rgk wrote:I've read that too and have a hard time believing the bushings only last a year. I wonder which brand of arms is in question...

Agreed, that's pretty greasy. Theoretically (hopefully) if you bought new bushings from the dealership you'd be fine. Though, the best case is still that they'd only last as long as the current ones have, plus at $20 a pop, the cost is only $25 shy of the kit.

screenmachine, I can offer you some packaging tips if you end up mailing them, if you'd like.

screenmachine wrote:

EdBwoy wrote:Awesome thread! For those of you who have replaced your arms, what do you do with the old ones? Anyone willing to sell me their old ones so I work on that while the truck is still on the road?
Old faithful has 285K miles and while the replacement parts will probably outlast the vehicle, the ride is currently really crappy.

Did you still need old trailing arms? I'm about to take mine out today.

Yes, please! Eager to learn what atraudes has to share too.
Located in zip 52577

rgk wrote:I've read that too and have a hard time believing the bushings only last a year. I wonder which brand of arms is in question...

I had just the bushings replaced at firestone 18 months ago. Now I'm back . Even though the bushings are lifetime warrantee, the labor (most expensive part, of course) is not. I raised enough hell and they are replacing all 4 arms with the complete arm sets (with rubber bushings included) for free. They offered this since it'll save them on the labor if they go out again since it's just a few bolts as opposed to using a press to get the bushings in. I'm going to see if I can keep the old arms and buy some poly bushings...just to have on hand.

Shipping cost me a few bucks for materials since I didn't have any of the stuff handy, but I do now!

First, use an old sponge, some dish soap, and a garden hose and clean them up. The sponge'll be toast when you're done.

Get some big zip ties from Home Depot or the like (think 2 feet long or so) and zip-tie the ends of the same-sized arms together through the bolt holes in the bushings. Do it so the protruding fins and such overlap each other instead of sticking out as much as possible. Use more zip ties and secure the two bundles together. Use butcher paper (or those huge paper bags used for disposal of yard waste) and wrap the bundle up. I rolled them up in the paper, folded over the ends, taped them down, and threw another zip tie around it.

The paper wrapping may not be totally necessary, but it makes the labeling and postage easier and more obvious, and the shipper less cranky.

The four arms with old bushings plus the new rubber bushings pressed from my new arms weighed in at 27 pounds and the package was about 30"×12"×6". The post office will more than likely be your cheapest option (by a LOT). Getting the old bushings pushed out before shipping may be a good idea since they add noteworthy weight.

I replaced mine in January and they're still solid as a rock. Installed new Moog arms. We'll see how long they last. If they fail, I'll have to go with the poly route.

Thanks for the detail atraudes. Makes preparation way easier. And it is going to be quite a hefty package.


Currently waiting for an update from screenmachine.

Did this yesterday on my son's QX4, used the 4X4 parts one piece urethane bushings and bolt kit.
No big problems, that being said, I have a hoist, I think it would be a PITA to do it on the ground.
The only tricky one was the upper left side front bolt, not much room to get at the bolt.
The factory also assembled the upper right side front mount with the bolt installed from the outside, so there's no room to remove it without removing the sway bar link.
It was far simpler to zip wheel the bolt head off than to mess around with removing the link.
I think a zip wheel and/or a cutting torch is about the easiest way to get the bolts out anyway.
I used an air chisel to remove the four little plates inside the front lower mounts, they are only spot welded on, a chisel and a hammer would likely do the job as well, it's easier than trying to get a grinder in there.
A sawzall works perfectly for removing the old bushings from the arms, once it cuts through the outer shell of the bushing they pretty much fall out.
I used a bench vise and a plate to install the urethane bushings, the entire leading edge shoulder of the bushing didn't push all the way through the arm every time, a few good hits with a hammer on the other side worked it out.
The truck is smooth and stable now, perhaps a wee bit firmer, but it feels much tighter and more responsive.
So R+R all eight bushings, new shocks, front right side sway bar link (it was broken) took about 6 hours at a comfortable pace.

I used the poly bushings on Amazon, all 8 rear kit for $132, free shipping on my QX4. Originals were shot and had the scary death wobble on the freeway. The control arms came out easy and i drilled out the rubber centers. Outer bushing shells were notched in two places using a recip saw with fine metal blade. Hammer and a punch collapsed the bushing shell and it slid out. Poly bushings installed fast and the death wobble is gone. I did not replace any rear shocks or panhard rod bushings.

Nice! Can you link to the set you got on Amazon? I didn't know they had an offering. It might be a good possibility for our Canadian friends.

I did my panhard rod too, eventually, but I found the bushings to still be in fantastic shape (same story with the front control arm bushings). My guess is the rear control arms get put under a lot more stress so they end up wearing out faster.

I finally got around to installing atraudes' old arms (Thanks again buddy!) with poly bushes today. It literally took me all day, I'm glad it's over with!

The difference between the old and new arms condition was vast

patqx4 wrote:The difference between the old and new arms condition was vast

No doubt!
Are they rusted thru or is that just surface rust?

Dang, and I was concerned about the rust on mine! Glad it worked out Those upper arms are such a pain compared to the lower ones

EdBwoy wrote:No doubt!
Are they rusted thru or is that just surface rust?

I would characterize it as very extreme surface rust, Unfortunately for me, everything underneath looks like this

patqx4 wrote:

EdBwoy wrote:

I would characterize it as very extreme surface rust, Unfortunately for me, everything underneath looks like this

Soooo, hypothetically speaking, if someone were to offer you your old arms for a few dollars, or even free, would you be confident throwing some bushings in there and installing them? Or would you deem them beyond repair?
I'm asking for a friend

If you cleaned them up really well, perhaps they could be reused, but personally I'd pass them up. too far gone for my liking. But we all have different ideas of what too far gone means, since atraudes thought his were lol

I'll tell you what, if you want I'll hit one with a wire wheel and send you some pics for you to decide. I would gladly give them away free

Ive had the 4x4parts poly split bushings for like 7 or 8 years now (i think) with no problems. rear suspension is solid!!

That is encouraging! Have you ever had to re-lube them?

patqx4 wrote:If you cleaned them up really well, perhaps they could be reused, but personally I'd pass them up. too far gone for my liking. But we all have different ideas of what too far gone means, since atraudes thought his were lol

I'll tell you what, if you want I'll hit one with a wire wheel and send you some pics for you to decide. I would gladly give them away free

If it is not a bother to you, I'd appreciate that. I am planning to do some painting of the OEM arms n stuff before they go in anyway, but since the vehicle is being operated daily and pretty far from me, I would like to prep as much of this stuff as I can.

Anyone with some old arms lying around? I just recently started actively looking for these parts again. I have checked ebay and even reached out to some sellers. Some prices have been ridiculous while other sellers can't seem to believe me when I say all r50 pathfinders and qx4s share these components - I could be wrong though. Some can't be bothered to go look for them.
Next step is craigslist and hope someone will accept PayPal and ship to me. Unfortunately, I live in an area of the nation that doesn't seem to have many r50s; and the few that I have seen are pretty rusty.

My search is reinvigorated because I have hit the point of no return with the qx4. 295k miles fast approaching and I just redid the front brakes and bearings. Drivetrain seems solid so why not aim to get to 400k safely?

EDIT: I saw a new set of 2 uppers and 2 lowers on ebay for around 150, but why not spend less if I'm just going to replace these bushings with poly and paint the arms? What would I be paying for, just the metal?

I have some old ones laying around. This may be late but if anyone needs them they still have the old bushings in them. [email protected]

sidram wrote:I have some old ones laying around. This may be late but if anyone needs them they still have the old bushings in them. [email protected]

Sent you an email.

I recently bought my '02 Pathfinder and had to replace the rear control arms. It has 190K miles on it and I am assuming the bushings had never been replaced. I just bought all new upper and lower Moog arms from rockauto and new bolts from Courtesy.

My Pathfinder has been a California and Texas car so no rust but the impact wrench that came with my Walmart air compressor would not budge the nuts. So I bought an Earthquake impact wrench from Harbor Freight and it had no problem removing them.

The position of the two different bolts were opposite of what the Courtesy parts diagram showed. I don't know which was correct so I just matched the new bolts to where the original ones were assuming they were installed from the factory that way. I only had to cut the tip off the forward bolt on the driver side upper control arm due to the sway bar bracket. I left all other bolts intact as there was nothing interferring with them.

I removed and replaced each control arm one at a time and did not need any straps, etc to get bolt holes to line up.

All in all it was a much easier job than I was expecting, only took me a little over 3 hours. I'm sure I was helped by not having to deal with rusty parts and having new complete parts ready to install. This thread really helped, too, so thanks.

I replaced the bushings on the rear uppers and lower on our 99 QX4 today. I used the poly kit from 4x4 parts and concur with many here regarding their service. As bbrandt suggested, it was a PITA on the ground with jack stands, but doable. A proper lift and bearing press would have cut the time, but the sawzall method worked fine and I had a helper as well. All in all I made a 6 hour day of it with breaks for lunch etc.

I want to thank atraudes and everyone who has contributed for this guide, as this help make a pretty daunting task manageable.

Just started having the death sway on my 01 QX4 yesterday. On freeway at 50+ it sways when I hit certain bumbs (not all the time). Most of the time it rides normal. Is that how it is for you guys or does yours sway pretty much all the time?

Does that mean my control arm bushings are fine and perhaps the panhard bar is bad? 145,000 miles on my QX4.

Dollars to donuts your control arm bushings are shot. That general fishtailing feeling at highway speeds under various conditions is the common complaint. It absolutely shouldn't be doing it so much that you notice it.

To be honest, I have no idea why the panhard rod doesn't control this motion; I'm pretty sure that's the reason for it being there! I would go underneath and try flexing the panhard rod by hand. If it has give you'll want to replace its bushings as well, though there's a really good chance it's fine. I haven't heard anyone else saying it was a problem for them, and mine were still in excellent shape.

You're totally correct. Just got under my car and checked them all by hand. Panhard doesn't move but control arms give so much I'm surprised they haven't fallen apart yet. Will be getting the split kit from 4x4.com. Hopefully the arms come off and I can push the old bushings out.

Just got my split bushing kit. Online it says they should be greased inside and outside, but the grease supplied is not much, so I wanted to buy more. But on the supplied grease pack it says only inside of bushings should be greased? Just want to make sure I do it right, don't want squeaks or to have to take it apart later again.

RR425 wrote:Just want to make sure I do it right, don't want squeaks or to have to take it apart later again.

Everything I read said to error on the side of more grease with poly bushings. I used half a 3 oz tube of Super Lube Synthetic Grease on the 4 lower rear split poly bushings. I liberally coated both sides of everything, and was surprised when more grease wasn't squeezed out during assembly. It's only been 6 months, but no squeaks.

Just removed the first control arm. One of the bushings was so shot, the rubber part simply fell out. But now I am a bit confused- is only the rubber part supposed to come out, or is there a ring around the rubber part that needs to also come out? Or is that ring part of the control arm? In the above image you can see a ring around the bushing, but is that part of the bushing or the control arm?

Edit: I guess that is the inner part of the control arm. Not part of the bushing.

is there a ring around the rubber part that needs to also come out?

That metal sleeve (a ring) has to come out, it's part of the rubber bushing. I put the arm in a vice and hack-sawed it out, there's other methods, if you read these threads.