Question About Rear Lower Trailing Arm

[Alibireason]

I just recently replaced my rear lower trailing arms on my 98 Pathfinder. I have noticed in how-to videos and seeing some in the junkyard how the LTAs on these cars have a circular part on the side of the arm where you insert the bolt and mine does not. Does anyone know what exactly that part is called, what it's function is, and should I find and install them? They are only on the rear end of the arms.

Thank you!

Also, my experience removing the arms was very frustrating, but I did gain some knowledge I'll share hoping it helps.

I tried once to remove the rear bolt (pass. side) and it was seized. Lots of PB Blaster and a hammer. I got the bolt to spin but not come out. Every time I spun the bolt rubber fell out and and the bushing deteriorated even more. The bolt closer to the front of the car came out very easily. I had nothing to saw with so I put it back all back together and went to Harbor Freight and bought a Chicago 6 amp reciprocating saw for $25 and some Hercules 14 TPI blades for cutting metal. For the next week I sprayed PB Blaster maybe 5 separate times hoping it would help. It did. When I went to try and hammer the bolt out before attempting to saw, it surprisingly came out. I put the new trailing arm in, had some resistance getting it lined up, grabbed another jack and raised the center FRONT side of the axle just a bit and the bolt slipped right in.

The other side I ended up having to saw the rear bolt out. One side of the rear bushing had seized against the wall making it so one side I needed to cut only the bolt, the other side was the entire bushing seized to the wall. I had never used a sawzall before and it was taking FOREVER to see any progress while sawing. I was laying on the ground and had the saw at an angle, which limited how much of the 9" blade actually was being used. I'm embarrassed to say how long I was sawing like this making little progress. Frustrated and exhausted I had a bright idea. I looked around and found a 6" high lid off of an ice cooler and used that to prop myself up on. It allowed to saw horizontally instead of at an angle, and I was able to use more blade length as well. It only took me few more minutes to get it sawed off If I had done that from the start it would have gone much, much quicker. I got the new one on, lowered the car, and torqued the bolts.
Death wobble gone!

Some final thoughts: The $25 saw and blades worked very well. Saw horizontally. Lots of PB Blaster. I bought brand new bolts and nuts from my local Nissan dealership. $8 a bolt.

[mdmellott]

... a circular part on the side of the arm where you insert the bolt and mine does not. Does anyone know what exactly that part is called, what it's function is, and should I find and install them?

It is a counterweight called a dynamic damper. Nissan only installed these on specific variants and years. Their function is to smooth out the bounce effect in the suspension while driving, typically on rough road conditions. There are numerous dynamic dampers Nissan installed on the rear suspension, mounted on the axle, upper control arms, lower control arms, and the Panhard rod, but not on all model variants or years. These are how Nissan tuned the suspension for a smoother ride. If Nissan never installed them originally, they are not needed.

[Alibireason]

Thank you very much! We can close the case on this one.