The Nissan Path

I mentioned in another post that in time I will add the Airlift 1000 air bags to my Pathy at that time I plan to upgrade the rear shocks to some Bilstines. Can I get away with just replacing the rear shocks or do I have to replace both the front and rear at the same time to avoid handling problems from the shocks being different front to rear?

As long as you do pairs (fronts and rears) you're fine. This is what I do to space out the work.

Some people consider the fronts easier since the rear top bolts can be difficult to access but I think it's easier since you don't have to mess with a spring compressor or replace the rubber bushings in the shock mount...

The fronts aren't particularly bad performance wise. Something about the rears is terrible. I swapped Bilsteins to the rear around 20k and it made a big improvement. I still have the OEM fronts at 115k and they just started to deteriorate this winter. It's on my list of things to do but I haven't made it a big priority at this point.

Thanks for the info I think I will change out the rears before the snow flies. Is it a difficult job to change out the rears? Or is it better left to a professional?

Mine weren't that bad but it was only a year or so old. I've heard they get rusted up pretty badly and the access to the bolts isn't the best.

Left side is a little easier than the right, because of the exhaust. The procedure is simple, but the nuts are on pretty tight. Torque spec for the rear shock nuts is 129 ft/lbs for the top nut and 165 ft/lbs for the bottom nut. Even with a 1/2" air gun, I couldn't break mine loose and they weren't rusted at all. I had to use a long breaker bar with an extension and swivel socket.