[Andrewh]

Hmm, took me about 4 hours for both sides. 1997 sentra, so pretty much the same. Also helped a friend with his 96. Was kind of hard in a couple of places.
I also have the bonus of having an air gun, so that helps. I did not pop the strut off, I went the other way. Your choices. It will need an alignment if you pop the struts off.
Drain the transmission first
Put the car up on stands
Take wheels and tires off.
I pulled the caliper and hung them on wire away from the work. You have to pull the clip that holds the rubber lines in place to they move far enough away.
I used a puller for the lower bj and the tie rod end.
That let me force the lower control arm down and let me pull the assemly away from the cv shaft.
If you need to do as they say above, don't pull the calipers. Have someone stand on the brakes, or use an air gun to pull the center nut. Then tap it with a hammer to push it in.
Then pull the assembly away from it so it falls out. Driver side is supposed to be easier to start with.
Then you need a pry bar to pull it out of the transaxle. There is a retaining ring so it won't fall out, so you need to pop it out of the trans axle, and there is a good ridge on the driver side to do it from.
To get the passenger side out, do the same, but don't use the pry bar, just find a long screwdriver and punch it out from the driver side.
I found the retaining ring made it seem like the axles would not go back in. Was a big pain in the but to get them fed back in. Becareful since there is a seal in the transaxle. If you screw it up, you will be back the next weekend replacing it. Or enjoy the leaking trannsmission fluid.
I basically fed it in the hole, then lined it up and took a hammer to it while twisting to get it to feed in on both sides.
Good luck.