hey guys, i am a total newbie to anything nissan. but i found myself doin a front brake job on a early 2000's 4wd frontier( i think they are called). the rotor bolts on to the back of the wheel hub. so i removed the 4wd auto hub, only to find some alien lookin shit behind it. so my question is, how do you get that wheel hub off? it obviously needs some kind of special socket, but even if i had it, there is no spindle nut in sight.wtf? gimme a chevy

so i removed the 4wd auto hub, only to find some alien lookin shit behind it. so my question is, how do you get that wheel hub off?

After you do it once you won't want to do the Chevy's anymore (trust me I have a Frontier and a K5 Blazer).

There is a snap ring under the grease on the CV shaft, you need to pull that off first. Then pull the fixed cam assembly off of the CV Shaft. Next you need to unscrew the two small Phillips head screws on the lock ring and set them aside. Pull the lock ring out and it exposes a spindle nut. Yes there is a fancy tool for it or you can just use two #2 Phillips screwdrivers and s short prybar to unscrew it. It will not be that tight (factory torque is only 14in-lb). You simply unscrew (counter clockwise) that and pull the rotor and hub assembly off (after you have pulled the brake caliper loose of course.

On reassembly later the only thing that is really important is getting the torque on the spindle nut correct, you do not need or want it to be too tight. Reassemble the hub and put the spindle nut on. Pull your screwdrivers and prybar back out and crank it down tight. Then spin the hub. Tighten again. Repeat one or two more times until it feels like it is actually tight. Then, without disturbing the hub, loosen the spindle nut completely and re-tighten to ~ 14 in-lb. Basically just get it to where it seats on the outer bearing and start looking for a spot to line up the lock ring. If you have to turn the spindle nut only go in the tightening (clockwise) direction. I repeat you do not need or want it to be too tight. I have done repacks on tons of these and never had one "loosen up" on me later.

You can kind of see the lock ring and etc in a couple pictures on this page: http://www.nissanoffroad.net/how_to/hubs/hub.asp

thanks!

You can make a special nut tool from a cheap ($6) dana 44 tool.

http://nissannut.com/maintenance/wheel_bearing_tool/ifs_wbt.JPG

More details here.

http://nissannut.com/maintenance/wheel_bearing_tool