Steve_RI

Yes, the hour hand, sorry.

I have done it with the plugs in and plugs out, but I always turn the crank (obviously harder with the plugs in) several times to make sure nothing at least feels wrong. If you do the twist method that allen key will be just shy of 6 o'clock and tension should be spot on. I've done this 4 times over the years and that first start up is always a little stressful even though you have checked things many times. Good luck.

Alright, some resolution here. It seems the issue was the rear passenger caliper. When I re-greased the guide pins before the beginning of winter and put new pads in I forgot to put the clips back on the caliper (the clips the pads slide on). I remember I was in a big rush that day because I needed the truck. My guess is that this was enough room for the brakes to vibrate when the the piston seized up and cause this bizarre issue. This is the first time I have had problems with the piston, it's usually the guide pins that get sticky. The only thing that I can't figure out is why the problem felt worse in 4wd. Thanks for the the help.

Pulled the rear tires last night to discover rear calipers are seized up. This probably had something to do with the truck feeling sluggish. Warrantied calipers will be in Saturday. U-joints on both axles look fine and the rear bushings look to be in pretty good shape....I'll keep searching.

Haven't had time to really get into this. I was up North again this weekend with the truck and now I'm getting this same thumping/clunking in 2wd. It's most prevalent between 30-50mph, but eventually disappears at higher speed. Symptoms are the same whether the truck is in gear or not (5spd). I think this is coming from the rear of the truck. I don't get any feedback through the steering wheel or brakes. I'm home this weekend, so I will finally be able to check things out.

Yea, that's the one thing that makes me think the axles are not the issue, boots are fine and no clicking/noise with the hubs locked. The cheap aftermarket axles are hit or miss, I use Raxles for the VW. They re-use the shaft, everything else is brand new. Prices have gone up, but they are still cheaper than OEM.

Okay, thanks for the help, at least now I have a clear understanding of what's going on. These are the original axles and while I have done many on the wife's VW I have never had any problems with my truck or the 89 I had before.

Thanks, forgot this detail. It did not change at all with hubs locked in 2hi (green light on/off). Only after shifting to 2hi and reversing the truck felt normal.

I think a better way to describe the feel of the truck is it felt like a caliper sticking in 4wd. I did add some grease when I did the ball joints, maybe I overdid it. I'll check the axles and drive line when I get a chance, but I think I'm going to take the hubs off and clean them up just to eliminate something fairly easy. I also have the hubs from my 89. I know the spline count is different, but I think the brakes (part A/B) are in better shape.

2hi is fine, no issues. The truck just felt squirrelly on the road, kinda like the death wobble. I came home and was doing 75mph in 2hi with no problem. Vibration was more related to road speed. Truck felt labored a just did not feel right in 4hi around 40-45mph, around 2k rpms.

Question on 4wd on my 92. In the 20+ years I've owned a pathfinder I have never really had any trouble with it, using mainly for snow travel, and very limited off-road. I was heading up to VT last weekend and when I was in 4 high the truck was not handling well and there was vibration type feeling. Normally I can do 50-55mph, but anything over 40-45mph did not feel right...truck was kind of laboring. I recently did the ball joints, so I popped the hub's off to see if anything looked off, but they looked fine. Any ideas, thanks.

Use the belt twist trick instead. It's been discussed numerous times and it's easy to do. If you can't find it, I'm sure someone here can describe the process. If not, I will chime in later when I have some free time..

reminded me of my 89 after I got hit head on in 05. glad to hear everyone is ok.

These radiators are pretty easy to remove. If you feel you need to replace it, I went with a cheap Rockauto (Spectra), which is adequate IMO.

#1, not necessary, but I usually try to drain as much of the old coolant out first and recycle. Plus, after flushing, you get most of the water out for refill.. #2. you can also just raise the front end up a bit and bleed it via the rad cap. #3. I have only used coolant flushes in the past, so not much to offer here.

I tapped the top hose with the Prestone kit. I would drain all the coolant you can first - radiator and block. Then flush it good, drain and repeat. I think I blew the heater core out when I did this way back when (2005), but I don't think that is necessary, but it sound like you might need to flush the heater core separately given your issue. I never messed with the thermostat with the flush. It's a PITA to get to. Might as well do the timing belt if you go that route.

Get rid of the boxes and find a donor 93-95 and pull the rear headliner and the speaker mount. Those ridiculous boxes take up way too much room in an already meager cargo area.

It looks like the race is pinching the bushing when the arm goes up and down. The OEM cups flare out a bit on the edges and are smoother. I know people have used these bearing races but I would grind that thing down a bit so it doesn't stick out as much...and make sure there are no sharp edges.

I would get the two piece bushing; however, if you have access to a press you can save some cash with the 1 piece.

The stock fluid is 75W85 and while MT-90 is fine, the MT-85 is perfect.

I have seen these Matco extractors, I think the part # here is SEXS25A.

I don't think you have enough room on the side to mount speakers unless they are super shallow or really small. I have seen guys put speakers in the rear taillight access panels with some custom work. The headliner speakers from a 93-95 works fine because it fits without a lot of modification. All you need is the headliner, the speaker bracket, and the roof support that goes with it. You can get away without the roof support, but if you are taking this out of a donor truck it does not make sense not to take it. The sound is fine if you ask me, but it's not the most optimal spot for speakers. It's a truck after all. If you search there have been some cool mods for tool storage in the rear, but you need to get the tire out of there, so I would look into mounting the spare tire on the outside. It can be done, check that out as well.

I took the boxes out of my 92 when I picked it up in 05. I replaced the speakers in the doors and ran a two channel amp. I bypassed all the factory stuff and ran new wires with the aftermarket amp. I've wanted to put rear speakers in the roof for a long time and I just got around to finally getting this done after a donor truck showed up in the local pick n pull. I picked up a reasonable 4 channel amp and ran new wires...sounds good. I have a thread on the subject and I plan to post some pictures on the install. It's not difficult to do, just time consuming. Those rear speaker boxes just took up way too much room. Glad you got this figured out.

I never think to take pictures as I go along, but I will snap a couple and give a little feedback/tips for someone wanting to do this.

I'm about half way done with the conversion. I did grab some extra pieces, but the side trim looks like it fits fine. I need to make a few tweaks because when I added the roof rack I bolted into the rear pillars where the new bracket will mount. No big deal, just a little more work. I ran the speaker wire last night and hope to finish up the roof/liner this week. I have a new head unit and 4 channel amp to add after that. You are right about spare parts though. I need to get back to this truck and pull some miscellaneous items I have been thinking of - one thing comes to mind is I want to add the drivers side grab handle.