They were also special order and non-returnable, at least at my local dealer. Be very careful to not mark the shaft. Put the flat chisel against the race and drive it off. Remove the grease catcher from the axle shaft. Remove the axle oil seal using Tools as shown and discard. Draw the axle shaft assembly out of the axle case using Tools as shown.
I tried just using the legs but they were bent because of the needed forces so just drill the holes and be done with it. You can do it right here. They did not spin freely and smoothly as expected. Remove the wheel studs using a suitable hammer or press. I talked to my local Nissan shop and there answer was get a new axle or new roller and spacer and they can heat it u and cut the pieces off. Now we will start assembly. Press off the outer roller bearing race.
Remove the back plate and torque member with the axle bearing attached from the axle shaft using a suitable press. Used the press to do this. It's much easier if you have some drum brake spring pliers about. I ended up not drilling and tapping these yet but plan on doing it later so will show my temporary work around in assembly. This took a lot of force but the 20 tons was enough.
They show a slide hammer with a screw expanded puller. I got the seal and pulled the axle, what fun that was only to discover that the axle seal is mpossble to replace without a machine shop because there is a hydraulically pressed spacer after the bearing roller that keeps me from getting the seal off. I mounted the dial indicator to the shaft so that I could measure end play. At this point I could tell the bearings were bad. Used a pry bar to develop force to move the axle. .
Should I do a lessons learned on it? I could not find a puller that would work in the small space that was available to grip it. I'll make a sticky out of it later in the upper part of this forum. This also took a bunch of moves and was a pain using a large bearing splitter. So drilling two new holes in the press apron that allow the apron to sit on the legs gives you enough room. I'll get a picture of the modification tomorrow.
Slide the pieces on and use the jaws of the vise to support the bearing and use a hammer to drive it together. Remove the rear brake caliper assembly without disconnecting the brake hose and reposition out of the way. The spacer will crack and then you can slide it off. Remove the snap ring and shim washer. I had one bolt break off on each side. You can buy the bearing and seal components seperate but you still need a shop to do the press work.
I've done a couple of pad replacements so this wasn't a problem. I removed wheels and used a dial indicator and pry bar but couldn't find any endplay for confirmation. Again the one that was installed didn't have a way to pull it. I used an air chisel and cracked it at which time it came right off. I have a service manual and reviewed procedure which I'll use as I do this in multiple posts.
Discard the snap ring and shim washer. Have already replaced both front hubs which were bad and still had some grinding noise and wheer and was fairly sure it was rear wheel bearings. Find our more about a or get! Does anybody have any idea how to replace this that does not involve major muscle movement? Most shops use a hydraulic press and special plates to press the bearing and retainer off and on. The snap ring is inexpensive. You do not need to drill or grind it. I used a rolling wedge bar.