So true to my typical fashion, I chose the coldest day in the week to decide to wrench on the vehicle.  That being said, over the course of the past couple weeks I was able to order some new trailing arm bolts, and source new wheel bearings and seal for the left front wheel(couldn't solve the squealing noise prior mentioned). 

 

I was able to "mobilize" to my back yard and street parking spot around 8:30am with my heater buddy in hand(works amazing, BTW) and set off tearing into the wheel bearing.  A couple cans of break cleaner and some thoroughly messy clothes I had it all put back together.  Upon total disassembly and subsequent investigation I found the bearing seal had portions of it that looked melted, and it wasn't fully seated.  Thanks again Curry's...although I should have caught it the last time I tore it apart as well. I was also able to install one of my home made disconnects on the left side.   

 

Ed Salas had agreed to come over and help me with the lower trailing arms.  We had discussed this prior, and looked at a couple of online articles that indicated it was "just 8 bolts" and should not be that big of a deal.  The first bolt removed okay until we realized what was left of the lower bushing was seized to the bolt.  Out came the grinder and the sawzall, only we didn't have sawzall blades, so off to home depot we went.  Now that we had new cut off wheels, and a pack full of fresh sawzall blades, not to mention feeling powerful from the burgers at Five Guys, we set off back to work.  We cut, and cut, and cut some more, until Finally Ed's patience had run out and he brought out the BFH and went gorilla style on the lower arms.  I'll spare the remaining details, but we got it all out and got it all put back together.  The upper arms were so shot the bushings literally disintegrated upon removal. Thanks to Nissan for making all of these bolts torqued super tight and darn near impossible to get to.....

 

We finally finished up around 4:30pm with a test drive, and everything is working well again. No more clunking over bumps or vibrating on acceleration, and the wheel bearing squeal is gone as well! It is amazing how much better a truck will drive with a stationary rear axle....  All in all a very successful day.  Thanks to Ed Salas for coming out, I would have been hitch hiking to work this morning had it not been for him.  

 

Now all that is left before the trip to Gore is to mount my center skid, passenger disconnect, and figure out how to hang the swaybar... 

 

-Ryan Gillespie