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Update on that whole ordeal: So I had to do some calling around to find a guy who knew his way around these old rigs and was willing to put in the time to figure things out while my dead Path sat in one of his garage bays like a large paperweight. Good guy who put more time in it than he charged me for. Basically had to do a lot of rewiring using the factory diagrams. He said some of the fusible links were in place and some gone, and that one of the burnt wires he pulled looked like it was meant for a stereo system. So there was some definite DIY-ing at some point in the vehicle's past that worked for a long time and then one day really didn't. Bottom line is that the truck is firing right up again every time and all gauges and power windows, locks, etc., functional. I'm watching and hoping about the tranny, since when the cooler lines failed it dumped a lot of fluid quickly while on the road and I worry that the trans was damaged. So far, I've had two issues - lost 2nd gear very briefly while trying to pull into a steep driveway and I've noted that in the last two cold starts on cold mornings it has been reluctant to shift from 1st to 2nd, going up to 3,000 rpms first and once giving me a pretty hard shift. Once it's been on the road for a bit with everything warmed up it's shifted smoothly. So we'll see. The trans is not flashing any codes at me but I'm bracing myself for the possibility that it could just fail on me one day. I've had the vehicle for 9 years and have been hoping to get to 10 or more.

So i bought the Bilstein 5165 25-187748's and had them installed. And they are such an upgrade over my previous shocks. I also just installed a 2.5" lift on the front via spacers from SFCreation. So i currently have a 4" lift in the rear and a 2.5" lift in the front. A slight rake but when I'm pulling my trailer it levels it out. I have a larger roof rack on the way (64Lx39Wx6H). And i actually found a swing out tire carrier in a junk yard on a 1996 pathfinder so that will be installed soon as well. EDIT: There is no tire rub with the way that i installed the reservoirs. At least that i know of, or have experienced so far.

I'm not sure what the factory used. The service manual calls for their KP610-00250 sealant "or equivalent." The description on NissanPartsDeal says "gasket-liquid," which does sound like Hylomar, but it also says FIP, which I assume is form-in-place, which has me thinking silicone. Let us know what you find when you tear it down! I would expect either type of sealant to do the job provided it's applied properly and the mating surfaces are clean. Unless I had a good reason to use something else, I would use black RTV. Seals are a good idea while you're in there. A seal that isn't leaking yet may change its mind after being disturbed. My front crank seal did that after a timing belt change. I haven't opened one of these transfers, or dropped one on its own, so I don't have much in the way of specific tips. The shift linkage is removable, that might save you some trouble. If you drop the whole transfer case, a transmission jack will make your life much easier. You may need another jack to support the back of the transmission while the transfer is out. I would be tempted to try and remove the back case half without removing the rest of the transfer from the truck, if there's clearance for that vs the torsion bar crossmember. If you need to remove that crossmember, 1) make damn sure the front end is on jackstands first (the torsion bars hold the front end up) and 2) mark or take a picture of the adjusters before taking them apart. They're a bit fiddly to adjust, so having their starting position marked in some way will save you some time trying to trial-and-error it back to where it was. Oh, and you'll need some way of getting oil back into it when you're done. A hand pump will do, slowly. I fabricobbled a jar with a hose and an air chuck to make it easier. When a friend and I dropped the transfer from an Exploder a while back, we overfilled it, installed it, then removed the fill plug to drain the excess. Worked great.