Hi, this might be a stupid question (heh heh considering I've already gone and forced a solution), but what is the best way to remove and replace the driver and passenger side mud guards on an Xterra?

I just purchased a set of 31" BFG's and needed to remove the mudguards in order to trim a bit off. It didn't go too well and I ended up snapping off the bracket that snaps onto the pegs that are on the Xterra's body, holding the mudguards to the body.

Kinda sucked.. but alright... no problem... mudguards aren't too expensive so I bought a new set of 2002 mudguards (the one's that are already cut to fit 31" tires), I figured, the old pegs were still on the Xterra so I could just take the pegs that came with the new mud guards off of their brackets and simply slide the new mud guards in place on the old pegs.

No dice, I found that installing them onto existing pegs, is just as much a pain in the butt as removing the mudguards in the first place.

The bottom bracket slides onto it's peg with an upwards motion and the top slides onto it's peg via a backwards motion. and there isn't really enough leeway or flexibility in the mudguard to force it on once the bottom bracket is in it's peg.

Ended up sick, sitting in the dark, in my pajama's, (I was home sick, but when the UPS guy dropped off the package.. well I just couldn't resist... you know how that is... ^_~) pulling the old pegs out with pliers so that I could just pop the mudguards onto the Xterra's body with the pegs they came with (getting the old pegs out of my X was a whole'nother ordeal, till I figured out I could reach under the rubber skirt in the wheel well and snap the pegs off from the rear... ah well.. at least I know that now that the mudguards are on.. they ain't goin nowhere ^_~).

Once the pegs were out it was a simple matter of simply popping the new mud guards with their new pegs into place and securing them with their three respective screws.

Anyway... it worked, but it sucked big time... which leads me to my question, there has GOT to be a better (right) way to do this right?

- DirtHerder