How To Replace WD21 tire carrier bushings

[88pathoffroad]

This How-To applies to all WD21 Pathfinders from 87-95.

 

http://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/Campingart/nistail/

 

In case the link goes dead...

 

What you'll need - A trip to the Nissan dealer - you will need 2 Pins (P/N E7245-41G60) and 4 Bushings (P/N E7247-416G0) - Don't believe the Nissan parts guy - the listing for my 91 showed only 2 bushings total, not 4. I ended up making two trips - my own fault for not knowing more than him!

 

Tools - No sissy stuff here. You'll need a good air or electric grinder, hammers, some metric sockets, a few punches, and some quality grease. You may also wish to have a good drill (or drill press) with a ½" carbide or tungsten bit, and an air chisel. Oh, and you'll need a helper for a few seconds during the job.

 

Time - This should *should* only take about an hour, mine took longer, I'll go into detail later about my horror.

 

Process - Remove carrier, grind or drill out pins, pound out bushings, install and grease new hardware. Put it back together.

 

Space - You'll need a workbench to place the entire carrier on.

 

Step 1 - Remove spare tire (duh..) and open carrier

 

Step 2 - Remove the bolts you can see on the passenger side of the beast

 

Step 3 - Loosen the bottom bolts first on the rear of the truck, then loosen the upper ones.

 

Step 4 - Remove one of each bolt, be careful.

 

Step 5 - Get someone to help you, and have them support the weight of the tire carrier as you remove the lower bolt, and then the upper bolt. Be careful, the carrier is heavier than it looks on the end that bolts to the body. Don't let it smash or scratch the body.

 

Step 6 - Remove the carrier.

 

Step 7 - I started with the mushroom ends - I used my grinder to make an "X" in the head, and then feather it off. I did (and you will) have to grind into the bracket (just a hair).

 

Keep track of which side is up. You CAN reinstall the brackets upside-down or get them mixed up. Do one at a time.

 

Step 8 - Once it ground down, use a punch, or air chisel and pound out the old pin.

 

Step 9 - Use the punch again and pound out the old bushings.

 

Step 9.5 - (optional) - Primer and paint the brackets where you had to grind them. Sand blasting them might be nice....

 

Step 10 - I added grease to the bushings and the new pin, and installed them, pay attention to the tabs on the bushings. Tap them in *gently* with a hammer. I broke the head off of one when I was hitting it. Not a big deal, I think they are brittle.

 

It's a tight fit. Note the grease point, make sure its clear - later down the road this is where grease (with a pin style injector) can be injected into the joint.

 

Step 11 - Do the same for the other one, and then get your friend to put the carrier back on. I found it was easy to have the carrier locked into its latch. I did the left body mounts first, then the rear ones. Get all the bolts started before you torque them down. Torque bolts to 50 Ft/Lbs.

 

My horror.

 

So 1 of the pins came out fine, and it went back together fine. The other pin was possessed by Satan, and refused to come out. I ground it.

 

No matter how hard I pounded, it didn't budge.

 

So I used the air chisel. A Snap On, not a wimpy one.. No movement just made a hole in the pin.

 

So I heated it with a torch, - a real oxy cutting torch. Got the pin bright orange, hit it - STILL didn't come out.

 

Heated it again, used the air chisel, still didn't come out.

 

Let it cool, and wow - now it real tight. Screw it, it's coming out.

 

25 Ton arbor press - pressed it with the other pin I had popped out, moved a little then distorted the pin into a letter "S" shape. Damn! Press was leaking oil.

 

Decided to use an OTC Ball Joint press - The press flexed. No pin movement.

 

Drilled out the pin, about 1-1/2" deep with a ½" bit - slow pressure - kept squirting motor oil onto the pin.

 

Took air chisel, came right out. You bitch. I wasted an extra hour on this.

 

Thus, if you can't get it out by hitting it a few times, drill it deep and wide, and then hit it again.

[LandShark]

This is a pretty good write up. I plan on doing this soon, I haven't done anything to the rear of my truck aside, from the suspension lift and now that thing rattles to hell and back. Guess its because of the stiffer ride, not sure, but this definitely came at a good time.

[Mr. Pickles]

FYI- I bought the bushings a while back, after I heard it was supposedly a simple disassemble-reassemble kind of thing (not!). Its still on my to-do...eventually list. The bushings were only like $4 from the stealer, no idea on the pins though.

[Creekkid]

Just ordered mine from the dealer....

3.29 for the pins x 2

1.64 for the bushings x 4

coming in tomorrow

hopefully put in this weekend

sweet

 

Update

 

Worked on it on the weekend

1st pin was pretty easy, second not so much

I drilled and beat that effer into submission

took most of a day

Broke last bushing putting it in, had to get another(1.64)

But it is all fixed now nice and quiet.

The only thing that wasn`t mentioned was you have to peen over the other side of the pin.

Not too tough just requires BIGGER hammer.

Edited June 18, 2008 by Creekkid

[jadm4x4]

i took mine off and re powdercoated it. ust mainly for the looks. and i had to lift the spare whhel up higher becouse it covered the number plate on the back. stupid aussie ( well queensland) rules. even had to mount side indicators on the side on the front for i to pass inspection. well anywho. i ground mine down to the bracket. came straight out. hadnt been greased in 20 years i think. but i used the origional bushings. then i just grabed some bolts and nut from the local hardware. put the nut on. bolted her up and drilled a hole through the nut an pined them to stop them fromdropping off. presto. with all the grinding ( off old paint.) moving the wheel holder up. welding. and powdercoating. only took 4 hours.

 

ps..... just watch out if you are going to powdercoat it. on mine where the pin goes into the tube for the carrier. ( you now just of the hinge) nissan has descided to use some sort of @!*%ty crappy grease rubbery crud. as powder coating takes 20minutes at 200 degrease. its shure to run out the end and stuff the job up. FIXED i welded the sucker. melted the crud and im shure it wont fall apart.

Edited June 4, 2009 by jadm4x4

[Nytrosfinder]

something to remember for later on!

[str8andnarrwpath]

i just finished this job. i ran into the frozen pin on both, drilling was the solution. if the pin wont budge after a few good smacks go straight at it with the drill. start with a small diameter bit,drill deep like 3/4 of the way through. then increase the diameter of bit so it takes out all the pin leaving a very thin wall, if it doesnt fall out then smack it again with a long punch. "DRILL BABY DRILL!" deep and wide.

 

thanks for the how to.

[ahardb0dy]

sorry if this was mentioned but I didn't see anything about this, Has anyone considered drilling a hole in the side where the bushings/pin goes and screwing a Zerk fitting in so grease can be added later??

 

opps just saw this

 

"Note the grease point, make sure its clear - later down the road this is where grease (with a pin style injector) can be injected into the joint."

 

still think a Zerk fitting would be better

Edited April 19, 2010 by ahardb0dy

[B00StER]

Are upper and lower brackets having equal height on all your pathys, guys? Just measured my hanger and found that upper bracket is higher (61mm) than lower one (55mm), so the upper pin should be E7245-41G60 (L=63.8) and lower pin must be E7246-41G60 (L=57.8).

[94FinderOfPaths]

Just measured my hanger and found that upper bracket is higher (61mm) than lower one (55mm)

 

He speaks the truth. The dealership's assembly drawing of the spare tire carrier is incorrect (something I found on my second trip there)- it shows two identical [lower] pins using only one bushing per hinge. So to repost what's already been posted (my bad), here are the part numbers you'll need to spoon feed to whomever you order these from.

 

P/N E7245-41G60 (Hinge Pin, Upper): Qty 1

P/N E7246-41G60 (Hinge Pin, Lower): Qty 1

P/N E7247-416G0 (Bushing): Qty 4

 

Sidenote, the guy at the dealership said these parts aren't being stocked much anymore and that just the few parts he ordered for me came from 3 seperate warehouses. Now I realize this was probably his way of telling me my truck was older than rocks, but my point is maybe someone else can share alternative sources of these hard to find parts.

[MY1PATH]

well the pin can easlily be swapped out with a very large bolt. I belive a 5/8 or 16mm bolt might do the trick. Get one with a 60mm sholder and cut off the extra threads.

[sewebster]

Are upper and lower brackets having equal height on all your pathys, guys? Just measured my hanger and found that upper bracket is higher (61mm) than lower one (55mm), so the upper pin should be E7245-41G60 (L=63.8) and lower pin must be E7246-41G60 (L=57.8).

 

I just ordered some today. According to the parts dude, the earlier models used different length pins and the later ones used two identical pins. So measure before you show up so you can order the right thing. I think you could always grind down a longer pin though.

[MY1PATH]

the newer ones had shorter lowers pobably to fit the body better.

MY 89's hangs below the body curve thats notched out for the bumper. I have not looked closely at my 94's yet...

[sewebster]

So to peen over the other end of the pin I rest it against a hard surface (the fat end of the pin) and then wail away?

[JamesRich]

sorry if this was mentioned but I didn't see anything about this, Has anyone considered drilling a hole in the side where the bushings/pin goes and screwing a Zerk fitting in so grease can be added later??

 

opps just saw this

 

"Note the grease point, make sure its clear - later down the road this is where grease (with a pin style injector) can be injected into the joint."

 

still think a Zerk fitting would be better

I have been thinking about this, grease doesn't last long in there especially if you wash it alot. I'm thinking about making my own pins from 17-4 stainless left overs I have. Probably put an E clip on the bottom instead of peening them and a grease zerk on the top or bottom of the pin with a cross drilled hole in the middle of the pin.

Just an idea so far. Greasing it through the little holes is a pain in the butt.

James

[sewebster]

Hmm. DIsmantled mine last night and the pins were seized to the bushings, so the pin had been rotating in the bracket that attaches to the truck, enlarging that hole. I think just replacing the parts wouldn't be the best fix, because the teeth on the shoulder of the pin probably wouldn't last long in the bigger hole and I'd be back to the same problem. Also, since I used an oxy-acetylene torch to blast out the pins, there was some collateral damage I guess I'll see how much those brackets cost... Otherwise possibly just put it together and then just weld the pins top and bottom to the bracket so the carrier is forced to rotate on the bushings. Only problem I see with this is inability to grease until after the welding, which means greasing through the hole. So maybe installing a proper fitting is required.

[5523Pathfinder]

Has anyone had issues with the new bushings? i just found mine do not line up with the locating holes in the carrier end. The new ones hare tear shaped, and the old ones are round. Grind away? Drill away? Has anyone encountered this?

[MY1PATH]

I still havent installed mine. All my time off was spent waiting for them lol. I'll check back here when I do tho.

[MY1PATH]

Mine are also tear drop shaped, I'll have to get creative...

[5523Pathfinder]

So I picked up another carrier at ther JY today. Its off a 92, and it has teardrop shaped bushings in it. I did my modifications to it, just gotta finish drilling some holes and laying some paint. Honestly, I dont know what the difference is, or why the bushings are different.

[MY1PATH]

So will the teardrops fit in my 89?

[5523Pathfinder]

I think the only way to find out is to look and see how htey are shaped. On this new one I got, I just looked at it and could tell they were teardrop shaped.

[sewebster]

Just finished doing my carrier... here's a brief report in case it helps anyone else...

 

The way the hinges are supposed to work is that the pin is supposed to rotate inside the bushings. The pin should be held fixed relative to the bracket that bolts to the truck by the "fins" on the shoulder of the pin. The bushings are supposed to be fixed relative to the rest of the carrier, held in place by the little locating nubs.

 

On my truck the pin had become rusted onto the bushings, so what was happening was that the pin was rotating the in holes in the brackets. This caused those holes (especially the top one) to enlarge and the pin would rattle around inside there and make noise.

 

I used an oxy-acetylene torch to blast out the pins. This was fast, but caused a little damage to the brackets, so I wouldn't recommend it for a perfect aesthetic look. Bashed out the old bushings with a punch.

 

I drilled out the grease needle holes and tapped them for zerk fittings. (1/4-28 w/ #3 drill for my fittings)

 

So for this teardrop thing... my new bushings had a large circular centre hole (of course right, the pin is round...) but the upper lip part was teardrop shaped. On the pointy part of this shape on the bottom there is a round nub. This nub seats into a hole in the tire carrier so that the bushing doesn't rotate. It tapped the new bushings in without much trouble after doing a tiny bit of cleanup work in the holes. So I had no problems here, but something must be different with this part for some people I guess.

 

Put the pins in and then I welded the pins onto the brackets, top and bottom. This was necessary because otherwise I'd still have the same problem as before. The holes in the brackets were too big, so the pins, new or old, would still rattle around. There are other ways to solve this problem of course... Used the oxy-acetylene to weld, which was a bit of a pain, but it was available. Doesn't look so pretty, but not so bad once painted. Removing it again would be slightly more difficult, but realistically not so much different than before...

 

AFTER welding, I installed the grease fittings and pumped it up. The fittings themselves would interfere with closing the carrier so I had to give it a pump of grease, remove the fitting, wiggle the bracket to spread the grease around, reinstall the fitting, pump again, and repeat. This is a little annoying, but realistically only took a couple of minutes.

 

I replaced the now-burnt foam on the back of the brackets (protect the truck paint I guess) with some thin kids craft foam. It seems to not absorb much or any water. I believe this is far cheaper than the dealer foam.

 

I figure if I grease this thing once a year (now easy using zerk fittings) that it will probably last forever.

[MY1PATH]

you could grind out the inside of the hinge to clear the zerk...

 

 

[sewebster]

you could grind out the inside of the hinge to clear the zerk...

 

Yup, that's a possibility.