This is my posts from a thread about the lower ball joints on first gen Xterras with a SL on XF that might be helpful to some one here;

Both are the same. You have to ask for the part for a Frontier since Nissan sez you can?t change the ball joint on the LCA, you must buy the entire LCA.

The NAPA # for this part is NCP 2601596. LINK HERE

I did this last week with help from Dave from BANDIT4X4 so I know it fits
Ken, with your aftermarket SL it will not as hard as if you had OEM UCAs 'cause you can unbolt the upper ball joint from your aftermarket UCA (4 bolts?) and drop whole knuckle assembly from the front. The pain is making enough room to file or push in the 4 tabs on the top of the OEM ball joint (that lock the nut in place and are always positioned at the most award angles). Also you must make room to get a wrench on the ball joint nut and have room to swing a BFH at the top of the ball joint. Luckily I had Dave who did most of the work!

What we did;
Lift the truck and support with jack stands. Take off the wheel (duh). Use the jack to relieve some tension the torsion bar is putting on the LCA by lifting it so you won?t have to fight it later, we used a peace of 4x4 and the jack. Disconnect the TRE from the knuckle. Take off the front shock (you might be able to skip this and work around the shock but it's easy enough to remove so WTF). Take off the break caliper and secure it with zip ties (so as not to stretch the lines). Take off your hub and remove the C-clip that holds your half shaft in place. Unbolt the upper ball joint from your aftermarket UCA and push the UCA up out of the way holding on to the knuckle assembly so it doesn't flop around. When you unbolt the lower ball joint from the knuckle the whole thing should drop off unless I forgot something. I needed to change the half shaft so I took it off but I think you could just zip tie it out of the way (at this point it's only 6, 12 or 13mm bolts if you want to take it off). I used an impact hammer to push in the 4 tabs on top of the BJ 'cause I'm a lazy bastard, undid the nut (Dave had to hit the nut on one side with the impact hammer to get it started, if you do this don?t cut into the LCA) and smacked the top of the lower ball joint with a BFH a few times (impact hammer didn?t move it) to get it out.

We rented a ball joint press from AutoZone, $100 deposit, free rental. It seems silly to mention this to you but make sure there is no damage to the press before you leave AutoZone not only so you can get your $100 back but more importantly, so you don?t damage your LCA with their F'd up tool.

Make sure everything clean, rust free and rattle can the LCA before putting it all back together. Make sure everything stays centered as you press in the new ball joint. Dave didn't like the small channel that is left on top of the LCA between it and the new pressed in ball joint so he filled it with a bead silicone before putting on the nut. We used the impact hammer to create tabs on top of the new ball joint to lock the nut in place. Put it all back together, torque it all to spec. I'm driving it this week and will re-check the torque specs on it this weekend.

If it wasn't for Dave I would not have tackled this project but now that we've done it I think I could do it though it would have taken at least three times longer. Plus an extra set of hands will be an enormous benefit when you do it. Also air tools are a huge plus.

Nice write up.
Since this my be my project this winter, I will have to keep this handy.

In the meanwhile, does anyone know if there are aftermarket LCAs that we can buy that are a bit longer than the stock? I'd like to try and get a little more height out of the front and still be able to align the tires.

Total Chaos

Yeah, other than a complete front end from Total Chaos, there are no LCA's. However, you can get more height by moving you ball joints on your UCA out a little. That's what I did.

Problem is, with the TC system and my cheapo mod, you mess with the steering geometry and it can be a bitch to align the whole thing. I took me three trips to the shop to get it right. Luckily, I have a local guy who will work with me.

One thing on the LCA you will need is a big asssed wrench. That bolt is 50mm. A 24" pipe wrench will do the job. I'm not sure you need the ball joint press. Once you remove the nut and pull back the tabs, you should be able to pound it out and back in. It's only sheet metal. You can also set the new ball joint by pulling it back in with the nut.

Not sure I would use my impact hammer to to create new tabs once installed. A few hits with a punch at 90 degree points will do the job. All you are doing is preventing it from backing out. You may need to remove it again someday.

Completely agree with Dagger on this having done it myself...no air tools needed...just a pipe wrench and a punch...the pipe wrench is all you need to unscrew and re-screw that giant nut and the punch is all thats needed to "tap" the top to lock in in place...It is a wench of a job, lots of sweat equity required but to be able to replace a lower ball joint for $75 vs. the hundreds and hundreds charged by a dealership for a whole new LCA and labor its well worth it...

Oooo..ooo...ooo...I just remembered you don't have to "unpunch" the tabs on the top of the nut, so don't worry about having room or anything there....the directions I was following (from the old Texas Nissan site where I think the first guy who did this posted his instructions) said just to grind off the entire part of those tabs and ball joint that is protruding above the nut!! Thats what I did with my grinder, took like two seconds and the nut just easily unscrewed from there...

One of the tabs was right behind the knuckle and one was on the opposite side where the LCA kind of turns up. Without the half shaft out I might have been able to grind it down with a dermal but I think it was easier to just push it with the impact hammer. I could not find a socket that was big enough to handle the nut so I had to use a big crescent wrench that needed extra room ?cause it was a bitch. I also had to swing that BFH to remove the old ball joint, not just tap at it. We didn?t wail-away on the new ball joint to push out the tabs, just a hit. I didn?t mean to sound that this is the only way to do this, it is what we did and it worked... so far.

Great writeup Tom,
I posted it on LINXC giving you credit as well.
Thanks!!



The limiting factor on gaining more height is the angle of our CV axles. 28 degrees is the max operating angle. If you go more, they will bind and explode. That is why TC and SLR sold extended axles.

Awesome one guys..

Dave should really get the credit.

Yes, Dave did the work on your truck, but you wrote it up online.