beatle1

Doh, my bad. I will try out your suggestion tomorrow to see if how much room I have under a flexy situation.

The stockers are 235/70/15 and there is about 1.5 inches between the tire and the bottom of the strut. (Yikes!) That is measured as the shortest distance between the two. So, like I said the new wheels will have 4 inch BS, not clear if that helps in these matters. I may lift it slightly in the future but that wont happen for prolley a year at best. Just took the pathy out this weekend on some desert mtn roads and it was a blast. The tires, crappy road tires, spun a few times but we were just riding what you might call fireroads. I'd love to see her on some A/Ts. Thanks.

Thanks again 88. I did entertain the idea that the fitting is just not good. I will try the Jb weld with this one though.

Okay. WHat do you think if I JB weld the threads between the T connector and the hose barbs and also the threads in the temp sending unit? Any problems with this?

Thanks, just the info I am looking for.

for me 97 pathy (red). Its got no lift and will only get a one inch lift if anything in the distant future. I went with the black Cragar 15x8 with 4 inch backspacing. I have the sh*77y chrome rims now that come on the XE. They look like garbage and the whole truck looks unstable with the stock backspacing. (j/k) Im thinking of going with 31x10.5 tires. Is this the reasonable choice? This pathy does 95% of its time on the great concrete slab. Wifey doesnt want it to look to "redneck" but Id like it to have a filled out look underneath and be able to run the fireroads as well with no probs. Sounds like some A/T for us. We had these Pathfinder tires on our last pathy that were cheap none the less but I am not sure what you guys think of the quality for that price. ($55 per tire IIRC) Thanks for looking. Pics coming when they get on.

So I finally get into my 97. I put on an aftermarket tranny cooler, inline tranny filter, and do a complete tranny fluid flush. I also had my temp gauge from my last pathy that i wanted to install on this one. The old pathy had a port on the fluid pan that I could just plug the sending unit into. The new pathy does not have one. So I thought about putting a brass T connector inline with the fluid and putting the gauge in there. The first T was too small because with the sending unit in it, there was little room for the fluid to flow. So I get a 3/8 inch T connector, and two barbs to connect to the hose and hook it up but fluid started coming out where the threads meet on the end barbs. I tighten it a little, no luck. Took it to ACE; they suggested taping the threads, I was hesitant, but the tape said it could withstand 500F ad a host of chemicals. Still got a leak from the connector at the threads. Is this a lost cause? What am I doing wrong? I really don't need o know the actual temp but just use the gauge to tell me if something has gone wrong by knowing the usual temp it reads. Also, changed the rear diff. fluid and topped off the transfer case. Oil change and filter. (Then I did the oil, coolant, and rejet on my bike) I was an oily mess! Thanks!

Just wondering if anyone in the Tucson area. Just got our 97 and I never really been offroadin but would like to learn the tricks of the trade.

Hey now! Thanks again. Well, I have experienced the first gen. Pathy and now I get to play with the second gen. This one will be more geared up for the off road trips though. I took it out yesterday just to try out the 4x4 and it was great!! Cant wait to put a small lift, 1 or 2 inch, nice black rims and some better tires. Of course after I take care of the tranny preventative care isues. You shall hear from me more but now off to read and read some more....

Thanks for the welcoming. I just noticed an aux. radiator- is this for oil? Limited slip, hmmm guess I need to start researching on this site, never had 4x4 before and not sure how to tell if it is limited slip.

I used to visit here when I first bought my 95 XE. That one was just totaled about 3 weeks ago by someone who pulled an illegal left turn in front of us. His insurance gave us $400 more than we paid for it none the less. So we started looking for a 4runner but ended up with a 97 Pathy 4wd in the same color as our old one. It is auto tranny (the old lady didnt want to learn manual), 4wd, red, ugly rims, very clean. We paid $6.9K for it and it has 82K miles on it. I think we got a deal. So I have already started to search out any problems this year may have. On the old pathy, a 95, I put in an tranny cooler, tranny temp gauge, inline tranny magnetic filter, idler arm brace, and steering dampner among other things. Do the newer trannys have the same problems with clogging up and such? How about the suspension, any weak links? This will be used 95% commuter, 5% on the trail, not really rough 4x4 but I dont wanna be stuck. Thanks guys.