front suspension tune up on beater '93 altima

[lairdwd]

I found out I've been driving on a broken front strut spring for over a year now on my '93 beater altima (185K, mostly highway). It's the original 17 year old everything, so I have nothing to complain about. I want to do all the front suspension stuff while the mechanic is in there putting on the two new quick struts I ordered for front left and right.

In addition to the quick strut, I'm thinking on each side to replace the control arm, ball joint, outer tie rod, and sway bar links (all original). There's nothing wrong with the rack (leaks, steering) other than age, so no need to do the inner tie rod. Am I missing any "low hanging fruit" for a front suspension tuneup? Thanks, Bill

 

[beast3300]

As you said, it's 17 years old. I wouldn't replace anything unless it's bad.

 

[lairdwd]

Originally Posted By: beast3300
As you said, it's 17 years old. I wouldn't replace anything unless it's bad.


Agree - and that was my original thinking until I found out the spring was bad. Since I'm going to try to get another 5-8 years out of the car my thoughts are a good pre-emptive tune-up isn't a bad idea. The parts are cheap enough. I got everything mentioned in the OP for $100 (other than the quick struts) on ebay. (reman Chinese parts).

The real question here is will it be a nightmare for the mechanic to put that stuff on? Rust is starting to get to some of it, but it's still fine. He's a great guy and does work very cheap - along the lines of $60/hr. I'm thinking he'll quote me 3-4 hours for everything, which would be about $250 labor installed, $120 installed for the quick struts only. My thinking is a complete front suspsension tune up for an extra $250 isn't a bad investment at all. I do have a mystery pull that is causing some mild uneven wear, but that won't be a problem since I'm basically trying to get another 60K out of the vehicle and just put on new tires. So that's my thinking... anyway... I think I've answered my own question here.

 

[mechtech2]

For some odd reason, inner tie rods rarely go bad, compared to outers. Why? I dunno.

But if you want extra work, check out your rear suspension.
At least get new sway bar links.

 

[eljefino]

The stuff you listed is mostly seperate. The only thing in common is the alignment you should get afterwards. The sway bar links, IDK what they attach to, but you can do them when you do what they attach to (strut, control arm being two I can think of now). You might have to anyway b/c of rust, LOL.

IDK how you adjsut camber on those nissans, sometimes the struts have oblong holes, other times they are round holes and there is no adjustment. So you could slam those quick struts in and be good.

You have state inspections that ought to pick up any front end problems if they get bad enough. OE parts might be higher grade than the chinese ebay stuff, so it might be foolish to change for no good reason.

 

[lairdwd]

Help me out here guys. The bellows boots on my rack are drying out and I want to replace them while I'm getting the other stuff done. I could go without doing this repair, they aren't cracked yet, but if I can get that done as a freebie while everything is apart, then I think it makes sense.

If I have the outer tie rod done, can the bellow boot be replaced at the same time, or does other stuff have to be taken apart to gain access to the bellows boot?

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: lairdwd

If I have the outer tie rod done, can the bellow boot be replaced at the same time, or does other stuff have to be taken apart to gain access to the bellows boot?


Should be able to then.