I noticed a vibration was occuring on one of my Turbo II's at around 35mph+, so I decided to give the rear-suspension components a good inspection while I was replacing it's exhaust (Racing Beat). I also checked the driveshaft U-joints which were good.

Anyways, I felt something loose in the linkage when I tugged on the wheel and noticed that THIS connection was loose and could be jerked around. The other side is solid as a rock:





I tried tightening it and the "bolt" just spun with the nut... Anyways, when I try loosening it, it just spins as well. How should I remove the nut, so that I can replace this (ball-joint?).

I've never had to work on these suspension components, so I'm still in need of a little assistance--even after reading the FSM and searching through 6 pages of SEARCH threads. Thanks.

BTW, is this "bolt" that keeps spinning with the nut actually the ball-joint itself

 

Lots of penetrating lube and an impact wrench. Also trying to clamp the joint down with a large pair of vice grips or a c-clamp.

 

you can also cut it off.

you can try to wedge a u fork on the rubber boot part (ball joint seperator) and try to gun it off...

you can pry down on the bar it self so it compresses the joint and gun it off...

but dont forget the pb... i usually pb all those things when i change my oil

 

Alright... I'm seeing more the nature of the "task at hand".

To be honest, I've never dealt with any type of suspension component other than struts/springs--so this is my first interaction with ball-joints. Either way, thanks for the imput. Anymore?

 

So Erik what did u end up doing? did u just try to tighten it down or just took it off and replaced it? Cause i just noticed this problem on my 7 as well.

 

you can try to have someone grip the top of the link to the bottom without touching that nut with some jumbo pliers. then impact it off

 

I'm pretty sure that's not your ball joint. The ball joint is that black boot that you can see in the pic between where your hand is + the bottom of the strut.

 

You'll need an impact gun. Either tighten it back up or you may want to remove the nut and apply some loctite. Right now you are just spinning the ball in the joint, there is probably very little resistance unless someone cross threaded it. If it is actually bad (I doubt) you'll have to replace the entire link. IIRC that is a tapered hole where the link connects, it should snug up a little from the taper giving the impact gun a chance to get the nut going. Get it tightened down as your rear toe is going to be very sloppy.

 

Alright i'll try it out hopefully it'll work.

 

if nothing works, get new lateral links from mazdatrix, and have fun with a cutting wheel and grind away at that bitch, had to do that on most of the body bolts on my datsun.

peace

 

Get that thing cheery red and hit with an impact gun. If its loose, it probubly needs to be replaced anyways.

 

So I'm faced with the same problem, but wanted to double check-

The entire assembly on the loose-lateral-link-nut-side slides in-out (left to right) about an inch or so, from the differential out to the wheel, and the nut/lateral link bolt clearly slops around.

What part of the lateral link has gone bad to allow the bolt to turn freely with the nut? In other words, why won't a new one allow the bolt to spin?

Thanks, before I start grinding the nut/bolt off, I figured I'd ask.
steve

 

Weird. My drivers side lateral link was loose too. My passenger side was tight. I just tightened mine back up.

Maybe everyone should give theirs a nice check over

 

there is no Ball joints on the rear of the car..And ya,Grind the damn thing off,and either get a center punch and Punch it up through,or use a "pickle fork"(tie rod and ball joint fork) and place it inbetween the link arm and the Rear assembly.It will Pop right out.

 

Like a balljoint, when loose its needs to be replaced.

 

The RESURRECTION of a 10-17-07 thread. IT'S A MIRACLE! humor

 

Lol, but now this has me curious. Guess I'll take a gander at mine tomorrow.

 

I'm resurrecting this ancient thread since it helped me and I have a tip that might help someone else. These links tend to get loose over time and sometimes just need some tightening up. I had about an inch of play on the driver's side which was causing instability as well as a lot of tire noise.

I used an impact gun while pulling down on the link to get the nut off. A 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF helped loosen it up a bit.

Now here's an idea I haven't seen anyone mention and it worked for me. To tighten it back down, I crawled under the car with a grinder and a cutting wheel and cut a single deep notch in the end of the bolt. Then I used a large flathead screwdriver to hold the bolt still while I turned the 17mm nut with a wrench. A little muscle was enough to take all the play out.

 

That's a good tip!

I just used a pry bar to put pressure on the top of the lateral link and then tightened it up. No issues here.