So this past weekend I set about replacing the rear control arms on my 01 QX4. I figured that since there was no full write-up on this site that there really wasn't much to it; that it was as straight forward as it sounded. Unfortunately this wasn't quite true.

I'm writing this guide for those looking at doing the procedure themselves and would like a better understanding of what they're getting into and what to be ready for. Replacing the upper and lower arms will remedy the much-talked-about death sway on these vehicles. Your experience doing this on your vehicle may differ, so be prepared! Every project has its own curve ball

So far I've only done the two lower (the bigger of the two types) due to time and resource constraints, so this post will only cover the lowers. I didn't have the time or tools needed for the uppers at the moment (the socket wrenches and sockets I have won't fit up there).

The parts (again, only for the lower control arms):
$185 4x4parts.com - Complete Pathfinder Split Design Trailing Arm Bushing Kit: (optional) Search for that phrase on their website; it should come right up. If you have any questions, give them a jingle. They're insanely friendly and helpful. This kit includes the bushings needed for the upper and lower control arms. I believe they sell the uppers and lowers separately, but call them to find out. They also sell a similar press-in kit that's supposed to be marginally better than these, but the representative I spoke to said the difference was negligible, and these are considerably easier to install since you can do it yourself (no press).
$50 Amazon - Dorman 905-803 Rear Driver Side Lower Trailing Arm
$50 Amazon - Dorman 905-804 Rear Passenger Side Lower Trailing Arm: Some vehicles don't use all of the brackets hanging off the pipe, so crawl under your car and see which you need and don't need. You can optionally grind off/remove anything you don't want.

The bushing kit is optional because the Dorman arms (upper and lower) ship with bushings already installed. You could totally just buy the arms and install them. However, it's highly recommended to go the extra mile and install these polyurethane bad boys, since they'll likely outlast your vehicle. The ones that come with the arms will need to be replaced much, much sooner than that. Another point worth mentioning is that it's said that the polyurethane bushings have a stiffer ride, though that may be a matter of opinion, needing to let them break in, etc. They most definitely do not create a softer ride If you get the polyurethane kit, you'll need to get the included bushings pressed out. Some folks here have had luck using a combination of drills and hack saws to carefully remove the bushings without the assistance of a press. You can install the split design polyurethane bushings yourself.

You could also use the arms already on your vehicle. If you do that, the old bushings will need to be removed and new ones installed. I opted not to do that since I wanted some shiny and not rusted arms and to have the new ones ready to rock rather than coordinating my work with the shop's availability to remove the old bushings and adding one more step to the installation procedure. Take a look, they were all dusty and stuff!!



The other nice thing about the polyurethane kit is that it comes with a full set of new nuts and bolts. The FSM says to replace them when you service the arms, and for very good reason. Please don't skimp on bolts. If you don't get the poly kit, call 4x4parts.com and get a set of replacement bolts.

First, the special things you're going to need, in addition to your standard set of screwdrivers and scotch tape

SU - Front and Rear Suspension FSM: Optional, but could help if you get lost.
Jack stands: You could get away without them, but it's highly recommended to have a pair available. You will use them. This is dangerous and maybe not possible to attempt with just a scissor jack.
Angle grinder: You may not end up needing this, but there are two things you may need it for. I ended up needing it to remove some tabs from inside the braces that receive the arms. More on this later. A number of users also needed this to remove at least one of the bolts because it was rusted over and wouldn't give.
Some big socket wrenches: This is also somewhat optional if you have an impact driver, but the upper arms have some extremely tight spaces that I believe they won't reach. So far a set of big and long socket wrenches has served me well. A set of sockets going up to 22mm, a deep socket set of the same size, and some sizable wrenches are necessary.
Hammer/rubber hammer: Another bare necessity.
Set of ratcheting straps: Feel free to try something else if you come up with a better idea. I used ratcheting straps to pull the axle toward the front of the car after removing the old arms.
Torque wrench: The FSM specifies ft-lb to torque the bolts to, and the torque wrench is the tool that lets you accomplish this accurately. Or you could do like I'm sure everyone does and just torque the snot out of it.

Get the vehicle ready:
If you're working on an incline, point the front of the car down and block the front wheels. Jack up the vehicle at the center of the axle as high as you're comfortable with and put the jackstands under the body. I used a spot a bit forward of the place where the lower control arm connects to the body. Lower the jack under the axle all the way and then jack up the axle an inch or two. I'm not sure if it's better to support the axle or not, but I figured a bit of support would help rather than leave it floating, and gave me a little more room underneath it. The important point is to not have the car's weight supported by the axle and then start removing the things that connect the axle to the car.

Loosen the 4 bolts
If you don't know which 4 bolts, study the new arms; it should be pretty obvious. They're big and ugly. Loosen all 4 a bit to ensure that you can get all 4 off with no muss or fuss. If one or more really isn't moving, you'll need to consider grinding them off, at which point there's no turning back! Remove the 10mm bolts for the ABS wire and brake hose running along the top of the arm (careful!).

Install ratcheting straps on axle
Pick a side to start with and wrap the strap around that side of the axle, and run it around the transmission mounting bracket. It's the bracket that runs below the transmission and bolts to the frame. Try to pick the most unobstructed route. Basically you'll be pulling that side of the axle toward the front of the car to aid in removal and installation of the arm. Remove the nut on the side of the arm toward the front of the vehicle and hammer the head of the bolt out. Once you do that, you'll be able to see how much more you need to tighten or loosen your straps. You want the eye of the bushing to line up nicely with the frame's bracket. Pull that bolt out and remove the rear bolt.

Remove curved guide inside frame bracket (if applicable)
At first I didn't realize these were here and couldn't figure out why I couldn't force the arms into the brackets. As best I can tell, they're used to guide the new bushings into place, since the OEM style have a metal tube protruding from the sides that probably slips quite nicely into these things. However, the polyurethane kit is totally flat on either side and these curves get in the way when trying to install an arm equipped with them. Note that you probably do NOT need to do this if you opted for the included bushings. Give it a try and let us know what you find!

I used the angle grinder to remove these bad boys. It's hard to tell from the angle of the shot, but they're on the top of either side of the bracket.



Install the new arm
It is presumed that at this point that whatever bushings you desired are in the arms, ready to rock. Install the new arm, and pay attention to which side the nut is on. The nut needs to be on the outside of the vehicle on the front and in inside on the rear. Refer to the other arm or SU section of the FSM if need be. The brackets don't need to be stupid tight at this moment, just mostly tight. You'll torque them down completely later. Bolt the ABS wire and brake hose up to the new arm, and remove the axle/transmission bracket strap.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat
But with the other side. Start in the "Install ratcheting straps on axle" section.

Torque
Jack the axle back up enough to lower the jack stands. You're supposed to perform the final torquing with the suspension under full load, which means wheels on the ground, spare tire in the back (in the trunk area is fine), and a full tank of gas. Leaving the jack under the axle and supporting the weight of the vehicle that way (not by the jack stands) has the same effect as the wheels being on the ground. Torque the bolt closer to the front of the vehicle to 98 ft-lb. Torque the rear bolt to 116 ft-lb.

It would behoove you to re-torque these after some driving. After a test drive and maybe a week and a month later, for good measure.

And that's it!

The procedure doesn't sound like much, and really isn't if you have the right tools and know-how. I'll post another section on the upper arms when I get some more time to do so. I'm at the mercy of not only the schedule of work and family but weather since I'm doing all of my work in the driveway. Happy torquing!

Let me be the first to say THANKS!!! (wish I could say SUBBED)

Where did you get the white arm? it sais 4x4parts but...do they sell? NOICE

Very nice guide, thanks for contributing! I'll add this to the how-to sticky thread soon.

Thanks!

Those are the Dorman arms. I painted them white and added a few coats of clearcoat. The 4x4parts bit were stickers they included with their order. I threw them on because I was really impressed with their service and felt they earned themselves a bit of free advertising. I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

One thing I couldn't figure out was what the blocks on the bottom of the arm are for. They're not incredibly heavy, but certainly not light. Anyone know what they are or what they're for?

ok thanks...hehe

Are the Dorman arms HEFTY in build vs the original arms? Ive ordered DORMAN parts before and they seem very good quality wise for OEMs...I bought slave cylinder from them I think it was built really well..

atraudes wrote:Thanks!

Those are the Dorman arms. I painted them white and added a few coats of clearcoat. The 4x4parts bit were stickers they included with their order. I threw them on because I was really impressed with their service and felt they earned themselves a bit of free advertising. I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

One thing I couldn't figure out was what the blocks on the bottom of the arm are for. They're not incredibly heavy, but certainly not light. Anyone know what they are or what they're for?

haha, NICE!!! job on the paint and stickers.

I was a little surprised about that too and at first thought "4x4parts sells trailing arms!!?".
I just recently put in my order for the bushings, though opted to keep the original arms on there. I was considering plasti-coating them - but your white-paint looks LOTS better. No worries, I will not bite your style :P
Though, I may consider throwing the stickers on there like you

as for that block thing - I am wondering the same thing :\

yngw13: Yeah the arms seem really sturdy, with solid weld points. No complaints

donald: Do it to it! They say imitation's the sincerest form of flattery

yes... I decided to bite your style and go with the white plasti-dip (didn't know they came in white). I'll apologize now :p
the reason being that they'd match my rear shocks (KYB GR-2) that are also white with red-lettering.
We'll see if it looks as nice as yours. I have a lot of cleaning to do, depending on the route I take to remove the bushings

That's gonna look boss

Round 1 - Took me 3hours on 1 arm Having a press would have been nice... owwwhhhh my lower back
Had to resort to double-cuts with a hacksaw to get the metal collars out. No fun
... not really looking forward to the next 3 arms
Retired for the night. resuming the work tomorrow.

Donald: Get a sawzall. Or take to a shop to get them pressed out.


Chuck

Yeah - after tonight's work on LTA #2 (driver's side), I think I'm going to Harbor Freight and getting their $20 6-amp version of the sawzall to do the UTA's.

I don't plan on painting the UTA's so the bulk of the time will be on cutting out the bushing sleeves.

I was thinking of taking them to a shop to press out, but then that'd mean I have to make 4 trips (1 for each arm); I'm under some impression that it was advised in some other's recommendation to do work on 1-arm at a time for whatever reason.

ANyway - here's my sad work
Biggest lesson learned: probably not a good idea to paint, as it requires a lot of down-time to sit there only to build up in impatience



lots of dirty prints due to not allowing enough time for the clear coat to dry (was tacky to the touch). Meh - I figure it's going to get dirty under there eventually, it'll sort of blend in soon

Here are some observations/additional insight during my trek on the rear trailing arms

atraudes wrote:...
Loosen the 4 bolts
If you don't know which 4 bolts, study the new arms; it should be pretty obvious. They're big and ugly. Loosen all 4 a bit to ensure that you can get all 4 off with no muss or fuss. If one or more really isn't moving, you'll need to consider grinding them off, at which point there's no turning back! Remove the 10mm bolts for the ABS wire and brake hose running along the top of the arm (careful!).
...

In regards to the driver-side LTA, it differed from the passenger side, as I needed to remove the rear-stabilizer link on the driver side to access the rear-most nut for the LTA. I decided to remove the entire rear-stabilizer link and its mount. But to access the 2 bolts for the mount, I had to remove the rear wheel, as well as the plastic cover for the gas-tank neck. Unfortunately, there are some plastic-fender fasteners that hold the plastic shroud in place (along with some actual screws). Why they couldn't just screws on ALL the mounting point is beyond me , so I ended up breaking a few of these fasteners I'll have to figure out of I can find replacements or some other way to replace broken plastic fasteners.
Sorry - no advice on how to better remove the plastic fasteners, as I had to break mine to get it out.

atraudes wrote:...
Remove curved guide inside frame bracket (if applicable)
At first I didn't realize these were here and couldn't figure out why I couldn't force the arms into the brackets. As best I can tell, they're used to guide the new bushings into place, since the OEM style have a metal tube protruding from the sides that probably slips quite nicely into these things. However, the polyurethane kit is totally flat on either side and these curves get in the way when trying to install an arm equipped with them. Note that you probably do NOT need to do this if you opted for the included bushings. Give it a try and let us know what you find!

I used the angle grinder to remove these bad boys. It's hard to tell from the angle of the shot, but they're on the top of either side of the bracket.


...

My electric-powered 4.5" angle grinder wouldn't fit in there. I assume you used the air-gun type?
Anyway, as I did this (with my dremel tool - took about 30min each piece, 2 per side), I noticed that all I really need to focus on was the 2 spot-welds. You can see where these welds are by the dimples visible on the curved piece. Grind down the 2 dimples/welds, and you should be able to pry the piece out. You may need to do a little clean up grinding after "ripping" the piece out.

The 2 pieces MUST come out if the EnergySuspension split design bushings (or any bushings with an outer-lip) are used. The reason is the new bushings will take up the entire space between the mounting bracket on the chasis of the truck. The old/OEM bushings (as atraudes mentioned) only protrude at the center sleeve; the rest of the OEM bushings sit within the trailing arm mount.

atraudes wrote:...
Install the new arm
It is presumed that at this point that whatever bushings you desired are in the arms, ready to rock. Install the new arm, and pay attention to which side the nut is on. The nut needs to be on the outside of the vehicle on the front and in inside on the rear. Refer to the other arm or SU section of the FSM if need be. The brackets don't need to be stupid tight at this moment, just mostly tight. You'll torque them down completely later. Bolt the ABS wire and brake hose up to the new arm, and remove the axle/transmission bracket strap.
...

when re-installing the passenger side LTA, you'll notice the new bolts (if you purchased EngergySuspension split-design bushings) are longer then the OEM bolts. This makes inserting the forward-most bolt a little tricky, as the muffler can obstruct the angle to get the new bolt in.
No need to worry - I was able position myself under the muffler to push up and away, to slip the new bolt in, as the muffler/exhaust system is hooked on a bushing/flexible mount. It wasn't a "light" push on the muffler either, I had to give a pretty hefty push.
You DON'T want to reverse the direction of the bolt to make things "easier", as the next time (if there is a next time) you need to do some maintenance, an impact driver may not be able to access the nut on the muffler side.
Though you can "test fit" the new bolt in reverse to get the axle/arm lined up just right so you can. Just make sure to insert the bolt from the muffler side of the LTA mount.

One other observation I found when installing my LTA with the Energy Suspension split design bushings is that because the bushings sit along the lip of the LTA mounting points, it does widen the mounting point to JUST perfectly sit within the LTA mounting bracket on the chasis. This will make for a snug fit. I had to use a rubber mallet to tap the LTA into the bracket. Again, this is why it's important to remove those 2 curved metal pieces on the forward-most bracket.

Anyway - plans are to install the drive side LTA tomorrow. I'll add more observations/additional input as well.

Thanks again!

Donald, bravo sir I did the upper arms last week but haven't had a chance to update my original post, and now I don't see an Edit button. Hopefully I can get that fixed.

In regards to the driver-side LTA, it differed from the passenger side, as I needed to remove the rear-stabilizer link on the driver side to access the rear-most nut for the LTA. I decided to remove the entire rear-stabilizer link and its mount. But to access the 2 bolts for the mount, I had to remove the rear wheel, as well as the plastic cover for the gas-tank neck. Unfortunately, there are some plastic-fender fasteners that hold the plastic shroud in place (along with some actual screws). Why they couldn't just screws on ALL the mounting point is beyond me , so I ended up breaking a few of these fasteners I'll have to figure out of I can find replacements or some other way to replace broken plastic fasteners.

I found the same thing, though I didn't have to remove the entire bar. It may have made things easier overall, but I wasn't bumping into it too much. As for the plastic "screws", yeah, I destroyed mine too. They ended up not moving, so I ended up drilling them out. I think I saw some replacements at Lowes...

My electric-powered 4.5" angle grinder wouldn't fit in there. I assume you used the air-gun type?

I used a Bosch 5" grinder but with a 7" Diablo metal grinding disc. The grinder itself was far too big to get in there, but the large diameter of the disc was enough to reach it.

when re-installing the passenger side LTA, you'll notice the new bolts (if you purchased EngergySuspension split-design bushings) are longer then the OEM bolts. This makes inserting the forward-most bolt a little tricky, as the muffler can obstruct the angle to get the new bolt in.

When I got my kit from 4x4parts.com, I got a total of 8 bolts. 4 of them were slightly (1/2" or so) longer than the others. I put the shorter ones on the lower arms since I did them first and the length matched up properly. When I did the uppers, I found that the longer ones still weren't the same size, but I used the longer ones up there with only one hiccup. For the bolt where the nut faced outward and you had to remove the wheel and plastic cover, the bolt interfered with the rear stabilizer bar mount, so I had to grind the tip off (the 1/2" or so). I don't remember having any problems with the muffler getting in the way though

I was thinking of taking them to a shop to press out, but then that'd mean I have to make 4 trips (1 for each arm); I'm under some impression that it was advised in some other's recommendation to do work on 1-arm at a time for whatever reason.

I recommended only doing one at a time because I'm not sure what would happen if you pulled more than one off the vehicle at a time. It may be totally fine if you do, but my judgment call when I looked at everything down there was that one at a time was the only thing I was comfortable with.

Anyway - plans are to install the drive side LTA tomorrow. I'll add more observations/additional input as well.

donald wrote:Here are some observations/additional insight during my trek on the rear trailing arms

atraudes wrote:...
Loosen the 4 bolts
If you don't know which 4 bolts, study the new arms; it should be pretty obvious. They're big and ugly. Loosen all 4 a bit to ensure that you can get all 4 off with no muss or fuss. If one or more really isn't moving, you'll need to consider grinding them off, at which point there's no turning back! Remove the 10mm bolts for the ABS wire and brake hose running along the top of the arm (careful!).
...

In regards to the driver-side UTA, it differed from the passenger side, as I needed to remove the rear-stabilizer link on the driver side to access the rear-most nut for the UTA. I decided to remove the entire rear-stabilizer link and its mount. But to access the 2 bolts for the mount, I had to remove the rear wheel, as well as the plastic cover for the gas-tank neck. Unfortunately, there are some plastic-fender fasteners that hold the plastic shroud in place (along with some actual screws). Why they couldn't just screws on ALL the mounting point is beyond me , so I ended up breaking a few of these fasteners I'll have to figure out of I can find replacements or some other way to replace broken plastic fasteners.
Sorry - no advice on how to better remove the plastic fasteners, as I had to break mine to get it out.

correction here... this was not for LTA, instead it was for the UTA. Corrections made above. This will also apply to the passenger UTA. The stabilizer link will need to be removed to extract the old bolt. This time, I just left the link attached to the stabilizer bar, and unbolted the mounting bracket between link and body of the truck. Also makes for access to the bolts/nut to torque.


Update - Day3 :P
ALL ARMS ARE DONE and installed! what a weekend. I'm physically exhausted and body aches

I have one other note:
The way I went about my install:
1. passenger LTA
2. driver LTA
3. driver UTA
4. passenger UTA

When I went about re-installing the passenger UTA (#4, final TA), I found it difficult to line up the bracket-holes with the UTA center sleeve. I tried several methods trying to angle the axle, from using 2 different lifting jacks, using jacks with artraudes' tip of using a ratcheting strap (which helped a lot, BTW!! ) and trying to wrestle the axle to line up the holes. All failed.
I finally resulted to disconnecting the same-side (passenger) LTA, then bolt up the UTA - which still needed a little bit of finangling but worked - and then used the ratcheting method to re-bolt the LTA. WHEW! took me about 2hours to figure that out
I believe the main reasons that installing the last UTA was difficult was:

• 3 of the 4 TAs already went poly (ie. stiffer, less flex) and it was all "new" which didn't allow as much flex and wiggle room.
• the UTAs connect at an angle between axle and frame, which causes a lot of the mis-alignment, especially with the new bushings installed in the other arms. The LTA mounting brackets are a lot more "in-line"
• the "full-faced" design of the poly bushings. If you'll notice, the OEM bushings only protrude at the center sleeve, and the rubber material is recessed within the TA connection/body. The poly bushings protrude out just as much as the OEM center sleeve, BUT! the enter poly bushing protrudes out, making it a "full-face". This doesn't allow as much angle'ing when the TA is mounted/bolted in place, as the new poly "face" fills all the gap the OEM model used to have between TA and bracket.

Another suggestion, but not proven
I greased the CRAP out of my bushings. I even greased the outside face of the bushing that came in contact with the bracket. My worry was that once the grease dried out, it'd start rubbing up against the bracket and start squeaking or creaking when the arms pivoted about the bracket. Not sure if this will happen, but since I had to do so much work to get the TAs out and back in, I figured once is good enough

Here's a look at them now:

you can see the passenger UTA and LTA - and how the LTAs were intended to match the rear shocks


MEGA grease! Green means it's "marine" grease, I think.

atraudes wrote:Donald, bravo sir I did the upper arms last week but haven't had a chance to update my original post, and now I don't see an Edit button. Hopefully I can get that fixed.

Thanks atraudes! Honestly - I think it was your post that pushed me over the edge into doing this finally . Thanks for the work in putting up the write up. I definitely found the ratcheting idea VERY useful. Luckily I didn't have to find that out the hard way (ie. myself)
regardin the edit thing... I think we have some limited time window to edit posts. Definitely shorter than a day. After that - it's permanent

atraudes wrote:

My electric-powered 4.5" angle grinder wouldn't fit in there. I assume you used the air-gun type?

I used a Bosch 5" grinder but with a 7" Diablo metal grinding disc. The grinder itself was far too big to get in there, but the large diameter of the disc was enough to reach it.

AH! that makes sense! oh well, I'm just glad I was able to finish before Monday - back to work, agh. hehe.

atraudes wrote:

when re-installing the passenger side LTA, you'll notice the new bolts (if you purchased EngergySuspension split-design bushings) are longer then the OEM bolts. This makes inserting the forward-most bolt a little tricky, as the muffler can obstruct the angle to get the new bolt in.

When I got my kit from 4x4parts.com, I got a total of 8 bolts. 4 of them were slightly (1/2" or so) longer than the others. I put the shorter ones on the lower arms since I did them first and the length matched up properly. When I did the uppers, I found that the longer ones still weren't the same size, but I used the longer ones up there with only one hiccup. For the bolt where the nut faced outward and you had to remove the wheel and plastic cover, the bolt interfered with the rear stabilizer bar mount, so I had to grind the tip off (the 1/2" or so). I don't remember having any problems with the muffler getting in the way though

Hmm... all of my bolts (from what I recall) were the same length. I checked the clearances of the bolts and they all seemed to be in the clear. weird
Though when my bushings/package arrived they were packed in plastic wrap, not in some fancy box or anything, no labels, no instructions - not sure if that matters. The center sleeves in my package were 2 different colors too, 4 "steel" colored, and 4 "gold-ish" color.


Also, thanks Chuck for pushing me over into getting a sawzall I got one from Harbor Freight for $20, and for 6-amps, it's pretty powerful. I'd say enough for what I need it for. Worked well.
When doing the UTA bushings, only the center sleeve came out when I pressed it out (with a ball-joint c-clamp type press), which left A LOT of rubber behind - that would have made for some painful hacksawing to cut through rubber

I used a comealong to pull things into position on the last trailing arm.

Chuck

Is there an advantage to jacking up the differential for the final tightening of the bolts, or can it be done with the wheels on the ground?

It can absolutely be done with the wheels on the ground. Jacking the vehicle up by the differential just gives you more elbow/cranking room. PLEASE NOTE that the front wheels should be chocked and jack stands should still always be millimeters away from the body as it is always dangerous to work under a vehicle only supported by a jack. If the vehicle is rocked too much it could slide off the jack.

That said, knowing the dangers, it's really up to what you're comfortable with.

Another less dangerous alternative is to roll the back wheels onto wheel ramps. I really should just make that the recommendation...

Another question, regarding removing rusted bolts. I live in a pretty benign environment, so am hoping no issue, but Chuck is only ~20 miles away and he had to cut bolts. Or maybe he backed into the ocean a few times.

Anyway, what is the tool and the technique? Do you cut off the head, or the nut, or what?

Thanks,
Gary

So it looks like editing simply isn’t an option for me, even for fresh posts, so here’s the much-anticipated sequel! Some of this is a repeat of the previous comments, but I like to have information as centralized as possible. Read through Donald’s trials and tribulations; he had some interesting results and findings, and posted some excellent feedback

A couple of notes:
- Disregard my earlier recommendation about jacking up the rear axle to tighten the bolts. It’s a far better idea to drive the back of the vehicle up some wheel ramps and then tighten. Working on a car supported only by the jack is a horrible idea and incredibly dangerous, especially when torquing the heck out of these bolts. Just call me Tim Taylor...



- Donald mentioned that he used the included grease on the polyurethane before installing them to assist in getting them installed and preventing squeaks/creaks/groans later on. I also received that grease but ended up not using it. Partly because there weren’t any instructions saying that it had to be used, and partly because I completely forgot about it until I was done. I haven’t noticed any noises from the rear yet, but if anybody has a no-buts recommendation that it get used, please speak up.

- As I said in an earlier post, I got 4 bolts that matched the length of the already installed bolts, and 4 slightly longer ones. I ended up using the longer ones on the upper control arms and only had one hiccup. You would probably be better served using the longer ones on the lower arms to avoid my hiccup.

- Polyurethane bushings = stiffer ride? There’s a lot of discussion and opinions out there as to whether polyurethane bushings are better, and where it's appropriate. My ride is definitely stiffer than it was before, but I mostly enjoy it. It doesn’t have that marshmallows-for-bushings feel anymore Do your own research and draw your own conclusions as to what’s better for you.

The parts:

2 × $45 Amazon - Dorman 905-802 Rear Upper Control Arm: Same deal as the lower arms, they’ll have the rubber bushings already installed.

Additional tools that I needed (and probably could have used earlier):

Breaker bar: Bought a nice 2-3 foot breaker bar with a 1/2” drive. The upper arms don’t have the same amount of elbow room that the lowers did, so having a socket wrench that didn’t require socket adapters was invaluable.
Set of 1/2” sockets, short: I already had deep sockets, and I ended up needing a combination of the two to get the job done.

If you’re planning on doing all 4 arms at the same time, you can pick up these steps right before the “Torque” section of the original walkthrough. Remember that all of the nuts for the upper control arms point to the inside of the vehicle, except for the driver’s side forward-most one. We’ll start with the driver’s side since it was the more complicated.

Unbolt stabilizer bar from frame:
Right next to the front-most nut of the control arm, there’s a bracket with two bolts that connects to the stabilizer bar. Remove the two bolts on that bracket and swing that part of the bar out of your way. You won’t even be able to remove the nut if you don’t. Donald elected to remove the entire stabilizer bar while he was working. It will give you some more room to work, but I didn’t have too much trouble working around it.

Remove driver side rear wheel:
If you have any trouble getting at that bolt, you can get a straight view of it by removing the driver’s side rear wheel and pulling back that plastic sheath covering the gas pipe leading into the gas tank. I ended up destroying the two plastic “screws” and used a drill to remove them.



Remove the old bolts:
You’ve got a clear shot now, remove the old bolts and pull the old arm out. Unbolt and transfer that weight-looking thing to the new arms. You’ll probably want to install that most previously mentioned bolt first, since it’s the toughest to get at.

The bolt length hiccup:
Because I used the longer bolts on the upper arms, I ran into a snag. The problem was that the tip got in the way of the stabilizer bar mounting bracket. I took my angle grinder and “nipped the tip”.



I only had to remove the first half inch or so. No big deal; the grinder made quick work of it.



The other half:
Get the other side of the arm pressed in and get the second bolt installed. This was slightly trickier for me because the holes didn’t quite line up. I used a large Philips screwdriver to pry it into place enough to start slipping the bolt in, and was able to work the rest of it in from there. Once the nuts are good and snug, go ahead and reinstall that side’s stabilizer bar mounting bracket.

The other upper arm:
After the first, there really wasn’t anything to it. Undo the stabilizer bar mount, remove the bolts, pull the arm out, transfer the block on top, install the new arm, and reinstall the stabilizer bar bracket. I got super lucky this time around and the holes lined up perfectly on the arm. The bolts went in with no muss or fuss.

Torque:
From here you can resume the previous walkthrough from “Torque”. It should be noted, though, that I wasn’t able to tighten any of the bolts on the upper arms with the truck’s axle under load; there simply wasn’t enough room to get a wrench in. I torqued them with the truck sitting on jack stands, and will be going back in a week or two to make sure they’re sticking. Maybe someone else who did it the right way can weigh in on their secret.

Anyway, what is the tool and the technique? Do you cut off the head, or the nut, or what?

I'll defer to Chuck for the official answer since he actually had to do it, but it should just be a matter of cutting off whatever side you can get to (the head of the bolt is probably the easiest to cut through, though). Getting at the bolt with a proper cutting device could be a challenge, depending on which bolt requires persuasion.

I used the previously-mentioned Bosch angle grinder for all of my needs, but there may be other tools that fit the bill too.

My QX4 has always lived in WA in plenty of water but little to no salt, and I was able to loosen and remove all 8 of my bolts with no cutting drama. You can always do a dry-run and try loosening all of the bolts one afternoon just to see if you'll need to resort to cutting any of them.

Good luck and let us know!

Regarding which bolts go where: I see in the courtesyparts.com diagram that the upper and lower link each get one of each type of bolt. Just going by part numbers in the diagram. I don't have any in hand, so don't know which is which.

http://www.courtesyparts.com/pathfinder ... _4804.html

Waiting for the decision from my wife on her QX4, but I'm guessing that she wants "original ride" rather than "stiffer poly ride." Can anyone compare the ride of OEM in good condition (not shot) to poly? Is poly that much stiffer, or just a tad?

I don't know about new OEM ride. But compared to the way my truck drove with the old LTA bushings to poly - it's SIGNIFICANTLY stiffer.
I noticed it was stiffer the moment I dropped the rear-end after being held up by jackstands. Imagine how your truck settles after you release the lift-jack - it usually settles and wobbles a little bit, a sort of expected side-to-side settling. When I dropped my truck, it was planted. It went down and had minimal settling. Very visible.

As for the ride - very sports car like
When I take turns, usually the body will roll along with the turn.
Now the body roll is significantly less - of course momentum is still there, but the body roll isn't as noticeable as before.

Going over typical speed bumps used to be "soft" - maybe a bounce and a half in the rear.
Now it's 1 small bounce.

One big positive (for me - and it's not even "turning" or "speed" related) I think is how the truck responds to braking. Previously, the front end would dive quite noticably. Now, through some stiffening geometry of the chasis, the nose-dive is not as bad and the truck is very level during braking. I usually brake moderately. I would say slam-on-brakes hard, but moderate to where you don't want to be holding a lid-less cup of coffee I assume its the new bushings not allowing the rear to flex up as weight moves forward (result of the UTAs?)

Heh - if you lived in my area, I'd even let you drive my truck to feel the difference

Let me note the condition of my bushings:
LTA: bushings were visibly cracked and chunks broken off. Center sleeve could have been pulled out with a pair of pliers.
UTA: bushings were actually in good shape. But there was some separation between the center sleeve and the surrounding rubber bushing material.

Basically, the above bushing health on the old arms meant the majority of the "death wobble" was due to the LTA (in my experience).

I'm going with new complete Infiniti arms and bolts/nuts, so just under $400 total parts. Probably will not be able to do it for a couple of weeks, until I can make room in my garage. She's at 188k, so new OEM arms should last as long as the QX4. If not, I'll have arms to re-bearing at my leisure next time.

I got the 4 links replaced with Nissan parts. I didn't have the death sway exactly -- no sway when getting on or off the gas. It just felt like the QX4 was moving around too much, bouncy.

I found a small tear in one upper, but all old arms just seemed slightly softer than the new ones. I don't think I would have been able to tell any needed replacement, other than the one, and it really didn't flex all that easily despite the tear. Still, made quite a difference with the new arms.

I didn't totally remove the plastic gas hose cover. Took out the small bolts and bottom two "screws", and flexed the cover to the side to remove the link bolt. The "screws" don't really have screw threads, just rings. I got a flathead screw driver under the flange of one and popped it out. The other didn't. I drilled out the center with a small bit. When I went to the next larger bit, the "screw" came out. I was able to re-use both "screws."

I was able to torque all bolts with the weight on jack stands under the rear axle. The driver's side upper link front bolt was difficult to get to the head -- in the end I just used a small combo wrench there for removal and installation. All others were easy to reach both ends, and all came off with the impact wrench. Two nuts took about 1 minute, but subsided after I alternated between "on" and "off" direction, and upped the pressure to about 110psi. Aircat 1150 wrench, supposedly 1295 ft-pounds at 120psi. Thanks to all posting above, or I would probably have bought something lesser, and not up to the job.

So I saved the labor cost, but spent $650+ on compressor and tools. Gotta say that the impact wrench makes removal of normal nuts a breeze.

Quick updates on this topic:

TracyW found that Moog sells these control arms, and from what I can tell from the pictures, they seem to be an exact match of the OEM arms. The parts listed for 2001-2004 Pathfinders are RK660903 (upper), RK660904 (right lower), and RK660905 (left lower). For the 2001 QX4, it only said the RK660903 was compatible. For the 2002 QX4, it listed the RK660903 and RK660905 (two of each) My money would just buy the parts they say are compatible with the Pathfinders.

Also, you definitely want to use the grease included with the polyurethane bushings. I can hear them squeaking when there's any body movement, like when I'm running over speed bumps or gypsies.



Any advise on how to how to grease them without removing the arms would be hugely appreciated

I need to get rid of the "death wobble" on a 2001 Nissan Pathfinder....and I was wondering if you recommend replacing both the upper and the lower arms in the rear? The front control arms have been replaced, and now we are on to the back ones.....will just the lower arms take care of it, using the Dorman trailing arms, replacing the whole unit.

I need to order parts today or tomorrow - any comments are appreciated!! The vehicle has 136,000 miles on it.

thank you all for the information provided!!

~ Pat

Ideally you replace the full set, like with shocks or tires. The upper and lower arms perform the same type of duty, so if the lowers are shot, the uppers aren't far behind.

That being said, there's nothing that says you must do all four at once. If you're strapped for time or cash, start with the lowers as they'll give you the most bang for your buck. Long term, though, plan on doing all four.

atraudes- great writeup, do you still have your old arms? I would like to buy them. I have the 1 piece bushings ready to go and I'm going to try installing them without a press. should take some creativity, and don't want the downtime to my ride.