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Car Forum / Nissan / Nissan Cars / April 2005

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Where to get REAR Lower Control Arm bushings for 96 Pathfinder ????

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Gary - 20 Apr 2005 00:53 GMT
OK - getting paranoid now.   Called dealership after checking over 2 dozen
places (inc JC Whitney, Autozone, NAPA, Pep Boys, etc), and was told that
Nissan only sells the bushings included when buying the Lower Control Arms
as an entire piece - for a price of $600 !!!  Where cen these bushing be
bought without the 3 feet of steel attached ???
C5Ya - 23 Apr 2005 19:27 GMT
I feel you pain, been there done that, but are you sure you need the
lower control arm bushings?  (Lower control arms are in the front of
the car.)  If what you are looking for are the bushing for what the
Nissan manual refers to as the "lower links" and what others call the
"trailing arms", I think I can help.  By the way, the lower links are
the bars that are about 2 1/2 feet log and attach to the rear axal
case just in front of the rear shock absorbers and run forward
attaching to the body in front of the rear tires. (There are also two
upper links that are shorter and attach on top of the rear axal
housing closer to differential case.  

I just finished replacing my "trailing arm" or lower link bushings
last night. I did this because I was getting a side to side rear
wobble on my 1996 Pathfinder at highway speeds.   Anyway I got poly
urethane bushings from 4x4parts.com.  See their page:
http://www.4x4parts.com/public_html/shop/index.php3?page=shop/browse&category_id
=530809d08f1d511421a0811110da43cb&ps_session=2a690a0fe5d04bd9690b5f827247d54e


I originally ordered the "lower control arm bushings" from them by
mistake.  Fortunately, they called me because I had ordered two kits,
(total of four bushings) and the car only needs two of these bushings.
I talked with Mike at 4x4parts.com and he helped me get what I needed.
The bushing cost $36.50 for a set of two.  You will need two sets to
do both right and left lower trailing arms (or links).  And another
two sets if you also plan to replace the upper trailing arms (or
links).  (I'm not going to do the upper links until I have a chance to
road test the car more.)

One of the hardest parts of this job was to get the nuts loose without
knocking the corners off them.  I even broke a 19mm Craftsman socket
on one nut and had to saw the nut off!  Next hardest was to get old
bushings out.  You need to take out the entire bushing including its
metal ring which is press fit into the arm. I ended up cutting ring
very carefully from the inside after removing the rubber.  I then
chisled it out without damaging the arm.  Finally, pressing the new
bushings in took awhile to figure out. I used a wood vice and pressed
them straight down into the round openings in arm. Forget trying to do
it by hand only.  Make sure to get the grease that is provided on all
surfaces as described in the diagram provided by 4x4parts - especially
on the inside part of the bushing overhangs.  One more thing - only
take one arm off at a time.  I made the mistake of taking both arms
off and the rear axal drifted backwards by about three inches.  I was
a real pain pulling the rear axal back to align with the body so the
arms would go back in.

Hope this helps.

C5Ya

>OK - getting paranoid now.   Called dealership after checking over 2 dozen
>places (inc JC Whitney, Autozone, NAPA, Pep Boys, etc), and was told that
>Nissan only sells the bushings included when buying the Lower Control Arms
>as an entire piece - for a price of $600 !!!  Where cen these bushing be
>bought without the 3 feet of steel attached ???
Gary - 23 Apr 2005 21:32 GMT
Yes, your talking the correct parts.  I used the Haynes manual to identify
links/trailing arms - guess I need to find the Chilton manual before
anything else breaks.

>I feel you pain, been there done that, but are you sure you need the
> lower control arm bushings?  (Lower control arms are in the front of
[quoted text clipped - 49 lines]
>>as an entire piece - for a price of $600 !!!  Where cen these bushing be
>>bought without the 3 feet of steel attached ???
 
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