XPLORx4
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Posts posted by XPLORx4
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Hi all
I have a pair of used (30,000 miles) Bilstein 5150 shocks in good condition for sale. For use with 2" lift applications. $120 + shipping. The springs are already sold. PM me if you're interested.
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Bumping this topic. Any further progress on trying to fit a WD21/22 R200A diff onto the R50?
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The Russian R50 rally team retrofitted or modified the suspension with beefier rear links and stronger front control arms. I'm also guessing that the struts are also not something you can get off the shelf at your average auto parts retailer. For rally competitions, the entire interior is gutted and retrofitted for rally purposes. Weight reduction is key, because they're adding back a lot of weight with spare parts, etc.
That engine looks like a Diesel power plant, not a petrol engine (VG35). That's also a very nice radiator!
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The torque spec in the instructions I originally posted are incorrect and need to be updated. Here's the new info:
To remove the ball joint, you don't need a pickle fork, nor do you need to remove the brakes or unbolt the knuckle/spindle from the strut. However, you do need to partially remove the CV axle.
PREPARATION
1. Jack up the front of the truck and support its weight using jackstands.
2. Remove the front left wheel.
REMOVAL
1. Remove the safety pin (by straightening it with pliers) from the ball joint castle nut and remove the nut.
2. Put some hearing protection on. Seriously. What you're about to do is really REALLY loud and could cause hearing loss.
3. Using a BFH (such as a 2-lb sledgehammer; a regular hammer won't have enough impact), repeatedly whack the side of the knuckle really hard where the ball joint inserts. Don't be timid. If you don't have enough clearance to do this, rotate the steering wheel full left. Be careful not to whack your brake rotor! The repeated impacts will cause the ball joint to pop loose from the knuckle - without the use of a pickle fork. You can also try partially threading the castle nut back onto the ball joint and whacking the bottom of it, but that is sometimes not as effective, and if your new ball joint didn't come with a new castle nut, don't do this.
4. Using a 17mm socket, remove the 3 nuts securing the ball joint to the A-arm.
5. While applying downward force on the A-arm, wiggle the ball joint studs out of the A-arm.
6. At this point, the ball joint should be loose in the knuckle and free from the A-arm, but you'll note that you cannot pull it out because the CV axle is in the way.
7. Pry or twist off the outer hub cap (if you have stock hubs). You can use vise-grips to apply rotational force to the hub while you use a putty knife or large flathead screwdriver to pry off the cap. Insert a screwdriver through the brake caliper and rotor vents to keep the hub from rotating while you remove the cap.
8. Using snap-ring pliers, remove the snap ring securing the CV axle to the hub.
9. Tap the outer end of the CV axle with a hammer as you pull the knuckle/hub/brake assembly away from the vehicle. This will cause the CV axle to partially slide out of the hub and give you enough clearance to fully remove the ball joint.
INSTALLATION
1. Place the new ball joint into the knuckle and hand-thread the castle nut onto it.
2. Re-insert the CV axle all the way into the drive flange, and reinstall the snap ring.
3. Place the ball joint bracket (the part with the three studs on it) into the ball joint and insert the ball joint into the A-arm.
4. Place the three 17mm nuts on ball joint and torque to 76-94 ft-lbs.
5. Tighten the castle nut to 87-123 ft lbs, then tighten a little more so as to allow the safety pin to be inserted.
6. Replace the hub cap.
7. Re-mount the wheel.
8. Lower the truck to the ground.
You're done!
#balljoint-
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No, the R50 never had a factory or dealer-installed option for a 3rd row.
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Good info in case anyone needs to do an engine swap. Fortunately, the original poster only wanted to remove his motor MOUNTS, not the whole motor.
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Are the lenses cloudy? You can purchase a headlight restoration kit, which helps restore the clarity of the headlamp plastic. You can also replace the bulbs with newer ones or those which have a higher color temperature.
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RainGoat, thanks for the update. I have contacted Steve at Sonoran Steel to see if he would be willing to build a run of adjustable panhard rods for the R50. He makes them for 4Runners:
http://www.sonoransteel.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18
When you installed it, do you recall which end attached to the body and which to the axle? It looks to me like the end with the bushing is a much larger diameter than the end with the heim joint.
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Stock Pathfinder shocks are about 15" (381mm) compressed and 24" (610mm) extended. I have found that for 2" lifted applications, the best replacement shocks for the rear are those with about a 16" compressed and 26" extended length. Rancho RS999010 or Bilstein 33-185552 work well. You may be able to get a slightly longer shock, but shocks with more extended length also tend to have a longer compressed length, and you don't want to bottom out the shock before hitting the bump stops, which could happen when articulating the axle. I ran the now-discontinued Rancho 99010 for many many years, and later I ran the Bilstein 5150 equivalent of the 33-185552. The valving on the Rancho shocks is manually adjustable, and the valving on the Bilstein is well-suited to the R50 platform.
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Do you do any editing on them? If so, what do you use? I'd like to use my camera more but I'm not really sure where to do once I have pictures.
I know you asked Micah, but I'll offer my 2 cents. I shoot with a Canon 80D and post-process in Adobe Lightroom. It's pretty powerful and relatively easy to use. I know how to use Photoshop, but to be honest, it's too time-consuming for me, and I just want to shoot photos, not create photographic artwork. Lightroom does enough for my needs now.
You will always get the best results shooting in RAW instead of JPG.
If you're really looking into learning more about photography and the associated tools for photo editing or management, consider browsing the forums over at www.dpreview.com. Even though there may be photography buffs here, you'll get much better information there than on a Pathfinder forum.
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Do you still have these available? I'm looking for an adjustable panhard rod.
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Waking this thread from the dead...
I'm looking for an adjustable panhard rod (track bar). Anyone have some ideas on this?
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On the VG33E, there is nothing to catch oil dripping from the filter and prevent it from spilling all over the steering rack.
After having to replace the driver's side rack bushing and seeing how badly the oil disintegrates the rubber, I now cover the rack with a couple of shop rags, and I place a ziplock bag around the filter as I screw it off. The oil spills into the bag as you loosen it. It's a bit more time-consuming because the inside of the bag is super slippery and makes it hard to spin off the filter, but at least I don't make a big mess anymore. Another alternative is to cut the bottom and side off of a 2-liter plastic bottle and use it as a makeshift funnel to channel the dripping oil away from the rack.
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Well, I don't know how it is with the 3.5L, but yeah, on my 3.3L, those top nuts are really hard to get to. I used a 14mm box wrench and removed the driver's side mount from underneath. It was really tough, and I had to use a pry bar wedged against the wrench to get enough torque to loosen the nut. I was able to access the passenger side mount from the top of the engine, and from the front. Again, I had to use a pry bar wedged against the box wrench. Not fun at all. Incidentally, you don't need to fully remove the nut from the mount. The stud on the mount fits into a slot on the motor mount bracket bolted to the engine. You will need to jack up the engine about 1" to pull the mounts out.
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Yes, the blocks are the simple 2x4 tube, drilled on top and bottom. I bought my kit from KRFabs before they stopped making them. Ever since the SFD designs were first introduced, I was always concerned about the strength of its design. There's a tradeoff between safety/reliability and manufacturing cost. Unfortunately, many R50 owners are cheap, so low manufacturing cost trumps strength and reliability.
As for the bushings, yes, I'm referring to the brackets that the axle housing bolts to. Those brackets are attached to the subframe with rubber bushings, one of which was completely torn.
BTW, it looks like I'll have to pull the starter in order to access the top 14mm nut to remove the passenger side motor mount (VG33). Nothing about this upgrade seems to be simple!
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hawairish:
Yes, I have the missing link. I believe it is critical in order to improve the integrity of the SFD blocks.
I actually don't think that the SFD blocks are all that strong, with or without the missing link. There will be a lot of shear forces on the blocks, and the mating surfaces between the SFD blocks and the unibody are smaller than the original subframe-to-unibody. I sorta wish there was a cross-brace connecting the left rear subframe to the right rear unibody mount and the right rear subframe to the left rear unibody. I don't really want to weld the SFD blocks onto the unibody, as that's extra expense and irreversible.
As a side-note, it turns out that the bushings in the differential assembly mounts are the same size as the bushings that fit in the front of the lower control arms. Rather than try to press in new rubber bushings or buy new mounts, I opted to purchase a set of polyurethane bushings from 4x4parts.com. Should be easy to replace.
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I'm bringing this thread back to life for a bit. Finally, I am in the process of installing the KRFabs SFD kit that I bought last year. As I've been doing this work, there are a few tips worth mentioning.
The rear SFD blocks have a mitered end, which faces towards the rear, and is installed against the frame. In the passenger side wheel well, there's a metal cover over the fuel and brake lines. This cover has to be slightly reshaped (dented) to fit the SFD block. I used a hammer to dent it to provide just enough clearance to tighten the SFD block.
If your truck has a lot of miles on it, plan to replace the engine mounts while you're installing the SFD. Order them ahead of time so you have the parts on hand. It's a lot easier to access them when the front differential is removed. I discovered that my driver's side motor mount was dead during the installation, so I am waiting for new parts to be shipped before I can reassemble everything.
I also found that the bushings on the differential assembly mounts (right: 54730-0w002 and left: 54720-0w002) were torn, so I need to replace those as well.
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What trail were you on when this happened, and how are you getting it home? If you need to limp it off the trail so that you can get it towed home, you could try rigging up a temporary way to keep the axle from sliding out.
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The differential gearing in the third member is a separate unit from the axles and wheel bearings. I would recommend sourcing the lowest-mileage rear axle you can find, then swap in your current differential third member in order to preserve your current gear ratio. The third member is pretty easy to swap in.
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The "box" refers to the trailer wiring harness adapter/converter. It takes 5-wire input (ground, tail, brake, L signal, R signal) and converts it to 4-wire output (ground, tail, Brake/R signal, Brake/L signal).
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Buy a universal trailer wiring harness such as this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-46155-Taillight-Converter-Universal/dp/B0002Q8036
Remove the right rear cargo panel and the right rear taillight. Pull the wiring harness out of the hole behind the taillight to expose the wires. Tap into the OEM taillight wires from inside the cavity behind the cargo panel. Run the 4-wire flat trailer wire harness down and out one of the rubber drain plugs on the bottom of the cavity and zip tie the wires back to the center of the hitch receiver.
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Your truck's symptoms sound like the fan clutch is dead. Your AT temp issues may be related to the lack of an ATF cooler combined with the failing fan clutch. BTW, you should still run the ATF lines through the ATF cooler in the bottom tank of the radiator so that the ATF warms up to operating temperature when it's cold outside. Plumb the separate AFT cooler on the return line AFTER the radiator ATF cooler.
Also, since you drove a lot with the AT Temp light on, you may want to check the ATF condition and replace it if it is not bright red.
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Giving up on the sfd lift???
No; I already have a set installed from a long time ago when I thought I was going to get a SFD. My KRFabs kit came with new lines which I don't need.
For sale: Bilstein 5150 rear shocks for 2" lift
in 96-2004 R50 Pathfinders
Posted
I replaced them with Bilstein 33-185569.