Upper shock bolt on 07 Pathfinder has me beat

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ShipFixer
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Joined: Sun May 24, 2009 9:52 am
Location: San Diego, CA

Postby ShipFixer » Mon Oct 25, 2010 7:21 am

Since I just did this two days ago, I can tell you some things that I would do if I did it again tomorrow.

Break and remove the bottom bolt first. Make sure you have a jack under the lower control arm, and when you remove the bolt let the control arm extend down completely. This opens up a lot more room around the top bolt.

On the right side, the bolt head is partially obstructed by A/C lines. You need a short socket wrench and socket height combination to get in effectively. Most breaker bars with a shallow socket should get in. Ditto on leaving a smaller wrench on the other side and letting it hold itself against the frame or upper control arm.

A 15" bar won't cut it. Mine (well, the base MWR's) was something over two feet plus a cheater pipe. It was bending quite a bit at the head but it did move eventually. Force wasn't the problem with this set up - the deflection was scary and took up a few of those degrees available for turning the bolt. If I had the option, a 3/4" inch breaker bar would be preferable and probably make breaking the bolt faster.

Rear bolt torque is 129 ft-lbs unless I'm mistaken. The front bottom bolts are 155 ft-lbs.

I did soak everything in WD-40 first, but when I got the bolts out the mating surfaces were all rust free.

Yours couldn't and shouldn't be more rusted than mine by the way, so should be easier. My truck is an east coast 2005 and the rear shocks looked like they had been bathed in salt water. Put my fingers through the upper steel covers pretty easily... :?


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disallow
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Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:02 am
Location: Winnipeg, Canada

Postby disallow » Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:42 pm

Well I finally caved and brought it in to the shop close to my work. Took them an hour and a half to get both sides done. They ended up cutting them. Fortunately I had new bolts ready!

Wow do new shocks ever make a difference! makes me wonder if I should do the fronts.

t

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pawjr74
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Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:11 am
Location: Gilbert, AZ

Postby pawjr74 » Fri Nov 05, 2010 4:47 pm

disallow wrote:Well I finally caved and brought it in to the shop close to my work. Took them an hour and a half to get both sides done. They ended up cutting them. Fortunately I had new bolts ready!

Wow do new shocks ever make a difference! makes me wonder if I should do the fronts.

t
Do the fronts. Mine were shot with only 60k miles on them.


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