Geoff B

Here's a link: class 3 Pathfinder

A WD21 Pathfinder was very successful in SCORE class 3 (stock SUV) in the late 1990's through early 2000's, winning class 3 at the Baja 1000 like 5 years in a row. It was run by the Beal Brothers from Midland, Texas, and was painted red, white, and blue. Do a google search and you'll come up with a few pics and brief blurbs here and there. I had a couple pics of it saved on my old computer hard drive. If you have the movie "Dust to Glory", it is very briefly seen flying by in the background of one of the scenes. I just barely caught it, and backed up and paused the DVD to identify it. Class 3 rules would dictate that the suspension was mostly stock. There are no long travel IFS kits available for the 4WD Pathfinders, and I've internet searched it pretty heavily, although anythings possible with enough money.

I ordered a set of Rough Country UCA's from Rough Country yesterday. A guy named Joey quoted me a price of $160 even, and there is free shipping until the end of the month. They should be at my door mid next week. Anyone considering a set may think about ordering by today or Monday to take advantage of the free shipping. Just thought I'd let y'all know.

I was looking for some JGC coils to lift the rear of my '87 Pathy, and had a good deal of trouble finding any in the salvage yards in my area. The only place that had a pair wanted $100 and would not verify whether it was a 6 cyl or V8, Laredo or whatever. So I checked with several of the off road shops in my area, all of which were more than willing to let me sort through and measure what they had lying around. While I didn't find any JGC coils (not that common for building up as trail rigs), I found that Jeep TJ front coils can be another option for the rear of the Pathys. I found a set that I was told were stock TJ Rubicon coils, but I think they may be a pair of lift coils for front of the TJ (no Mopar part # tags). I snagged them for $40 for the pair. They measure as follows: 17.25" long, 5" coil outside diameter, .595" wire size, 10 coils (without the curly end). After calculating the spring rate of these TJ coils at approx 220lb/in, compared to 146 lb/in for stock, I estimated these to be about 2.5 - 3" of lift, assuming about 1600 - 2000 lb on the rear. After installing I got 2.75" which was too tail high for my taste, so I cut another 3/4 coil out of them and reinstalled, resulting in about 1.75" of lift, just right for the usual torsion crank with UCA's in the front. The ride is stiffer, but I felt the stock rears bottomed way too easily, especially at higher speeds off road. I think the on road ride is actually much improved with the stiffer springs combined with the Trailmaster shocks. I'll try them in Moab in the next couple months and see how the rockcrawling goes compared with before. My point in all this is that off road shops are a great source of spring options at cheap prices, I scored one pair of coils for free (they ended up being too weak) and another that I used for $40. Second, don't be afraid to simply measure and find some that will work regardless of the vehicle they came off of, cutting them if needed. Using the formula for calculating coil spring rate: SR=(G x W^4)/(8 x # x D^3) SR=spring rate G=11,250,000 lb/sq in (a torsional modulus constant for spring steel) W=diameter of the wire size #=active coils (not including the portion of coils that are touching the spring seats) D=diameter of the coils (OD of coil - wire diameter = centerline diameter used for formula) You can calculate how much lift any coil spring will give the back of the Pathy. In my example, I assumed about 1600 lb on the rear springs, probably 1800 lb with trail gear and camping stuff. Divide in half for the load on each spring. Using the stock spring info of 146 lb/in and 16.4" length (out of the factory '87 service manual) and my new spring info of 220lb/in and 17.25" length, calculate how much each spring will compress under load. 800/146=5.5", 800/220=3.6" Subtract these numbers from the overall length of each spring 16.4-5.5=10.9", 17.25-3.6=13.7" The difference between the loaded length of each spring is the resulting lift 13.7-10.9=2.8" of lift @ 1600 lbs. Note that cutting the coils not only decreases the length of the spring by that amount, but also increases the spring rate. Larger diameter wire size means a higher rate, larger coil diameters and more coils means a lower rate

Yep, it's a terrible noise that'll make you grit your teeth.

That's what I said, or at least what I meant. They will always remain engaged. Perhaps I wasn't clear. When you are in 4WD, the hubs are locked in by the torque input of the axle shaft, either forward or reverse. When you change direction in 4WD the axleshaft moves the dogs through a neutral position and back locked again. When you shift to 2WD, and there is no torque input to change direction the locking mechanism, and no clutch to pull it back to a neutral position from the rotation of the wheels, they will stay locked all the time in whatever position forward or reverse, locked is locked. Your front axleshafts will turn all the time regardless of direction of travel without the clutch pieces in.

I four wheel very regularly, and really actually don't mind the auto hubs. The only problem I've had is one that wouldn't unlock after running some trails in Moab one weekend. A close inspection shows that they actually engage very quickly and securely with only a fraction of a turn of the axleshaft. Yes, they do briefly pass through the unlocked position as you change direction, but I've never noticed it as an issue in sand, rocks, or mud. The only fragile part is the little clutch mechanism that unlocks the hub when you are back in 2WD, and that is what got mangled in mine. I simply removed the clutch parts from both sides, and finished my weekend of four wheeling. If you remove the clutch parts they will simply never be disengaged, they will stay either locked forward or reverse, whichever was the last direction you were going before you shifted back to 2WD. I did replace the clutch parts in mine with junkyard parts($15), but it really wasn't necessary for an off road only rig. I may eventually change over to the manuals, but until the autos actually break hard parts, I'll save my money.

I just received the Lock Right #3220 from Rocky Road Outfitters yesterday. Having seen the rumor about the Lock Right for the Nissan H233b being discontinued, I called them before placing my ebay order and had them verify availability from Richmond/Powertrax, relating to them about this rumor. They called me back after speaking with Powertrax and said that part number was not discontinued and there were plenty in stock. I placed my order through ebay ($235 + $15 shipping) and received it about a week and a half later; it was dropped shipped direct from Richmond Gear. Just wanted to let everyone know that they're still available

Before blaming the starter, do some more diagnostic with a voltmeter. Check the voltage at the starter "s" terminal (the wire that engages the solenoid), or as close as you can conveniently get checking that wire. You must have a complete circuit (i.e. all wires connected) when this check is made. More often that not, it will be in the 8 - 10 volt range, which is too low to properly engage the starter solenoid. What happens is that the 8-10 volts generates enough magnetic force to pull in the plunger in the solenoid (so you hear the solenoid pull in), but not quite enough to pull it firmly into the contacts that make the starter motor turn. Why is the voltage low? Too much voltage drop from a marginally engineered circuit. On a good day, everything works OK, but ANY shortcoming in the circuit or solenoid will cause the no crank problem. A slightly weak battery, corroded terminals, slight drag with the solenoid plunger, etc and it won't work. Heat only aggravates the problem more, causing a slight decrease in the effieciency of the circuit. The solution is to add the commonly available Bosch relay mentioned in a previous post. This takes the strain off of the OEM starter circuit (which covers a huge distance and goes through many connectors and components) as the relay only demands .25 - .5 amps to operate, and then provides a full 12V battery voltage to the starter solenoid. I'm sure I can come up with a wiring diagram for the relay if anyone needs one. I dealt with this problem about 8 years ago with my '95 Pathy, and numerous other pieces of construction equipment over the years professionally. Interestingly, it is usually a Nippon Denso starter application with the problem, so they seem to be very particular about having a full 12V to operate properly. In the case of my Pathfinder, the relay solved the intermittent no crank 100%.

I'd highly recommend a Lock-Right locker. I ran one in the rear of my '71 IH Scout (Dana 44 30 spline axle) for several years and thousands of miles of fourwheeling. No problems at all. I will be installing one in the rear of my '87 Pathy shortly. On the street it ratchets noisily, barks tires if you are on the throttle in corners, occassionally makes some clanks and bangs, and can be a handful on icy roads. As others have said, the tradeoff in the dirt is worth it. A locker is the single most effective off road upgrade you can do for your rig, IMO. I have heard and seen several people who claim to have broken their Lock-Right in various vehicles. In most cases that I have seen, the offending locker has not been a Lock-Right, but the similar Detroit EZ Locker, or the generic one that 4 Wheel Parts sells. I believe that Powertrax uses a higher quality alloy in their product. Also, if you run huge tires 35"+, your chances of failure will go up dramatically. For a stock drivetrain Pathy with 31" - 33" tires, I don't see it giving any problems. If you are really concerned, Powertrax sells a HD cross pin for most applications. Normally the OE spider gear cross pin is reused in the locker. There isn't really any "set-up" for a Lock-Right installation. You simply replace the spider gears with the locker components - either you install them correctly, or not. There is no need to set the lash or pattern of the differential, as that is not disassembled. I say go for it!

This set is my first experience with retreads on a light truck, but I've been around retreads on semi's and other heavy trucks professionally for my whole career. It did not take much weight to balance the 31/10.50's I'm running, actually less than the BFG Mud Terrains I had on my previous Scout. My tires do just fine on the highway, no vibration up to 75 - 80 mph, no significant change in tracking or feel from the 235/75R15 all terrain tires that were replaced, just a bit noisier due to the change in tread design. Many, if not most, trucking companies, including the delivery haul truck for the company I work for, use retreads with no negative results. The blowouts and tire failures on trucks seen along the interstates are almost exclusively caused by underinflation and the excess heat buildup associated with it. If there were deaths and accidents on the highways that could be directly associated to the retreading process, I'm sure that DOT would be the first to limit their use in the trucking industry. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and this is just my 2 cents. In my experience, retreads are a great option, an economically and ecologically sound decision. If my experience with the current set on my Pathy changes my opinion, I'll be the first to let everyone know.

I've mentioned this on another recent tire thread, but have any of you considered retread mud tires from this company, High Tec Retreading. I recently bought a set of 4 31/10.50R15 "OTR Mud" tires from them for my '87 Pathy, they cost $290 delivered to my door. I requested and got all BFG 3 ply sidewall casings (all 4 are Radial All Terrain KO casings). I've driven them a couple thousand miles now, and have no complaints. They do great in mud and dirt, are a little noisy on the road, but way better than Swampers. They are slightly less aggressive than a BFG MT or Goodyear MTR, but are way more aggressive than any all terrain tread. They self clean in the mud just fine. Retreads have come a long way from the "horror stories" of decades ago. This company was highly recommended by people on other forums, and they recently had an article on them in Jp magazine, May 2006. Check them out!

Hello to everyone! I've been browsing this forum for the last month or so, and decided to go ahead and join in. I've got an '87 Pathfinder, which I use for very regular backcountry exploring in western Colorado and eastern Utah. I puchased it about a month and a half ago, after selling a very nice lifted and lockered '71 International Harvester Scout that I built. I've had several 4x4's including an '83 Isuzu pickup, '85 S10 Blazer, '93 Toyota pickup, '95 Pathfinder, '74 Scout II, '71 Scout, and now the '87 Nissan. All but the '85 Chevy proved to be capable and reliable off road vehicles (the Chevy was constantly broke). I'm an ASE certified mechanic, and I currently work for a construction equipment dealer, so I perform 100% of my own vehicle maintenance and repairs. I plan a mild lift and rear axle locker for the pathy, nothing more drastic than that. My wife, daughter, and I spend a lot of time exploring jeep trails, camping, and enjoying the mountains and deserts of our area, in addition to be involved in church and school activities.

Have you considered retreads? This company makes a variety of light truck radial retreads in all terrain and mud tread patterns. High Tech Retreading I have a set of their "OTR Mud" tread 31/10.50R15 on my '87 and have no complaints, although I've only driven them a couple thousand miles, including a couple hundred off road miles. Price was $290, delivered to my door, for a set of 4. They have a good reputation for quality, I'd heard of them on some other forums, and recently one of the off road magazines had an article on them.