gardoni

Was indeed. Loose nut on the upper link spindle allowing the UCA to slide back and forth along the spindle. Man I love easy (free) fixes!

Will do- thanks. It's a '90 XE with 158k on it. Calmini UCAs that are just a couple of years old. Tie rods were replaced way back in '98 but it hasn't been driven that much or hard at all since then. I've got a sneaking suspicion I may have a nut backing off the UCA at the pivot where it mounts to the frame...

Getting a loudish clunck in the front end, probably right side. Happens sometimes when I brake- usually in reverse. Sometimes when turning the wheel while stopped. Guesses as to what this is? Upper/lower ball joints? CVs? Wheel bearings? Should I knuckle down and just replace all of that? Many thanks, -gardoni Seattle, WA

Any chance it's a crappy replacement relay? Mine did this and I replaced with a relay from Nissan- no problems since [knocking on wood]. -gardoni

I just posted my SuperLift UCAs on eBay. Some of you may remember that I had some trouble with these and couldn't get rid of all the positive camber, so I switched to Calmini. The folks at SuperLift said they rarely encountered this problem, but that it had come up before. Once I had 'em off I remeasured everything and they come out exactly to spec, so it's likely my rig is a little different somehow. Anyway, if you are interested- http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...item=8023280113 -gardoni

Try here: http://www.feltonautoparts.com If they have one, I believe they'll ship to you. -gardoni

Running out of town this AM for the weekend (taking my wife's turbo bug) so I won't have any great wheeling stories until next week at best... Just running around town last night I was pleased with the ride. The JGC springs I had used didn't give me ANY lift and were super stiff- too much for my taste. So far, I think the Calmini stuff rides pretty nice. Thoughts on the Superlift arms- I STILL think they are the wrong part, but with no # stamped into them I can't really tell. I'm seriously considering shipping them to Superlift for identification. Otherwise I can't even sell 'em on eBay in good conscience. Mr. Pickles- you are welcome to try them in your rig. If they work, we can work something out on payment. Thanks to JJ and 88 for their help with the bizarre alignment stuff. -Gardoni

Didn't feel like I was geting anywhere with the place I bought my Superlift UCAs from or Superlift for that matter, so I ordered the Calmini arms and springs- what the hell, right? While it took Calmini a full 2 weeks to ship my order once I placed it, I got the UCAs and springs on Thursday. Everything got installed last night and this AM and I was finally able to get it aligned properly and I am downright giddy. -bounce- Rides a hell of a lot nicer than the Superlifts which were cranked REAL close to the bump stops. Here's a pic or 2. Measuring from the ground to the top of the fender flare: Before Front: 31" After Front: 33-7/8" Before Rear: 32" After Rear: 34-1/2" Some install notes on the Calmini stuff... The inner washers on the fulcrum arm were too large to fit through the holes on the UCAs, so I had to grind one of them down (per UCA) to get them to install. Not a big deal, but with the front end ripped apart, I couldn't run out to the hardware store. About 5 minutes with a 4-1/2" angle grinder did the trick. If you're installing these you might want to check ahead of time and maybe buy some replacements you know will fit. I'm running Pro Comp 3000 shocks and there's almost no clearance for the UCAs- the shock just clears the opening. Don't think this is really a problem, but it might be for other shocks?? I couldn't get the rear coils in without spring compressers. Unfortunately the biggest socket I had wasn't big enough to use with the compressers so I had to tighten and loosen all with a crescent wrench . A PAIN, but easily avoidable. Have fun out there. -Gardoni

Stumbled onto this Nissan only used parts shop and took a drive out to talk UCAs. Nice helpful people and I ended up getting a tour of the whole place. Pretty incredible stock of all things Nissan. Got talking to the owner who showed off some features of their website I hadn't noticed initially. In addition to their New Arrivals section (which you can drill down into to see all available parts on the vehicle) there's a VIN number search where you can see all parts for your rig they have. This latter function didn't seem to work for me just now, but maybe it's down temporarily- it worked while I was there. Anyway- I've got no affiliation, etc. with these guys, but found them helpful and well stocked- thought I'd just pass the info along. http://www.feltonautoparts.com -Gardoni (still dealing with my pigeon toed Pathfinder)

Thanks JJ. I'm 8-1/8 to the center of the zerk. I did a little geometry to figure out the linear length difference between yours and mine and it's 3/4"- plenty to account for all the extra positive camber I've got. I also got through to Superlift and they were somewhat helpful. According to them the fact that I've got "LATE" stamped on mine indicates that they were built for late model HBs for that year period (86-1/2 to 97). Their advice was to get the shop to take 'em back and give me PN 6066, which according to Superlift's website is for the 2WD HB. They also claimed that ALL their UCAs come stamped with a part number. Since mine don't have a number they were probably built a whlie ago, possibly AFTER a design change. I'm not too confident the shop I got these through (via eBay) is gonna go for that. I broke down and ordered a pair of Calminis today. When I get to the bottom of exactly what part I've got from Superlift I'll eBay them. Kinda blows my cheap lift apart, but I think there's a saying that every dollar saved will be punished with several other needless expenses. If the Calminis are too long and I have some mutant Pathfinder you'll read about my breakdown in the newspapers. -alcohol- -Gardoni

Thanks for weighing in 88. Yeah, I'm waiting on a call from Superlift to see if they can tell me anything about the lengths of the Nissan UCAs for HBs and 720s. I just measured mine and they are 7" from the outside edge of the ball joint hole to the closest point on the tube that houses the bushings. The pic might help... measurement This seemed like the easiest measurement to grab. If you're able to give me the measurement on yours it would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks! -gardoni

OK, cranked all the way to the bump stops and removed the washers between the uca spindles and the frame and I'm still noticeably positive camber! I'm thinking now that I may have gotten hosed on the UCAs (an eBay purchase) and maybe I've got the wrong ones installed. Unfortunately I can't find any part numbers on the arms anywhere- the only thing on them is the word "LATE" stamped on each one. According to Superlift's site they make ucas for the 2 and 4WD HB and the 4WD 720. 3 different part numbers. I'm gonna call Superlift on Monday and see if they can gove me any love. Ultimately though there doesn't appear to be a way around replacing the UCAs. For no reason other than the frustration, I'm not real keen on sticking with Superlift and think I may just have to bite the bullet and buy from Calmini. I've been able to find a couple of pics of installed Calmini ucas and they all clearly have spacers between the spindle and the frame to add positive camber to get proper alignment. Can't seem to find any pics of Superlift ucas installed, so I can't compare... UGHGHGHGH. :furious: gardoni

Thanks Grim- will try that today.

OK- took the rig to Firestone for my alignment and things do not look good. Basically the top of both wheels (passenger more so than driver side) are pushed pretty far out and they say it's the UCAs and that it can't be aligned as it is. In other words too much positive camber and nowhere to adjust this. I don't think it's over lifted as there's still good space to the bump stops, and I only took it up about 2" past where it was. Both sides measure the same to the ground from the top of the wheel well. HELP!!! Is this a problem with the Superlift UCAs or are these guys missing something? I don't recall reading anything about this problem... Any help would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks! -gardoni

Did the Superlift UCAs and reindexed yesterday. JGC springs go in Friday. Some random thoughts- mostly for people about to do this or contemplating it... The big bolts on the UCA spindle wouldn't budge without an impact wrench. If you don't have one, it may be time to beg, borrow, steal or invest in one. 22mm socket I believe. After loosening the torsion bar adjusters all the way it's reasonably easy to reindex them rather than trying to pull off the thingies on the front and reindex there. I used 2 screwdrivers to pry off the C clip and it was far easier than I expected. Make sure when the clip goes on that you've got it in the rear-most groove- I accidentally clipped into the wrong one initially. I did have to fully remove the adjuster bolt in order to do the reindex. Here's a great place for an air wrench or a drill with a socket driver. The bolts are long and the thread is pretty fine. Mine were old/dirty enough that doing it by hand with a ratchet would have been a long uncomfortable process. In retrospect I wish I'd had both front wheels off the ground at a time when I did this instead of one at a time. This would have allowed me to measure from the transmission cross member to the bottom of the T-bar adjusters to make sure I indexed both the same- I think one got 2 splines and the other 3. Either that or the driver's side bar is more tired than the passenger's- which is a possibility. Pulling the bushings out of the old UCAs wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I used a 1/4" drill and tried to drill out between the rubber bushing and the inner metal one. The drill "walked" between the two which turned out to be just the thing. After about 20 revolutions I was able to pull the bushing out with channel locks. You only need to pull one BTW and then the spindle comes free- you'll see. Don't forget to support the axle/rotor assembly when you pull the UCAs. It's heavy and it WILL flop over and annoy you. Hope this helps someone considering the lift. I took my time solo and it took me about 6 hours, including new shocks. Pics to follow once everything is done and washed and waxed. -gardoni

I had the Thorley headers dropped in after the second manifold failure (first covered by extended warranty- phew). I HIGHLY recommend that you stress to the shop that they replace ALL the manifold studs when they do the work. With the first manifold replacement the shop, despite being a Nissan dealer, replaced only the snapped stud. It wasn't long until another snapped and my warranty had run out by then. :oops: The Thorley install saved me something like $400 over dealer/OEM manifold replacement. :cool2: -gardoni

I'm gonna tackle the lift sometime after the new year. Got any before/after shots of yours?? -gardoni

I imagine you've already thought of this, but we have these metal "shorts" outfits up here. All kinds of stock, and usually quite a bit cheaper than the usual commercial sources. Of course we've also got Boeing surplus- so if you decide titanium is the way to go I can get you billets. -gardoni

Cool forum- just joining... I've got a 90 Pathfinder XE, stock SE aluminum wheels with 31 10.50 15 BFG ATs, Thorley headers, K&N filter. ~139k mi. I've driven it cross country (Seattle to Boston) twice. I'm off road here and there (Jack's Pass being the usual destination) . I'd like to do the 3" suspension lift in a month or 2. -gardoni