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I'm in need of ball joints for my 04x and I'm very happy I found this thread. I recently bought the BJL148 from Autozone and I also bought the MAS 61035 off of ebay. I want both just in case something goes wrong where they don't fit or something. For those who installed these types of ball joints, did everything fit ok and how did they hold up??? I'm gonna try and get them fixed this weekend.
i took my car to a mechanic and he replaced the entire arms which came with New ball joints...but it made a big difference! I would hear a thud sound going over bumps which went away. Steering became tighter. Overall driving improved too.
i took my car to a mechanic and he replaced the entire arms which came with New ball joints...but it made a big difference! I would hear a thud sound going over bumps which went away. Steering became tighter. Overall driving improved too.
I have those same symptoms. I've actually developed this like rattle whenever I go over small bumps at very low speeds too, which the mechanic said is due to the sway bar links. I bought the MAS 61035 from ebay and the BJL148 from Autozone so I hope one of the two brands fit my 04 G35x. That's awesome you got that fixed, I've been having those noises for a while now and I can't wait to go over a bump and not hear them.
Purchased two "premium" ball joints on eBay BJ61035. Seller says they will fit all models and I asked specifically for my 04x AWD. Also picked up a brand new OEM spindle from Infiniti because I don't want to get this thing apart and find out these ball joints won't work. If this ebay purchase works I'll just return the spindle to Infiniti and pay the restocking fee. If they don't well then I'm out 75.00 for the ebay purchase but it's worth a shot.
My buddy who's a mechanic with Porsche will do the work in the next week or so and I'll keep you posted how it goes.
Those MAS 61035 balljoints do not fit at all!! The problem being is that the cone seat that comes pressed on with the MAS balljoint won't fit through the hole of the lower control arm. You must use the OEM balljoint cone seat for any balljoint to fit. But the OEM cone seat does not even fit on to the MAS 61035 either. I removed the cone seat that came with the MAS balljoint and put the OEM cone seat on and it wouldn't slide down flush. Ask me how I know. I wasted money buying these garbage balljoints.
I ended up buying the Duralast BJL148 balljoints from Autozone at $50 a pop. I was surprised to find out these are the same exact balljoints used by Infiniti because of the name and numbers printed on the base of the balljoint housing. Even though you can't buy these balljoints directly from Infiniti. Even says Made in Japan on the packaging. Then repackaged by Duralast. The OEM cone seat fit directly on to the Duralast balljoints.
I pressed it in on the car by the way. No need to remove the whole steering knuckle:
I'd also like to add some tips before you think about doing this yourself. It will save you time and headaches.
1. Besides the balljoint press to put in the new balljoint, I recommended buying or renting a balljoint seperator to pull off the OEM cone seat.
2. To have enough room and for obvious reasons, the lower control arm has to be removed. You will need a balljoint separator to pop off the bottom of the endlink from the lower control arm.
3. I recommend having and air or electric impact to do this. It makes quick work of it. A simple ratchet or breaker bar will suffice, but expect some swearing and broken knuckles along the way!
Those MAS 61035 balljoints do not fit at all!! The problem being is that the cone seat that comes pressed on with the MAS balljoint won't fit through the hole of the lower control arm. You must use the OEM balljoint cone seat for any balljoint to fit. But the OEM cone seat does not even fit on to the MAS 61035 either. I removed the cone seat that came with the MAS balljoint and put the OEM cone seat on and it wouldn't slide down flush. Ask me how I know. I wasted money buying these garbage balljoints.
I ended up buying the Duralast BJL148 balljoints from Autozone at $50 a pop. I was surprised to find out these are the same exact balljoints used by Infiniti because of the name and numbers printed on the base of the balljoint housing. Even though you can't buy these balljoints directly from Infiniti. Even says Made in Japan on the packaging. Then repackaged by Duralast. The OEM cone seat fit directly on to the Duralast balljoints.
I pressed it in on the car by the way. No need to remove the whole steering knuckle:
Wow, thanks a lot for this heads up. The compatibility checker on ebay said it would fit but I wasn't sure. The BJL148 ball joint from Autozone doesn't come with the seat, correct? I was gonna get that but I figured I'd get the one with the cone seat from ebay. So will I be able to reuse the OEM cone seat that I have on my car now with that BJL148 from Autozone? Is there any chance that it'll be damaged or something?
These are made specifically for things like that. No cone seat is fully seized to the balljoint stud. Just got to use the right tools to get the job done. You can rent these for free from Advanced Auto parts or Autozone. What it does it use tons of force by grabbing the cone seat and pulling it away from the stud. Works every single time I used it. You could probably save the hassle and buy new cone seats from Infiniti, but you NEED this balljoint separator to do other parts of the suspension anyways. It can also be used to pop out the balljoint studs from their sockets for things like endlinks, upper control arms, compression rods, etc.
Duralast balljoint comes with new cone seats, but didn't look like OEM for some reason. I just threw my old cone seats back on.
These are made specifically for things like that. No cone seat is fully seized to the balljoint stud. Just got to use the right tools to get the job done. You can rent these for free from Advanced Auto parts or Autozone. What it does it use tons of force by grabbing the cone seat and pulling it away from the stud. Works every single time I used it. You could probably save the hassle and buy new cone seats from Infiniti, but you NEED this balljoint separator to do other parts of the suspension anyways. It can also be used to pop out the balljoint studs from their sockets for things like endlinks, upper control arms, compression rods, etc.
Duralast balljoint comes with new cone seats, but didn't look like OEM for some reason. I just threw my old cone seats back on.
So I changed my ball joints this past weekend and everything went smoothly. The BJL148 fit fine and so did the cone seats that came with it. Thankfully driving is much better with these installed, now I just have to figure out where to buy the sway bar connecting rods for my end links.
I just installed from Autozone, part # VFA148 lower ball joint on my 2004 G35X sedan, driver's side. The stud was a little short but I just overtourqued it a little so I could get the cotter pin in there.
The autozone lower ball joint doesn't seem to have affected alignment at all. I also installed a hub/wheel bearing from Amazon. The last hub/ wheel bearing lasted over 80K miles. First time replacing the ball joint.
01-24-2017, 05:41 PM
