The Nissan Path

Hey guys, so I've installed Rancho quicklift struts and rear spacers this weekend, well, almost!

I got the front struts in and the passenger side rear spacer, but having issues with the rear driver side.

For the life of me, I cannot get out the outer bolt that holds the coil spring bucket in place. It goes through this plastic bushing. I broke it loose and got the nut off and even was able to get the bolt about 1/4" out, but then it gets stuck. I even tried hammering on it using a long steel bar as a punch, it just won't budge.

It was tight on the passenger side, but I was able to simply drive it out with a ratchet ... but it's not the case here.

Does anyone have any tips? Is there any trick to getting these out?


FSM says to undo the inner bolt but I want to avoid touching it because that will throw off the alignment ... I know I'll have to get it done anyways, but I would like to drive the truck for a couple of weeks to allow everything to settle before I go in for the alignment.


Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

Do you have a jack under it remove the tension?

triplesnake wrote:Do you have a jack under it remove the tension?

I tried it first without a jack, then threw a jack under there and tried raising the whole thing slightly to see if it would remove the tension - no go!

But I did not remove the bottom bolt from the shock, wondering if that was tilting the bolt enough to catch on the plastic bushing

Hey guys, so I finally had some time for another attempt. Still no go.
I've tried supporting the coil bucket and the hub with jacks at various heights in hopes to take the tension off the bolt with no success. Tried driving the bolt out with a piece of bar stock and a hammer from the other side but because the driveshaft is in the way I can't get a good angle on it.

I've ordered the new bolt thinking that I can just this one off and drive it back in the opposite direction. Does that have a chance of success? Any other ideas or suggestions?

This is as far I can get it:




Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

evgenk wrote:Hey guys, so I finally had some time for another attempt. Still no go.
I've tried supporting the coil bucket and the hub with jacks at various heights in hopes to take the tension off the bolt with no success. Tried driving the bolt out with a piece of bar stock and a hammer from the other side but because the driveshaft is in the way I can't get a good angle on it.

I've ordered the new bolt thinking that I can just this one off and drive it back in the opposite direction. Does that have a chance of success? Any other ideas or suggestions?

This is as far I can get it:




Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Does it have movement only to that spot?

I would hit it with impact wrench

Thupertrooper wrote:
Does it have movement only to that spot?

I would hit it with impact wrench

This is as far as it will go. When I hit it with the impact wrench the bolt just spins.

Have you tried putting a jack under the coil bucket? I put my floor jack under the bolt and raised the coil bucket to relieve any pinch pressure off the bolt. both of mine came out easy once I did that.

docwatson wrote:Have you tried putting a jack under the coil bucket? I put my floor jack under the bolt and raised the coil bucket to relieve any pinch pressure off the bolt. both of mine came out easy once I did that.

Did exactly that, made no difference.

I think I'll rent coil spring compressor this weekend and give that a go

Taken mine off a few times myself.

You need to do all of these things to get it out:
Put the floor jack under the bucket and raise it up about 6".
Spray liquid wrench on it from both sides.
Put that new bolt in on the other side and use something (back of a hammer) to put pressure on the stuck bolt from the opposite side.
Now hit it with an impact wrench!!

That's what I would do!

In case someone ever runs into this same problem, here is how it was solved:

After receiving a replacement bolt I ended up cutting off the bolt head in the picture and attempted to drive the bolt out in the opposite direction. Well, that completely seized it in the bushing and after hours of trying I couldn't get it to budge in any direction. That's when I said F*** IT, and drove the truck to the mechanic, hoping that they could use an air hammer to drive out the bolt. Apparently air hammer didn't work and long story short, they had to cut the coil bucket out.

Luckily, the bushing that is in the rear knuckle is replaceable and as I found out could be pressed out without removing the knuckle from the vehicle by using a ball joint press.

So, if someone ever ends up in this situation here is what you need to do:

- Support the coil spring bucket with a jack
- It's not a bad idea to support the knuckle with a second jack as well
- Depending on the tools available, you may be able to simply cut the bolt around the bushing. If not, you will need to literally cut your coil spring bucket as close to the bushing as possible and then cut the bolt out.
- Slowly lower the jack supporting the remainder of the coil bucket
- Remove the spring
- Rent a ball joint press at your local parts store
- Press out the seized bushing from the knuckle
- Press in the new bushing you got from Nissan (about $40 Canadian)
- If you were able to save your coil spring bucket then re-use it. If not, get a new one. Apparently only Nissan carries this part and it was about $80 Canadian.
- reinstall the spring, raise the coil bucket, insert the new bolt into the bushing and done.
- Most likely you wouldn't be able to save the old coil spring bucket and quite possibly you would need to cut out the other end it of it too.


Apparently all my camber bolts are seized as well, so I am arming myself with cutting disks and saw blades and ordering the new lower control arms for all 4 corners. Hopefully the weather will be nice this weekend.

So far, this 2" lift project has been nothing but a huge nightmare but I love the new stance and ride of the truck.

Funny enough, my mileage has improved immediately after replacing the sagged rear springs. City driving, it went from 18.5L/100km (12.7mpg) to 15L/100km (15.6mpg). And that's without an alignment!

Glad you figured it out i always have issues with that bolt.