area around is not flat it is shot.
IMHO and despite what others may think (Scott) that ?modified, sudo, beefed up stock crap? SLR IA is rock solid. The POS SLR IAB, the OEM pin part, the bushings (a wear part) even the CL and the bearings in it will go before that SLR IA goes.

Calmini and the AC IAB will fit your SLR set up as well as a TC one that has to be modified a bit (PM me if you decide to go this way and I?ll tell you what to do).
My choice would be the modified TC IAB then Calmini?s and lastly AC?s which I do not like.

From the picture it looks like you have a bent idler arm shaft, little difficult to see since I am viewing the picture on my phone. I have one or two here that I don't need. I also have a calmini idler arm brace that I don't need. If you want them I'll dig them up.

This seems to me to be the answer to all your troubles.

Buy the Calmini and some Bandit bushings and you'll be set. This is at least the third ?modified, sudo, beefed up stock crap? SLR IA rock solid idler arm I have seen busted on the trail. Rock solid? If you don't mind failure.

Sorry, my good friend, Tommy, but I have yet to see the Calmini fail like that. I know their service sucks, but the parts a beefy.





I have yet to see a Calmini fail like that.

I agree, Pm Eric and set something up.