Loosen the wheel lug nuts, raise the rear of the vehicle and support it securely on jackstands. Chock the front wheels to prevent the vehicle from rolling. Remove the wheel, brake drum and brake shoes, disconnect the parking brake cable from the lever on the trailing shoe and unbolt the cable casing from the backing plate, disconnect the hydraulic line fitting from the wheel cylinder, remove the nuts securing the axle retaining plate to the axle housing, connect a slide hammer and adapter to the axle flange and pull the axle from the housing, if the bearing or bearing grease seal must be replaced, take the assembly to an automotive machine shop to have the old bearing and seal removed and new ones installed, pry out the axleshaft oil seal with a seal removal tool and drive in the axleshaft oil seal with a seal installer, wipe the bore in the axle housing clean, apply a thin coat of grease to the outer surface of the bearing, if working on a four-cylinder, 2WD Frontier or Xterra install any shims that were present during removal, guide the axleshaft straight into the axle housing, rotate the shaft slightly to engage the splines on the shaft with the splines in the differential side gear, install new axle retaining plate nuts and tighten them to the torque, check the axleshaft end play using a dial indicator, on four-cylinder, 2WD Frontier and Xterra models the end play should be 0.0008 to 0.0059-inch (0.02 to 0.15 mm) and on all other models the end play should be 0.0-inch (0.0 mm), the remainder of installation is the reverse of removal, check the differential lubricant level and add some, if necessary, bleed the brakes, install the wheel and lug nuts, lower the vehicle and tighten the lug nuts to the torque.
Posted by NissanPartsDeal Specialist