Most blokes remove the back of the radius arm from the chassis before removing the arm from the axle housing. Remove the tie rod first to provide clearance. Use a ratchet strap to move one side of the axle forwards to pull the tail of the arm from the chassis. Use the ratchet strap to pull it back in when done. It is reasonably common to have some of the bolts rusted to the inner sleeve of the axle housing bushes. Normal strategy when that happens is to cut through the bolts with a hack saw or reciprocating saw after spending ages spraying with WD40 and flogging the crap out of the bolts with a soft faced hammer without progress.

 

Thanks @Overboard for the advice. A few questions though.
So with the chassis bolted connection freed (pulled forward so the threaded pin clears the hole through the chassis), is the idea that the radius arm will be freed up and able to be moved and positioned so that load on those axle bolts can be reduced and they too will be able to be freed (if their not rusted to the bush centre sleeve)?
In my case, for the first side I am doing, I dont have the axle bolt rusted to the bush centre sleeve. But I will remember the advice on cutting through the bolt. I would guess cutting through the rear axle bolt would be difficult with the car on the ground as there is very little room around the bolt head and lots of obstacles. Would be a lot easier on a hoist or with a pit, but not many of us have those luxuries.
With the ratchet strap pulling axle forward, is that with chassis supported, the wheel off and no jacking under the axle (letting the axle droop down to where it can)?
(I have followed the Haynes manual so far, which says (summary): One side at a time, chassis supported on stand (I have stand at the gear box cross member connection), wheel off, stabiliser bar off, tie rod off, rear chassis nut off, front and rear axle bolts out, while supporting axle on a jack and jacking axle up/down to find place where bolts will come free).
Thanks again.

 

With the ratchet strap pulling axle forward, is that with chassis supported, the wheel off and no jacking under the axle (letting the axle droop down to where it can)?

The chassis should be supported on a stand and the axle should be supported by a trolley jack on the side you are working on. Once the arm is clear of the chassis you can let the axle droop as far as the shock allows which improves access to the bolts. Do one side at a time and leave the wheel on the side you are not working on to support that side of the axle. Using the Haynes method will work just fine if none of the bolts are seized but if they are then getting the tail of the arm off the chassis will be a great help in taking the strain off the axle housing bolts and getting that side of the axle low enough to cut the bolts if that is required.

 

Thanks @Overboard. I think I've understood. So if pulling axle forward with ratchet strap, supported with trolley jack, so the jack is pulled along forward with and beneath the axle? That was the bit maybe I didnt get before, how to support the axle as it is pulled forward. But what you say makes sense.

In my case, last night I managed to tap out the rear axle bolt using some different length bolts (with a nut wound on the end to protect threads) as a drift - in combination with different axle heights on the jack. So I got out the radius arm, without resorting to the ratchet strap/bolt cutting!

Maybe as a summary, for those following, go with the Haynes method until it becomes clear that a bolt is rusted into the bush sleeve and cant be removed with normal ways of persuasion. If that happens, resort to the Overboard method cutting through the bolt.

If you do have to cut through the bolt, is it to cut off the bolt head and then drift the bolt shank inwards towards the diff?

 

If you do have to cut through the bolt, is it to cut off the bolt head and then drift the bolt shank inwards towards the diff?

No, if it is solidly seized you have to cut through both sides of the bolt right beside the bush.

 

OK, thanks, I wondered if that was the cutting you meant. But looking at the clearance there, it looked so difficult, I assumed not.
So cutting the bolt between the axle mount and the bush on both sides, so the radius arm can drop out, with the seized bolt section still in the bush.
Obviously if its been done, there is enough clearance to get a saw blade in between bush and axle mount to the bolt...but that doesnt sound easy!!!
... but who said repairing and maintaining a Patrol was meant to be easy!

 

it looked so difficult,

It is difficult but with the back end of the radius arm free you can put some tension sideways to improve side clearance, first one way for one side of the bush and then the other for the other side.

 

Hi all, I edited the thread title, to make it a bit more general.

The nissan workshop manual shows no washers in the exploded view diagram of the radius arm bushes (see below).
I am not sure if this is just omitted detail to keep the diagram being cluttered?
My 2007 cab chassis has flat washers both sides + spring washer under the nut.
The nut and the bolt fasten onto the flat side of the mounting brackets attached to the front axle - so possibly washers arent required?
Can anyone advise the original Nissan build details for washers (or not) on these bolts?

 

I have recently had mine out to instal drop boxes. I can confirm there were no washers on the radius arm to diff bolts. It's a 2016 model.

 

More on how I went with removing radius arms and replacing the bushes, after getting advice on dealing with seezed nuts/bolts.
So I have removed both radius arms (my first time at doing it), gotten out and pressed back in new bushes and replaced radius arm and reassembled.

First one (RHS), pretty easy, working from under the car trying different breaker bar/extension pipes to get the torque to crack these.
See the thread above, just had some issues drifting the last bolt out, but did it eventually.
For the bush removal, I didnt have a mandrel to press them out (I have a 10t small hydraulic press), so I searched youtube and found a guy smashing these out with a modified cold chisel and a big hammer. The cold chisel has an angle divot ground into it to make a cutting edge for the bush steel. See here:

I did this and besides being loud, hard work 💪, and a PITA - it did get both bushes out. You need a vice, a big hammer and a big cold chisel you are prepared to grind into the cutting edge. The down side was the scoring it leaves on the inside of the hole in the radius arm.
I smoothed this off with dremel/paper and tried to hear the words of the youtube guy who says "it will score the inside of the hole, but that doesnt matter".
Pressing the new ones back in with hydraulic press was a piece of cake, bit of grease around bush.
Whilts this was out I took the time to remove the stabiliser bar supports, and side steps, wire brush them, chassis and zinc prime and paint.
I also cleaned up the radius arms and spray painted them black too.

Second one (LHS), was more difficult, the rear bolt/nut was not able to be shifted, using the longest breaker bar/extension I could fit, and using my leg/foot to apply pressure, and every angle and position I could find to work from.
I read the thread above and tried with the method @Overboard suggested to pull the axle forward with a ratchet strap to get the rear threaded section clear of the chassis hole.
But I couldnt make this work. At full ratchet strap tension I could make, I was still a couple of cm short of clearing the chassis hole.
At this stage I got under car with the grinder and cut bolt head off. After first aid treatment of all the burn holes I'd put in myself from the grinding job in a confined space I moved on.
Then I was able to drift the cut bolt out with a big hammer and old bolt.
After the experience of the big hammer/cold chisel bush removal, I thought I'd better get serious about getting a mandrel made to press these out using the press.
The hole diameter is about 59.85-59.90mm and the bush diameter (Nissan) is about 59.7mm (my measurements).
The mandrel needs to contact the steel rim of the bush but slide inside the radius arm hole.
I found that a 2inch water pipe has an OD of 60.5mm, so I bought an offcut of 2inch pipe 4mm wall thickness at local steel shop and got a local machine shop to turn down a section to 59.5mm (next time I'd go 59.3mm, as at 59.5mm it just sticks in the hole and needs to be tapped out after the press). This cost me $15 pipe and $30 for machining.
So with this mandrel under a piece of 10mm plate the bushes were pretty easily pressed out.
Most important issue is getting radius arm level/mandrel perpendicular and pressing the bush straight out...getting this right on the press takes a bit of setting up.
I found a trolley jack handy to supprt and level the radius arm hanging out of the press.

So I'd cut a bolt and needed a replacement. Even the one I had removed looked pretty bad, so thought I'd do both and even go back and replace the RHS bolts too.
From the thread above you can read that I found a previous owner/mechanic had installed washers under the nut/bolt - but these dont seem to be Nissan original assembly.
(I read that some people weld on washers to the axle mounts for strengthening, but mine werent welded).
If you use washers, the bolt is probably a 90mm long one, but without washers its 85mm. - these dimenisons for a 2007 GU leaf ute. So check yours before buying.
So I found the replacement bolt spec is M16x85 (or 90) x 1.5mm (fine) HT (high tensile), I used "black 8.8" bolts and nuts.
Please comment if you have a better bolt spec for these.
Oh yes, I was buying bolts from a bolt shop, not Nissan parts. Price was about 30% of the Nissan original.

Hope this helps someone else.