Replacing GU Body/chassis rubbers

[Wayne Tonkin]

Can anyone give me an idea how difficult it is and how to replace the Body-chassis rubbers on a GU Patrol

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

Probly should be over in the Nissan Tech Section, I'll look into that.

But how to do it? Not hard, basically the same as doing a body lift just none of the stretching/moving things issues. Just make sure that your vehicle is a NON AIRBAG equipped vehicle! If it has airbags, CHECK with Nissan BEFORE you do anything! I think that the method of disabling for this sort of taks is a bit more than just pulling the fuse, too! So take care! Airbag equipped vehicle owners, got talk to Nissan; for everyone else, read on...

Flat piece of ground, a good jack that is easy to use (4 point hoists are fantastic for this!) and work either from one side to the other, or from one end to the other, (ie lift one side and do ALL that side one at a time then lower and do the other!)

You need to get access to the top of every body mount bolt, means removing the scuff plates on the doors and lifting the carpet, moving the scuff plate in the back barn doors opening and lifting the back floor covering to get access to the captive nuts on the top of the rear bolts. Good idea to hit them well beforehand with Penetrene. Undo all the bolts somewhat, leaving the nuts and bolts in place but with the nut just on the end of the bolt. Can't exactly remember the arrangement at the front mounts under the grille, it's been a while for a GU but I seem to do GQ fairly frequently, I think the front bolts come down thru the back/lower grille area, there are holes in the metal channels that give you access to the tops of the bolts.

When they are all loosened, lift either one side of the car, or the section with the pair of mounts you are doing. Lift just enough to slide the old mount out, plus about 15mm (1/2") ONLY ONCE IT'S LIFTED SHOULD YOU DROP THE NUT OFF THE BOLT! Pull the bolt up into the clear, slide out the old mount, replace with new mount, slide bolt back in and do nut up loosely. Once the pair of mounts or the side has been done, then lower the body back down carefully and head to the next side/pair.

When you have replaced all the mounts, check to make sure that each body mount is sitting in the right place, you should be able to see from the shiny patches on the striker pad that they match. When they all match, finger tighten ALL the nuts, check the fit again, then tighten to spec torque. The front pair should be 31-39 N-m or 3.2-4.0 kg-m; the mid body mounts should all be the same as the fronts; rear pair should be 55-71 N-m or 5.6-7.2 kg-m. Big ranges I know, but that's what the books say! I tend to start basically at the bottom end of the scale then tighten again over the next few days with a bit of driving in between each tighten to the top end of the scale.

That should be about it! But, if you are having to replace the body mounts, it is a good idea to check very carefully that the holes in the chassis or body haven't flogged out too much or out of round. If they have, you really need to get a replacement striker plate welded in with the correct sized round hole in it, leaving the oversize/out of round holes will let the body move on the chassis and kill the next lot of mounts very quickly, and may potentially result in killing a person too, either the driver or occupants of the car, or the occupants of the car it hits!

Lighter note, while you are doing this, you really should consider adding a 40mm lift kit too. Simple thing to do, kit shouldn't cost more than $400 and by keeping it to 40mm you won't need to do anything much more than stretch the curly sections of hydraulic pipes, loosen and re-tighten the steering shaft at the flexible joint, and take the bottom removeable section out of the fan shroud! By doing this lift, it gives you a fair bit more clearance between the chassis and body, avoiding crushing or flexing on electrical wiring; it allows the fitment of larger tyres if you ever want; it keeps the COG lower than doing a big suspension lift; you had to do all the hard work anyhoo, so why not get the body lift in while you don't add any to the work needed?!

Don't forget, if it has airbags, CHECK with Nissan BEFORE you do anything!

Enjoy your weekend!

[Stoner]

be careful if you are going to lift it by a littl ebit also incase it has airbags, because to my knowledge you cant body lift a car with airbags- dont get me wrong yoou can physically do it buy removing fuses and replacing them after to ensure they dont go off while lifting it but IT WONT BE LEGAL! with body lift and airbag!

cheres

[Peter @ Aawen4x4]

Sorry Stoner, I shoulda said that!! The directions above are really only safe to carry out on NON AIRBAG vehicles! You'd hafta check the requirements for doing the same sort of thing on airbag equipped vehicles, and I'd expect at the least pulling the fuse would be necessary, but I get a funny feeling that there is more to it than just that, even if you DON'T do any lift!!

I'll edit the post to reflect this, thanks for the reminder Stoner!

[Wayne Tonkin]

Thanks Peter thats the info i was looking for.