Questions and Answers

Nissan Altima Spindle Knuckle Q. Hey Vincent, I'm no car repair guy, but recently I had my car, 1999 Nissan Altima, worked on after a collision. The shop stated that it had replace the front suspension. Four month later, I find a box labeled spindle knuckle in the trunk. Now they are wanting me to pay for new tie rods in the front end.

My question is; What is a spindle knuckle? What does it do? And would it effect the tie rods going bad after they just replaced them four months earlier?

Thank you in advance for any input.
Mark

A. The Spindle Knuckle or, more correctly, the steering knuckle is the part of the steering system that allows the front wheels to turn. The front wheels bolt onto the wheel hub and sits inside the front wheel bearings.

On a front wheel drive vehicle, the spindle is the end of the drive shaft that mates with wheel hub through the use of splines, thus making the front wheels drive wheels. In a rear wheel drive car there is a spindle for the front wheels to ride on that is actually part of the steering knuckle.

The tie rod ends connect, in your case, the steering rack to the steering knuckle and is what actually turns the knuckle. There is an inner (3) and outer (1) tie rod end on both sides. The outer tie rod ends have to be disconnected from the steering knuckle in order to replace the steering knuckle.

Can they go bad enough in four months to need replacing? It is possible. It all depends on what they call bad. If you are in doubt, take it to another shop or two and see what they say. If they all agree then you know for sure.