Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

Good evening to all Patrolers. I need some suggestions please. I have some wear on my left tierod end. It was welded to the tie rod. The right side seems to be fine. Can I repair this. If so who can do this, or should I rather replace it. I found some old threads of Mario in Kempton and Kotwald spares in Springs. Any new contact numbers or suggestions.

When I take a fish line through the centre line from my back wheels to the front wheels on the RHS side of vechile. The frond end of the back wheel is about 6mm from the line.
The same applies to the LHS of the vechile, but in this case the back side of the front wheel is away from the line. Not sure if I can check it this way, however my common sense tell me that this is not correct and olso that Wheel alignment wont fix this. I have wear on the outside of the left front wheel and the vechile tend to move left. Should I be concerned. Regards

Gerhard, is it not the drag link? If it is, then that's normal and standard.

In the first place, your method of testing the wheel alignment is only accurate if the track is the same front and rear, which is not the case on a Patrol.

Secondly, the scebario you describe could just mean that the steering wheel was not in the straight-ahead position when you did the test.

Wear on the outside of the left wheel probably means a camber issue though. Jack the car up and check that the king-pin bearings are still tight by grabbing the wheel top and bottom and trying to move it. You should feel no movement.

If that is fine, take it to a wheel alignment shop that can measure everything. Note that they can only adjust toe-in, but at least it will give you some idea of where to start looking for the real problem.

Hi Peter. Thanks for the response. I am not to familiar with the terms. It is the rod at the back of the front wheels that join the left and right wheels together. Yes I have learned that only the toe can be adjusted. Thanks i will check for the play on the King pin bearing.

OK, that is the tie rod and not the drag link, and the ball joint should not be welded on.

You could see if David Volschenk has a reasonable replacement?

Having said that, if only one wheel is wearing non-uniformly, then I still suspect that you may have an additional problem.

Hi Peter, Thanks. I checked the King pin bearings and I found no play while grabing the wheel top and bottom, however there is a very small play when doing the same with left and right. In my opinion that play is insignificant? Thanks for your input.

If there is no play up and down, then the king pins are fine.

Left to right play is steering linkage play. Because the wheels are big and heavy, any play will tend to set up steering wobbles, and this will cause more wear quite rapidly. So long-term you need to get it sorted.