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Discussion starter · #801 ·
For bushings, if you're in dusty/water-y conditions alot, it could be weekly.

To kill the squeak, NOLATHANE bushings. They're a urethane bushing, but are much more flexible. Also they have a checking on the inner bore to hold grease better.
For a full leaf refresh you want to get the Spring Eye bushing and Leaf Spring bushing kit

or from their direct web page PN# REV161.0054

You can also find them on Amazon, SummitRacing and others, just verify the PN# from Nolathane's webpage for the individual bushing 'kits' (spring eye front, eye rear, shackle, LCA/UCA, shocks...)
Thanks. This is a tough one cus at ~$70 there is basically no reason to pass it up but I know it will take me all day to swap em out. And when your truck still operates perfectly fine, that's a tough sell...
 
My leaf packs were a squeaking mess for a while after I started wheeling my rig. After cleaning them and trying many different things, nothing worked. I ended up taking a mtb tube and cut out 2" squares. Placed one at the end of each leaf, leaving a tiny bit hanging to each side in case they shifted. Not a single bit of noise from them since and all are still there. That was 2 years ago. Highly recommend.
 
My leaf packs were a squeaking mess for a while after I started wheeling my rig. After cleaning them and trying many different things, nothing worked. I ended up taking a mtb tube and cut out 2" squares. Placed one at the end of each leaf, leaving a tiny bit hanging to each side in case they shifted. Not a single bit of noise from them since and all are still there. That was 2 years ago. Highly recommend.
Oh and no disassembly was required to install them. Just lift the car(weight off the springs) and used an old flat head screwdriver to spread each leaf and slipped them in. Took 10 minutes tops.
 
This is one of my fav build threads. And it hasn't made it to our new home forum yet. Hop on over to XN. They will actually let you edit your thread and PM. F$%king mind blowing! A lot of us are already there and made ourselves at home. Come on over bud.
 
Thanks. This is a tough one cus at ~$70 there is basically no reason to pass it up but I know it will take me all day to swap em out. And when your truck still operates perfectly fine, that's a tough sell...
I fully agree with you on that, but it was pretty quick for the driver's side. Only thing that held me up on the pass side was the exhaust pipe. just close enough/in the way to prevent pulling out the shackle. Driver side no-such obstruction.
I almost "modified" my exhaust out of frustration trying to get the pipe out of the way so I could easily remove the shackle
 
Discussion starter · #806 ·
I found the large majority of the noise is from the front end, so it is not the leaf springs. I tried spraying some WD-40 Specialist on all the front control arm bushings as well as at the lower shock mount. It's like the Xterra knew I was trying to fix it and was taunting me, because after test driving 5 minutes later it almost seemed louder...




Also handled my cabin air filters after about 1.5 years. Wow, I was overdue. Looked like I plowed through a sheep. I am shocked that any air was coming through at all haha


 
Discussion starter · #808 ·
My skid plate was bent in my last road trip and has been creating different noises ever since. First it was rattling against the transfer case. Then it was contacting the exhaust which sent really weird noises and vibrations into the cabin between 2k-4k RPM.

Took it off and wacked it down with a hammer. Also ground down some of the outer lip to give it some more space. Seems to be OK for now... at least until I land on it again :p

Touching the exhaust:






Also unrelated, but my wheels are starting to get pretty chewed up:

 
Discussion starter · #809 ·
My truck has been squeaking HORRIBLY in the front. It has been unbearable (I've complained in previous posts). I just assumed it was the bushings this whole time. Well yesterday I halfway pulled the UCAs and slathered a tremendous amount of grease on em. Put everything back on and jumped in the truck.

Just me jumping into the driver seat emitted a horrible screech from the front. My dad laid down and took a listen as I bounced up and down. Turns out the noise was coming from the driver front BALL JOINT and not any bushings. I just assumed the ball joint was fine since I installed in new in January.

Well, 4 minutes later after pumping grease into both greasable ball joints, the noise was gone. Can't believe I've been dealing with this squeak for over a month and it took 4 minutes to resolve...




 
Discussion starter · #810 ·
Terrible driving experience today... pushed it a little too far gas wise. Was sh**ing my pants for the last 20 miles to the gas station. I'm watching the distance to the gas station wind down slowly while thinking "no way I can run 12 miles with a gas can... not 10 miles either, 8 miles I could do but it would SUCK, 6 miles eh, 4 miles - ok feeling better. All the way down to 0. Surprised this thing didn't sputter. I was ready to shift it to N and pull over.

And this is how much gas I put into a 21.1 gallon gas tank:

 
Discussion starter · #812 ·
Took my canoe mounts off the top. Decided it was probably time given that I haven't used my canoe since August of 2018 and won't until sprint 2020...


Here's how they held up.




Also a couple pics on how the Dephep is holding up. I rarely carry stuff in it. Powder coat doesn't seem to be holding up well around the grate.



Under the canoe mount L-brackets:


 
Discussion starter · #814 ·
FINALLY resolved my last little bit of squeaking. I had greased the bushings on the UCAs, lubed the lower ball joints in the LCAs, and greased the bushings in the passenger leaf spring.

Spent nearly 4 hours to disconnect the front of my driver leaf spring to grease it and re-attach it. What a PITA it is to align these leaf springs back up to the frame when they are already clamped to the axle. I always have to mess around semi-dangerously with a jack between the leaf and the spring.

At least it worked. Super quiet now!

123593



Hit a bunch of mud and water later that same day. I'm on the FAST TRACK to squeaking AGAIN!!

123594
 
Discussion starter · #815 ·
I keep telling myself I need to raise my sliders. Ever since I did that 1" body lift, it seems like they are very frequently the low point that kills my ground clearance.

"If they were only an inch higher", example #91250...........

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Discussion starter · #817 ·
Worked on salvaging my exhaust after my recent trip to Brown's camp:

I got the heat shield off after soaking in WD40 for a bit. All 3 bolts came out with no problem. It's too bad i didn't have the patience to keep it in one piece... still spent a bit with tin snips to squeeze it out of there.

It's an interesting break, but TBH it seems pretty easy to fix. I think I'm taking the easy route for now and just taking the header off and having them weld it back to the flange, as opposed to buying new headers and doing both sides. Since my heat shield bolts came off so easily, I'm betting the header itself will have no issues. I'll get that thing welded, shove it back in, wrap some of the "sensitive" parts with some aluminum tape and call it good.

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Discussion starter · #818 ·
Got it all off. Now to take to shop to weld. Was concerned because the break was so clean that it would be hard to figure out how to line up the flange, but there is one small spot that makes it obvious luckily.

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Discussion starter · #820 ·
That just happened on my frontier about a week ago
lol wow... the break looks almost identical. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two.
 
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