GODDAM RUST IM GOING TO MURDER YOU
 

BEWARE WALL OF TEXT AHEAD

TL;DR: f*cked shock causes 4+ days of pain



it started out simple,pathfinder needed some repair:



bilstein shocks all the way around(which, for some odd reason, the 2wd version has tougher rear shocks)

airlift in coil air bag for sway control

(4) 265/75r16 cooper at3 tires(stock is 265/70r16, these add about an inch, its an OEM option so i new i didnt have to lift it)



sounds simple right?



so here we go



DAY 1 start with passenger rear shock, shocks are easy right? not when the cars from minnesota! 1 shock takes me 2 hours to replace, had to strong arm it like there was no tomorrow, the sleeve/bushing rusted itself to the shock bolt, soaked the sh*t out of it in my atf/acetone blend(old school trick....way better than pb blaster) finally got shock one off, get it off the vehicle and it collapses immediately, no dampening at all



move on to shock 2, break 3/8" kobalt ratchet attemping shock 2, dont have a 19mm in 1/2" so i head to lowes, pick up 19mm and a replacement ratchet, head back home, take tire off, find out that tab on control arm is busted, cuss A LOT



heres a awesome pic, explanation to follow

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/10...ps72be51e8.png



well basically, in order to speed up installation, nissan decided to weld a plate to locate the lower shock nut to the frame, well, because minnesota, rust f*cked up the weld and now the nut is being hidden by said plate



give up put tire back on, cuss some more, call it a day



DAY 2(about a week later, this past friday)

wife heads out of town for a few days, decide well sh*t i have the car, ill go to the auto hobby shop on base and work on it there!

get on the lift, on a tip by i8acobra, i tried to vice grip the sh*t out of the little nut and use an impact, its on their so tough that BOTH THE DAMN IMPACT SOCKET AND THE VICE GRIPS BREAK, luckily they are craftsman and i brought my own tool box just in case, i swap my sh*t with their broken sh*t so they dont charge me for messing it up. Continued attempting to remove the 1 damn lower shock mount, decide to get a die grinder and cut off the little tab on the control arm, section enough out to get a wrench on it, finally strong arm the damn nut off, again shock bolt is seized to shock, cant get my wrench off of the bolt, nut is stuck, got 1 hour figure this out before they close. I CUT THE DAMN BOLT OFF then proceeded to realize i dont have replacement bolt. f*ck. jump into the recycle dumpster and just so happen to find a bolt that will work.



go to take the top bolt off the shock, again seized to the sleeve, again cuss like mad man but at least this one has a little bit of room to work with. try hammer, nothing, tried heating it slightly with a plumbers torch(wasnt supposed to have that their but they didnt notice...) nothing, decide to check dumpster again before i cut the bolt off, happen to find another, i cut a notch in the bolt and used an impact hammer and got it off, replaced bolt drove home, this shock was completely rusted stiff, wouldnt collapse at all, so in the rear i had one solid mounted shock, 1 worthless shock explains cholo lean(i just figured it was cuz of beaner heritage)





DAY 3



wake my happy ass up at 8 am, drive back to base to do the front, front goes somewhat smoothly, rust got in the way of strut removal and burned up a sh*t ton of time but i finally replace em, both are completely blown, swapped tires out, found out the reason my tire light was on, had 2 broken sensors, replaced em with rubber valve stems, installed custom "black electrical tape" mod to speedometer drive away, hear RATTLE RATTLE RATTLE pull over, new passenger side shock has just caused my rusted upper shock mount to bust and send the new shock through the top



no dampening at all in the front causes rusted sway bar end link to bust



head to VATOZONE pick up spring compressor tool, remove shock and inspect for damage



take it apart, obamarig it, put it back together, go to tighten lower shock bolt....snaps off



remove bolt from yard art hyundai, drive to hardware store and pick up bolts for EVERY GODDAMN THING I MIGHT POSSIBLY REMOVE IN THE FUTURE



drive to VATOZONE and order new sway bar end link, should be here in AM and thats where im at with this for now, plan is to obamarig it enough so its safe, then head to nissan and order OEM bolts for all the ones i had to replace



PLACE HOLDER FOR DAY 4 as im sure ill need it

sounds like a friggin nightmare! but if anything, it made for a great read lol.



to make you feel better, the last three times i replaced my struts i blew them on crappy D.C. roads a few days later EVERYTIME. finally gave up and don't care.

Pictures of rust plz, sounds awful. I can't really follow what you mean with all the tabs and mounts and nuts swinging around.









Have you got new shocks to replace these with?

well all the rusty parts are already in the trash, ill see what i can get a photo of tomorrow



ive came to the conclusion the previous owner mustve had a boat



the rear end was WAY rustier than the front which tells me the rear saw water regularly

They didnt have an Acetylene torch at the hobby shop? I feel like that would have made things way easier.



I've always worked by the matra "when in doubt, cut that sh*t out and then hit it with a big f*cking hammer"

auto hobby isn't allowed to have torches here

can't hit sh*t with a big hammer if said big hammer has NO room to swing

:hahaspit:

well heres day 4 update



both front strut upper mounts are f*cked, rigged em together so i can at least drive it until new parts came in from nissan



the bolt i pulled from yard art hyundai was apperently too small and jumped around in the hole while i gathered parts....looks like ill need a new rear arm bolt next time i head to the yard, oh well still cheaper than a tow



new tie rod end has been sourced and installed



car handles MUCH better with these new parts, way smoother, i can only imagine how smooth its gonna be once its not rigged like an election



now once cobras gift to me comes in itll be damn near perfect



oh and i noticed "someone" curb-checked the wheels pretty good. nice little scratch on them, deep enough that it wont just buff out so i decided to do somethin about that after the new parts are on and i get an alignment....ill give you a hint....HKC will hate me :chairhit:



anywho to give yall an idea of just how bad the suspension was, i gained 1.2 inches of height, as measured by the fender to the floor

I would have sent it already, but it's my 40th birthday this weekend, so I'm being selfish.