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Day 3 Installed last trailing arm. All trailing arms bolts are hand tight. I supported the axle with the jack, and started unbolting the first shock. It compressed really easy and took several seconds to fully expand as it lay on the ground. So it turns out on this 02 model, the lower shock mount stud on the axle is about the diameter of the rubber bushing on the 5100 shock. I added a metal washer on the stud mount, sprayed some silicone lube on the stud and pushed the shock onto the stud, put more silicone lube and the original washer and nut back on. For the top mount, I wasn't happy with the extra slop from the 11mm-ish bolt sitting inside the 12.xxmm metal sleeve. So I went to the hardware store and bought some 1/2 diameter bolts that are only threaded at the end. This bolt is the perfect diameter to fit that provided metal sleeve. This did require expanding the shock mount tabs on the body. I took a 1/2" drill bit to the sheet metal to open the holes up a bit more. Some rust converter coating was sprayed on the exposed metal to help mitigate new rust. I stacked some washers to fill the gaps in the shock mount thickness and used a healthy dose of silicone lube here too. Swapping in the9447 coils was pretty uneventful other than working around having *just enough* brake line slack to work with. Getting the panhard bar back in was a doozy because lifting straight up on the diff wasn't lining up the bar hole with the body mount hole. I could get it almost lined up by using the jack to compress the passenger size but the newly installed 9447 coils seemed a bit too stick and actually did not let it flex out. I lifted the entire back end off the jack stands by jacking up the passenger drum brake and the bump stops still didn't touch anything. So i resorted to pulling laterally with ratchet straps on the axle but that was only good for almost pulling it off jack stands. Ultimately resorted to having an anchor vehicle attach to the receiver hitch to act as a brace as another vehicle on the other side acted as an anchor for the hi lift jack winch. This did the trick and got the bolt back in. I think I'm going to take a day off until Tuesday where I'll see about deconstructing the struts so their ready to rebuild when i get the AC coils on Wednesday.

I've broken down several of them. Not terribly fun, but a floor press is required. There's a Nissan service tool (Kent Moore J-45073) that makes light(er) work of the disassembly process since it helps to remove the ABS tone ring, lock nut, and bearing cup from the axle shaft, but it's a relatively expensive tool. Once you've got the bearing cup off the axle shaft, you then need the floor press to push the race out of the cup, and then to sandwich everything back together again. Even with a floor press, unless you have a suitable adapter or process, breaking down the axle shaft is still a pain. In regards to consumables on the axle shaft, there's an outer seal (grease seal) between the axle shaft and bearing cup; the bearings themselves; and a tabbed lock-washer. There's an inner seal (oil seal) and a large o-ring on the axle tube that should also be replaced. The part numbers you'd need are under "Unicorn #2" here:

Thank you everyone for your help. The shop called this afternoon and said that it needed u-joints. Mr_Reverse, you were right on the money. I had some broken wheel studs so I had them do all of it while they had the truck. Picked it up and it drives perfectly. I was so happy that I even washed it. The fender is at my friends shop, I will pick it up next week and go about figuring how to put it on. I still have some work today, but the big things are done!!

Got my ac working today and my rear brake line replaced so I'm back on the road [emoji38] Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

You, sir... have a bike problem (two DH bikes???). LOL! I have a buddy who has the same stable of DH bikes (actually an old V10 and the last V10 before the 29er era, and two Demos). I dig both bikes for sure. I hope Northstar opens over here... I do plan to do a couple of Snow Summit trips but I'll be on the enduro bike this time. I'll hit you up if I do. ?

Well, I did your collective advice and used the tie-down hooks as my base. Really surprised how beefy those things were considering. Anyway, I did not weld (because I don't have one but was this close to going to HB to buy a flux welder). I bought four 1/2 inch fine thread bolts (3.5 inches long). I just used a stack of washers along with the bolt through the tie down base to secure the bar, and used the same bolts to secure the hitch (I could have used 1/2 inch shorter bolts but eh). I installed my makeshift Yakima bike holder (probably weighs 40-50 lbs total),stood up on the end (I weigh 150 lbs) and tried to impart some downward motion and it did not flex. I then test drove around with my 30 lb bike and the bike looked solidly held. It's 11 inches to the lowest point (for reference, the diff pumpkin was 8.5 inches). I say it's good. Thanks for all the help! https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743859/ https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743858/ https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743857/ https://www.pinkbike.com/photo/18743856/