Rear Axle
In this section we will talk about swapping the Rear Axle, installing the AALs, the new Shocks, as well as changing U-joints on the Rear Driveshaft. I've included the Driveshaft in this section because I feel like this is where it belongs even though it won't be put in until the Transmission/Transfer Case go in.
Step 1: Gather and Inspect all Replacement Parts
![]()
![]()
![]()
I cannot stress this enough, inspecting is the most important part of the job. The last thing you want to do is swap the Axle and learn that you have the wrong ratio, have a bent Axle Shaft, have destroyed Gears... I didn't do this, but you should replace all Seals no matter how good they look. (Ask me how I know lol.)
Back to inspecting, it's hard to see in the pictures, but the rear had a good amount of Rust on the housing. The cover was very crusty, the Backing Plates had a couple holes in them, and the Brake Lines had seen better days. The inside was in good condition however, which is the most important part.
This is what I checked when I opened it up:
- Correct ratio: Turn the Ring Gear until you see numbers engraved on its side. For a 3.36 Ratio the numbers should read 47-14. 47 is the number of Teeth on the Ring Gear, while 14 is the number of Teeth on the Pinion. So 47/14 is 3.357.
- Condition of said Gears: Cracks, chips and rust on the inside of the housing. I also removed the Breather and shined a light inside there to check for rust.
- Trueness of the Axles. You want to make sure you don't have bent Axle Shafts. Make sure they're good.
- Try the Locker: If your new Axle has a Factory Locker, take a 9V Battery and touch it to the Blue and Grey Wires coming out of the Axle. You should hear a pop and visually see a Flange move 1/4-1/2 inch on the inside.
- Generally inspect the outside: While doing this I found that the Hard Brake Lines had a little more rust than I was comfortable with, and that my e-Brakes were missing a Spring.
- Now also inspect the driveshaft: The major thing to look for here is the cleanliness of the Slip Yoke. This part has to be clean, smooth, and without rust because this is the part that moves in and out of your Transfer Case while also rotating. If this part isn't good, your Transfer Case will leak. My Yoke was fairly clean, I did use 3000 Grit Paper to make it 100% clean and smooth. As long as it doesn't have dings or rust pits you should be able to clean it up. Also look at the CV Joint at the back of the Driveshaft. It is serviceable contrary to what Nissan says, but it's expensive so look for tears in the Boot. You can also look at the U-joint, but you should replace that no matter what. They're less than $20 each and it's not worth having one explode, because it went dry and destroy a lot of expensive parts.
Now that we've made sure the parts we got are use-able, we need to correct anything that is not up to standards before installing them.
For me, this meant cleaning up and repainting the Axle. The pictures that follow are just that.
![]()
![]()
![]()
I cleaned up the Axle with a Wire Wheel and a Grinder before spraying Primer, and finished with a Black Enamel Paint. I also recommend using massive amounts of Brake Cleaner over the entire Axle. I also installed a Ballistic Fab Cover, since the old one was beyond saving, and their covers are great. I also tried my best to bend back the Backing Plates before painting.
As you can see, the old Brake Lines and e-Brake Cables are also gone. I will reuse my current lines since they were rust free.
Now is also a good time to prepare the Driveshaft. The paper towels wrapped in Electrical Tape in the pictures is to protect the Slip Yoke from scratches and dirt.
Step 1: Use a U-joint Press to press the old Bearing Caps out. Make sure you mark the Yoke and the Body before removing the U-joints to make sure they go back in the same direction. This will make sure it doesn't get put back together the wrong way and throw off balance.
![]()
Step 2: Press the new U-joint back in, making sure the Needles go in straight. Press the Caps far enough to see the retaining groove and insert the Clips.
![]()
Step 3: Inspect the 4 sides, and make sure the Clips are in place. If the U-joint is hard to move by hand, tap all 4 sides with a Hammer to relieve the pressure.
![]()
Now lets get to the fun part, which is getting the C200k out, and the newly painted M226 in:
Step 1: Disconnect the Battery. It may not be necessary, but since we will be disconnecting ABS Sensors for extended periods of time, and possibly splicing wires, I didn't want to take any chances. While you're up front, Chock the Wheels.
Step 2: Disconnect the Driveshaft. Mine was a 4 bolt, and the bolts were on there very tight. I decided to take the U-joint off instead and deal with the bolts when the Axle was removed. Remember that without a Driveshaft, the only thing holding your Truck in place is your e-Brakes.
![]()
Step 3: Get the Spare Tire out of the way so you have more space to work.
Step 4: Disconnect the ABS Connectors. There are a lot easier to disconnect than the Front ABS Sensors. Just stick a Flathead in there and push/twist in the plug. They'll come out easily without risking cutting wires.
![]()
Step 5: Jack up the Truck and secure it on Jack Stands. Make sure you Chock the Front Wheels since nothing will hold your Truck in place. Push on the Truck to make sure that the Stands are not moving. You will be spending a lot of time under the Truck.
Step 6: This step is kinda optional, but I was going to remove the Cover, (to sell), so I drained the Fluid of the old Axle.
Step 7: Remove both Shocks. Start with the bottom bolt. Shocks gave me problems on the removal and install, so maybe there's a better time than now to remove them?
Step 8: Remove your Tires, and Wheel Spacers if you have them. Remove the Calipers, (as entire assemblies, there's two bolts) and also remove the Rotors. You can rest the Calipers on the Leaf Springs for now, but put the Rotors in a safe place since you will be reusing them. I also took the time to unbolt the old ABS Sensors and remove them completely so I wouldn't damage them, (I also did that on the new Axle before painting.)
Step 9: Remove the e-Brakes. I bought new Shoes and Springs, but if you didn't, make sure you don't bend the Springs. You will want to push and turn on the two pins with a Flathead Screwdriver to pop the old Shoes off. Since I was reusing the e-Brake Cables, I had to disconnect them here. On the Clip assembly that retains the Cable, push out the metal pin, (DON'T LOSE IT, IT'S SMALL), to release the Cable. The Cable can be unbolted from the other side of the Backing Plate. Take the time to remove the Cables from the rest of the Axle, and push them out of the way.
Step 10: Remove the U-bolts. Now your Axle will only be attached to the Truck by the Brake Lines.
Step 11: Remove the Brake Lines from where the Lines go from soft to hard on the Axle itself. You will want some way of catching the Fluid coming out, as Brake Fluid is a b!tch. You will want to unclip the Brake Lines along the entire Axle and pull them out, (while keeping them attached to the Calipers.)
![]()
Step 12: Pull the old Axle out. To make this easy, I unbolted the bottom of the Shackles on each side.
![]()
Step 13: Since I was adding AALs at the same time, I found it easier to do while the Axle wasn't in the way. Clamp the Leafs, and remove the Factory Centering Pin. Vice-grips help to remove the Pin, as it is completely round on top. You will want to play around with the Clamps while inserting the AAL in-between the Leaf Pack and the Overload Leaf. The short side of the AALs goes in towards the front. I used a 4 degree Shim, but YMMV. Insert the new Center Bolt in, and Torque it down to whatever the place you got your bolt from recommends. Cut the end of the bolt if it's sticking out a lot. Mine was barely long enough to thread the nut on, so I didn't have to cut.
![]()
Step 14: Wheel the new Axle over the Leaf Springs, and reattach the Shackle to the Leafs. Torque down to 77ft-lbs.
Step 15: Lower down the Axle onto the Leafs, making sure the ends of the Centering Bolts go into the holes in the Spring Perches. At this point you can install the new U-bolts. I used slightly larger diameter U-bolts than Stock, so I had to Torque them down to 100ft-lbs YMMV. You want to Torque these in steps and evenly. I did 30, 50, 75, 90, 100. You want to check the U-bolt Torque after a few miles, and then every couple Hundred Miles until you don't have to tighten them anymore. Your Suspension will move around a little and any play will make these bolts a little loose. They will eventually hold their Torque.
![]()
Step 16: You can now re-attach your Brake Lines. You can slide the Hard Lines back in place the same way you removed them earlier. The earlier you re-attach them, the less Fluid will leak.
Step 17: Reinstall the, (new), e-Brakes. The first thing you will want to do here is re-attach the Cable to the Clip. I don't have direct pictures of this, but you can see the "Clip" in question in the picture below on the right. You will want to put Grease were the Shoes contact the Backing Plate, and on the Adjustment Screw. The Springs are a pain to put in Plate, I recommend Locking Pliers. You will want to adjust the Shoes now as it is a lot easier than through the little Grommet on the Rotors.
![]()
Step 18: Reattach the ABS Lines. I had to splice the wires on the Driver-side because the Junkyard cut the wires before the plug. You could buy new Sensors, but M226 Sensors are $$$$. Put your Rotors back on, and your Calipers, (Torque to 76 ft-lbs), your Spacers, if applicable and your Wheels.
Step 19: Install the new Shocks. The Top Nut gets Torqued at 33 ft-lbs, and the Bottom at 155 ft-lbs.
![]()
Step 20: Fill up your Axle with 2.01L of Gear Oil. I used Mobil 1 75w140
Step 21: Lower the Truck, and Bleed the Brakes.
Now, since the 2wd Axle was a 4-bolt, and the new Axle is a 6-bolt, I had to do the Transmission Modifications at the same time, so I did not install the new Driveshaft yet. See the next section for that...
In this section we will talk about swapping the Rear Axle, installing the AALs, the new Shocks, as well as changing U-joints on the Rear Driveshaft. I've included the Driveshaft in this section because I feel like this is where it belongs even though it won't be put in until the Transmission/Transfer Case go in.
Step 1: Gather and Inspect all Replacement Parts
I cannot stress this enough, inspecting is the most important part of the job. The last thing you want to do is swap the Axle and learn that you have the wrong ratio, have a bent Axle Shaft, have destroyed Gears... I didn't do this, but you should replace all Seals no matter how good they look. (Ask me how I know lol.)
Back to inspecting, it's hard to see in the pictures, but the rear had a good amount of Rust on the housing. The cover was very crusty, the Backing Plates had a couple holes in them, and the Brake Lines had seen better days. The inside was in good condition however, which is the most important part.
This is what I checked when I opened it up:
- Correct ratio: Turn the Ring Gear until you see numbers engraved on its side. For a 3.36 Ratio the numbers should read 47-14. 47 is the number of Teeth on the Ring Gear, while 14 is the number of Teeth on the Pinion. So 47/14 is 3.357.
- Condition of said Gears: Cracks, chips and rust on the inside of the housing. I also removed the Breather and shined a light inside there to check for rust.
- Trueness of the Axles. You want to make sure you don't have bent Axle Shafts. Make sure they're good.
- Try the Locker: If your new Axle has a Factory Locker, take a 9V Battery and touch it to the Blue and Grey Wires coming out of the Axle. You should hear a pop and visually see a Flange move 1/4-1/2 inch on the inside.
- Generally inspect the outside: While doing this I found that the Hard Brake Lines had a little more rust than I was comfortable with, and that my e-Brakes were missing a Spring.
- Now also inspect the driveshaft: The major thing to look for here is the cleanliness of the Slip Yoke. This part has to be clean, smooth, and without rust because this is the part that moves in and out of your Transfer Case while also rotating. If this part isn't good, your Transfer Case will leak. My Yoke was fairly clean, I did use 3000 Grit Paper to make it 100% clean and smooth. As long as it doesn't have dings or rust pits you should be able to clean it up. Also look at the CV Joint at the back of the Driveshaft. It is serviceable contrary to what Nissan says, but it's expensive so look for tears in the Boot. You can also look at the U-joint, but you should replace that no matter what. They're less than $20 each and it's not worth having one explode, because it went dry and destroy a lot of expensive parts.
Now that we've made sure the parts we got are use-able, we need to correct anything that is not up to standards before installing them.
For me, this meant cleaning up and repainting the Axle. The pictures that follow are just that.
I cleaned up the Axle with a Wire Wheel and a Grinder before spraying Primer, and finished with a Black Enamel Paint. I also recommend using massive amounts of Brake Cleaner over the entire Axle. I also installed a Ballistic Fab Cover, since the old one was beyond saving, and their covers are great. I also tried my best to bend back the Backing Plates before painting.
As you can see, the old Brake Lines and e-Brake Cables are also gone. I will reuse my current lines since they were rust free.
Now is also a good time to prepare the Driveshaft. The paper towels wrapped in Electrical Tape in the pictures is to protect the Slip Yoke from scratches and dirt.
Step 1: Use a U-joint Press to press the old Bearing Caps out. Make sure you mark the Yoke and the Body before removing the U-joints to make sure they go back in the same direction. This will make sure it doesn't get put back together the wrong way and throw off balance.
Step 2: Press the new U-joint back in, making sure the Needles go in straight. Press the Caps far enough to see the retaining groove and insert the Clips.
Step 3: Inspect the 4 sides, and make sure the Clips are in place. If the U-joint is hard to move by hand, tap all 4 sides with a Hammer to relieve the pressure.
Now lets get to the fun part, which is getting the C200k out, and the newly painted M226 in:
Step 1: Disconnect the Battery. It may not be necessary, but since we will be disconnecting ABS Sensors for extended periods of time, and possibly splicing wires, I didn't want to take any chances. While you're up front, Chock the Wheels.
Step 2: Disconnect the Driveshaft. Mine was a 4 bolt, and the bolts were on there very tight. I decided to take the U-joint off instead and deal with the bolts when the Axle was removed. Remember that without a Driveshaft, the only thing holding your Truck in place is your e-Brakes.
Step 3: Get the Spare Tire out of the way so you have more space to work.
Step 4: Disconnect the ABS Connectors. There are a lot easier to disconnect than the Front ABS Sensors. Just stick a Flathead in there and push/twist in the plug. They'll come out easily without risking cutting wires.
Step 5: Jack up the Truck and secure it on Jack Stands. Make sure you Chock the Front Wheels since nothing will hold your Truck in place. Push on the Truck to make sure that the Stands are not moving. You will be spending a lot of time under the Truck.
Step 6: This step is kinda optional, but I was going to remove the Cover, (to sell), so I drained the Fluid of the old Axle.
Step 7: Remove both Shocks. Start with the bottom bolt. Shocks gave me problems on the removal and install, so maybe there's a better time than now to remove them?
Step 8: Remove your Tires, and Wheel Spacers if you have them. Remove the Calipers, (as entire assemblies, there's two bolts) and also remove the Rotors. You can rest the Calipers on the Leaf Springs for now, but put the Rotors in a safe place since you will be reusing them. I also took the time to unbolt the old ABS Sensors and remove them completely so I wouldn't damage them, (I also did that on the new Axle before painting.)
Step 9: Remove the e-Brakes. I bought new Shoes and Springs, but if you didn't, make sure you don't bend the Springs. You will want to push and turn on the two pins with a Flathead Screwdriver to pop the old Shoes off. Since I was reusing the e-Brake Cables, I had to disconnect them here. On the Clip assembly that retains the Cable, push out the metal pin, (DON'T LOSE IT, IT'S SMALL), to release the Cable. The Cable can be unbolted from the other side of the Backing Plate. Take the time to remove the Cables from the rest of the Axle, and push them out of the way.
Step 10: Remove the U-bolts. Now your Axle will only be attached to the Truck by the Brake Lines.
Step 11: Remove the Brake Lines from where the Lines go from soft to hard on the Axle itself. You will want some way of catching the Fluid coming out, as Brake Fluid is a b!tch. You will want to unclip the Brake Lines along the entire Axle and pull them out, (while keeping them attached to the Calipers.)
Step 12: Pull the old Axle out. To make this easy, I unbolted the bottom of the Shackles on each side.
Step 13: Since I was adding AALs at the same time, I found it easier to do while the Axle wasn't in the way. Clamp the Leafs, and remove the Factory Centering Pin. Vice-grips help to remove the Pin, as it is completely round on top. You will want to play around with the Clamps while inserting the AAL in-between the Leaf Pack and the Overload Leaf. The short side of the AALs goes in towards the front. I used a 4 degree Shim, but YMMV. Insert the new Center Bolt in, and Torque it down to whatever the place you got your bolt from recommends. Cut the end of the bolt if it's sticking out a lot. Mine was barely long enough to thread the nut on, so I didn't have to cut.
Step 14: Wheel the new Axle over the Leaf Springs, and reattach the Shackle to the Leafs. Torque down to 77ft-lbs.
Step 15: Lower down the Axle onto the Leafs, making sure the ends of the Centering Bolts go into the holes in the Spring Perches. At this point you can install the new U-bolts. I used slightly larger diameter U-bolts than Stock, so I had to Torque them down to 100ft-lbs YMMV. You want to Torque these in steps and evenly. I did 30, 50, 75, 90, 100. You want to check the U-bolt Torque after a few miles, and then every couple Hundred Miles until you don't have to tighten them anymore. Your Suspension will move around a little and any play will make these bolts a little loose. They will eventually hold their Torque.
Step 16: You can now re-attach your Brake Lines. You can slide the Hard Lines back in place the same way you removed them earlier. The earlier you re-attach them, the less Fluid will leak.
Step 17: Reinstall the, (new), e-Brakes. The first thing you will want to do here is re-attach the Cable to the Clip. I don't have direct pictures of this, but you can see the "Clip" in question in the picture below on the right. You will want to put Grease were the Shoes contact the Backing Plate, and on the Adjustment Screw. The Springs are a pain to put in Plate, I recommend Locking Pliers. You will want to adjust the Shoes now as it is a lot easier than through the little Grommet on the Rotors.
Step 18: Reattach the ABS Lines. I had to splice the wires on the Driver-side because the Junkyard cut the wires before the plug. You could buy new Sensors, but M226 Sensors are $$$$. Put your Rotors back on, and your Calipers, (Torque to 76 ft-lbs), your Spacers, if applicable and your Wheels.
Step 19: Install the new Shocks. The Top Nut gets Torqued at 33 ft-lbs, and the Bottom at 155 ft-lbs.
Step 20: Fill up your Axle with 2.01L of Gear Oil. I used Mobil 1 75w140
Step 21: Lower the Truck, and Bleed the Brakes.
Now, since the 2wd Axle was a 4-bolt, and the new Axle is a 6-bolt, I had to do the Transmission Modifications at the same time, so I did not install the new Driveshaft yet. See the next section for that...
