Yeah I see what your saying, but at this point in time I just have to get the ball joints in, too much other stuff going on right now to pull it all apart.

I was considering doing just the one side, but I found them at a local parts store for $28 a piece, so might as well do all 4. I just bought the truck, it's got a brand new motor in it from Toyota, but the rest has 196K on it, in great shape, but these ball joints could be original, can't hurt to replace them all.

Anybody have any good tips on good maintenance on a 200K tranny? This thing is tight as can be, don't know if it's ever had work done, but I was gonna flush it and possibly drop the pan and replace the filter.

The truck has the 3VZ-E in it, anybody know which tranny is behind this 3.0L? Is there a filter in this tranny, or at least a serviceable one. My old Pathfinder just had a metal mesh screen in there, that wasn't replaceable.

Thanks for the help.

yup your right the there is no filter, screen mesh with solid mount dipstick tube, so be very careful if you drop the pan. ..........been there done that....... also think twice about lower grade BJ's. not a bad idea to check idler arm as well. they get sloppy fast. we all agree that an alignment is also key after most front end repairs..regular trans flush should be enough. take care......stay muddy.

I'd recommend greasable ball joints.

Yeah it was a mistake on the ball joint price, I got the lower's for $28 a piece but the upper's were $60 a piece. Gonna hopefully bang them all out tomorrow.

Can I just pop them loose with a fork and then take the 4 bolts off that holds them to the control arm? I assume if I put a jack a little below the lower control arm, that when I bang the fork into the upper joint and separate it, the steering knuckle will fall off and the lower control arm will be caught by the jack, is that corret?

Any tips on easy ways to get the lowers off?

So the tranny has no filter in it huh? I bought the Haynes manual and it showed a filter, but they cover so many years in these things that I think they are showing an older tranny, and I also think it's whatever tranny is behind the 22R engine.

For removing the lower BJ, with the weight of the truck supported on a jack stand, and w/ the susp. at full droop, remove the large nut, and knock the BJ loose, the lower A-arm should then fall away far enough to remove the BJ from it. If there isn't enough room, you may have to loosen the shock(or remove the upper nuts completely), or using a bottle jack and a small 2x4(between the jack and a 2 wheel studs) lift the upper A-arm up a little to give you enough room.

As mentioned the serviceable BJ's will last longer than the non-serviceable ones. A lot of the aftermarket BJ's have a bolt where the zirk fitting goes, you can just replace the bolt w/a fitting and have serviceable joint.

Each oil change pop the tranny plug and drain out the 2 to 3 quarts it will give up. Put the plug back in and fill up. Over time you will replace all the juice. Don't waste your money and time for pulling the pan.

Well I was only gonna drop the pan if there is a servicable filter in there....anybody know if there is?

Otherwise I was gonna pull a cooling line and do a complete flush, but when I was under there today I saw a separate fluid cooler over on the side of the tranny, and I didn't want to play with any of the fittings on that, so I opted for the drain and re-fill.

Pulled the drain plug, and it was coming out tight, felt like it was cross threaded and sure enough when I got it out, it was trashed, as were the threads up in the pan. Some numb nut must have womped it in there the last time.

So now it's sitting with no fluid in it. Anybody ever have to fix this before? Can I buy a new drain plug and then tap the threads in the pan? Will I have to buy an oversized drain plug now or just get the same size one and re-tap the pan with the same threads?

Man all I wanted to do was change the fluid, what a pain.

Thanks.

If the threads in the pan are still useable, just pick up a new plug at the dealer, clean the threads and reinstall. If the new plug is a little lose, you could try some thread tape on it.

The threads in the pan may still be useable, not sure. I did have to reach up into the pan hole and pull some thread metal out with a small pair of needle nose.

I will get the drain plug, match up a tap to the treads and run it into the pan and see if I can salvage them.

The thread tape idea is a good one, I will give that a shot if it seeps a bit.

As long as I can get it snug up in there, it should be OK right? Is there any chance of it popping out if the threads arent't perfect?

Before you go through the tap event, try stopping at a parts store and see if they have an expansion plug that will fit. Used to be there was a rubber plug with a allen head bolt in it that, when you turned it, the rubber expanded to plug the hole. Similar to freeze plugs and boat plugs.....Cheap, fast easy and reusable. No chance of messing up threads, getting metal into the pan area etc.