hey everyone, Merry Christmas to start off!
anyways, my 4 wheel drive stopped working on my 01 xterra recently and i believe it to be one of the hubs since the front drive shafts are still locking and turning when engaged. my question is how hard is it to remove the hubs? ive heard fairly easy. oh and by the way they are free rnning auto locking hubs.
thanks alot
Ronnie

Depends on which part is broken in the hub sometimes. I've been lucky with the two hubs I have broken in that all I had to do was remove the 8 allen head bolts, take off the hub assembly and put another one back on. Simple as that. I can't remember off the top of my head the more in-depth process if you need to remove anything further but if you look at the thread in the how-to section for repacking your bearings, it has instructions on how to remove the entire hub assembly in it. I'm betting all you need to do is replace the cap/assembly like I did and you should be good to go.

Very simple. Pull the 6? bolts that anchor the hub and remove it then pull the snap ring that holds the fixed cam assembly on the shaft. Both sides should take less than 10 minutes.

Link to the wheel bearing service procedure (http://www.rkrenn.com/xterra/howto/bearing/bearing.htm) that details how to pull the hubs. Just read the parts about pulling the hubs you don't need to pull the caliper or go any farther than the snap ring that holds in the fixed cam assembly.

The fixed cam assembly! That's the part I was trying to think of. I was lucky both times that I didn't have to replace it. Both hubs that I broke were from shearing a few of the cogs out of the inner cap. I was able to leave the cam assembly on. It is still easy to do either way.

yep its 6 allen bolts then one snap ring to remove the rest, really simple

It seems that the hub replacement is easy as Pie. I just bought my Xterra and already I know that it needs to be done because the previous owner never used 4wd and it clicks in reverse. (driver side only) so basically... yea just remove the hex screws then the retaining ring and she comes right out? any ideas to find a remanufactured/used hub in Vancouver, BC? I'm also assuming that you could interchange a right side hub and a left side no prob eh?

by the way: has there been an instructional video made for this? If not I'll film it and post it when I do my replacement.

That's all you have to do. And yes they are interchangeable to each side. As to where to find remanufactured/used hubs, I couldn't tell you for your area but here is a set for sale on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2002-04-NISSAN-XTERRA-FRONTIER-AUTO-FRONT-LOCKING-HUBS-/300512636655?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item45f7f2eeef