I've been getting leaks from what appears to be my rear Suspension Beam (pn 55501A below). Is this something common? It started on the passenger side and is now happening on the driver side, so maybe it's something else? How much of a nightmare is it to replace the bearings if that's the problem?

 

Trailing arm bushings are oil filled and will leak after time. Energy suspension sells replacement/upgrades for them. It's an intimidating proceedure, but not that difficult.

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...s.asp?cat=4207

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...sion/17427.pdf

 

Excellent, thank you! Can I do it without removing the trailing arm? Or is that one of those shortcuts that add 4 hours to the process?

 

Hi John,

Read my how-to.


http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...shing-how.html

 

Great, thanks Ome. How much time should I give myself if I'm a halfway-decent backyard mechanic? Should I do anything in advance (like PB-blaster on screws, etc)?

And what are the long-term affects of ignoring it? I might not be able to get under the car for a few more weeks.

 

There probably aren't any long term problems if you don't replace the bushings.

Give yourself 8 hours if you don't know what you are doing all that well.

Nothing is really that hard, it may take some time to get the old bushings out.

 

I actually took 2 days to do mines. Most time was spent documenting all the steps for the how-to, plus a lot of time trying to figure out how to remove the OEM bushings.

I agree with Joe, it should take you 1-day of work to do it all. Just read my directions couple times and prepare yourself well, then have at it.

I didn't use anything special in terms of tools. PB Blaster would be good if your bolts are rusty. Luckily mine bolts didn't require anything and I used good old fashion elbow grease, no air tools.

Also you should read this post to make sure your rear beam is centered. I didn't include this in my how-to when I wrote it years ago. I followed this pretty much the same using the FSM.
http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...rear-beam.html


Good luck.