06 Frontier 22k mi. Just had an alignment at the dealer. They said caster/camber was out on left front wheel. This truck doesn’t have an adjustment for that so they drilled a hole and put in a bolt for adjusting… Is this a danger now? Is my wheel going to fall off? Thanks.
I don’t know the details behind how they did this but normally doing something like this is not very smart at all.
The caster and camber being off on a vehicle with fixed points in these areas usually points to either the vehicle having been in a wreck or suffering a wallop against a curb, severe pothole, railroad track, etc.
Normally the lower control arm will get deformed from things like this and camber/caster will be off. It seems to me they should provide a reason for the caster/camber being out before altering something like this.
Did you buy the truck new, as in 4-5 miles new, and has the truck shown any odd tire wear patterns or handling oddities such as pulling to one side, wandering, etc.?
Drilled a hole and installed a bolt where?
Wha who and ok4450,
I have a drift to the right. The tires were worn on the front so I took it to the dealer. Coming off the rack the results were bad for toe in/out for LF and RF and caster/camber for LF was off. The dealer said my truck didn’t have an adjustment for caster/camber and had to “drill a hole and put a bolt in” to correct caster/camber. They corrected all of this according to them. I drove out and still noticed a drift to the right. Well, I took a flashlight under my truck and cannot find a ‘new’ bolt or nut. Would the new bolt or thread be right behind the disc brake on top? I am taking it to a regular mech. tomorrow to check for new bolts in the lower control arm. I have since found there is a TSB for replacing the bolts per Nissan for alignment. I looked and can’t find where they could even put a ‘new’ bolt. Lesson learned?
P.S. I think they just ‘drilled’ my wallet.
If they had to add a bolt to correct the camber, it will be something that modifies the angle of the face of the wheel in relation to the ground. Does the Frontier have upper and lower control arms in the front?
I would have two concerns with this repair: the first, of course, is safety. I assume -being a dealer- that they have some concern for liability, and wouldn’t do anything too dangerous. The next would be, if this is sort of an improvised repair, will a future alignment shop -or simply another mechanic- be able to figure out what was modified?
The dealer told me my truck didn’t have a caster/camber adjustment so they had to make this new adjustment by drilling a hole and putting a bolt in. I looked under the truck and it does have an upper and lower control arm. With a flashlight, I couldn’t find a ‘new bolt or nut’…All of them were dirty or rusted. I even compared to the right side. Unless the ‘new bolt’ is hidden behind the disc brake, then I am assuming they didn’t do this repair at all. I am going to an independent mech. tomorrow and will have an inspection with wheels off. Will my wheel fall off if I take a long trip?? That is the ? I found a Nissan TSB to replace Cam bolts for front-end alignment problems so I’ll take that to a different dealer.
To be honest, I would not take a long trip until this is resolved. You state you have a drift to the right. Worn tires can also cause a drift. Even brand new tires that exhibit a tire bias can cause a drift.
A quick look at ALLDATA and I did not see a TSB for this problem, but then again, I don’t completely trust ALLDATA.
It appears that early Frontiers used cam bolts to adjust the camber and a change was made in '06? in which Nissan did away with them. There is a notice that the “regular” bolts should be removed and new cam bolts installed to correct an alignment problem.
Here is what the cam bolts look like. http://www.ingallseng.com/parts/87520.htm
There are also caster shims available to go along with this.
There is still one issue though. If the camber is off quite a bit this still means that something could be bent and cam bolts are only covering a problem up to some degree.
Again, did you buy this vehicle brand new, as in 4-5 miles brand new, or was it a dealer demo, lease return, etc. I’m just wondering if it has been wrecked to some extent or suffered something like a hard curb strike, pothole, etc.
Also, if one takes this dealer at their word about “drilling”, you should inspect under the hood also. I’m wondering if they really did do some drilling if they drilled the top of the strut towers and scooted the tops of the struts in or out in a lame attempt to change the camber angle.
I looked under the truck behind the rotor, at the upper and lower control arms and opened the hood to look at the strut but cannot find any new bolts. I even compared it to the passenger front side and nothing different. I think they just took my money. I’m actually thankful now they didn’t do anything. The tires were rotated front to back and still drifts to right. The TSB is FA05-004a/NTB05-099a. I am going to a different dealer Tuesday to get new cam bolts and a new alignment after. I bought the truck new last year. Never had a problem til about 400 miles ago and don’t remember hitting curb or pothole.
The OP said in one of his posts that his vehicle has double A frames. If this is the case, then there would be no struts and slotting the holes at the top of one or both if the shock towers if there were shock towers would not be appropriate. In the case of struts, slotting the holes at the top of one or both shock towers can be an effective solution to an otherwise not easily adjustable camber or caster problem but there is only one shot at it. You can’t slot one way and then slot in a slightly different direction if you change your mind now or later or the strut mounting holes and adjacent sheet metal will be weakened. Also, not all vehicles lend themselves to this adjustment method. In addition, it would be risky but not impossible way to correct a combined camber and caster problem where no other adjustment method is available.
To the OP: Please post again when you know the solution to your vehicle’s problem for our edification.
This is just a follow up reply. Took truck to a tire shop because it was still drifting to the right. They put it on the rack and adjusted the toe in/out both sides. It fixed the drift. They also said they saw no new bolts for camber/caster adjusting. They said this truck does have an adjustment for that and it’s possible the dealer just put in longer bolts. The only way to tell was to take them out messing up the adjustment. He said Nissan and some other makes do have kits that do this. Anyways, the truck drives fine now. Guess the dealer didn’t adjust the toe or just adjusted my wallet.
Under the circustances I’d consider the good fortune that they only drilled your wallet and not something dangerous.
I’m thrilled to hear that the problem was readily correctable. For the record, one method of adjusting camber in double A framed front ends is the addition of shims. Anyway, I’m glad it’s done.