Mr.510
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Posts posted by Mr.510
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You should definitely have a cup for each bushing. The cups and bushings determine the location where the back of the LCA pivots since it is (mostly) a twisting joint as opposed to a flexing one. That said, don't do anything to it quite yet. I'm currently prototyping a weld-on steel housing with sealed spherical bearing assembly to replace the crappy, flexy, rubber bushings. Knowing how much difference getting rid of the rubber makes on other vehicles I think it's going to make a huge difference on a Pathy. I'm mostly after eliminating the toe change under power climbing stuff off road but this mod should make a pronounced difference on the street as well. Toe change is a big factor in why IFS trucks don't wheel as well as solid axles. The only real question for the prototype to answer is: How much more felt vibration will there be?
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Thanks for the input guys. Seems like a lot of breakdowns are of a fairly minor variety (although they don't seem minor when when it happens). I'm wondering if anyone has had a completely immobile vehicle & if so what did they do. My big concern is, in the desert we're literally 25 miles or more from a road, if there's a breakdown that needs a tow we'd be ok in a lot of the areas but sometimes we're in really rocky, hilly terrain. Not sure how we'd get a disabled vehicle out then.
If a truck is a long way from a road or there is very difficult terrain it has to be towed over it's often necessary to to link two or even three other trucks together in a row in order to pull it. Great care needs to be taken when pulling a truck over serious obstacles as the angle of pull from the strap can easily roll the towed vehicle.
@KovemaN, I figure thats what I would have to do, leave the truck until I can fix it & just hope no one messes with it.
I will only leave a truck on the trail unattended if it's necessary to prevent risk to someone's life. I'm not willing to freeze to death guarding my truck but have seen what happens to trucks left in the woods for even a few hours. Partially for this reason I carry a sleeping bag rated to 15* F year-round when wheeling.
I've had two 'breakdowns' off road with my Pathy. I'd probably only had it a year and was doing some easy wheeling at Reiter Foothills outside Monroe, WA. My starter had given me the "click... nothing happens" treatment a couple of times so I had a spare in the truck 'just in case.' So my buddy gets his Pathy stuck in a deep water hole and I shut mine off while in two feet of water to assess his situation and figure out what the recovery is going to be. When I went to re-start it I got nothing. Banged on it with my Hi-Lift handle, still nothing. Luckily somebody came along and pulled my buddy's Pathy out of the water hole. We then used it to pull my truck to somewhat dry ground (it was pouring rain and 40*). It turned out I didn't have enough tools to actually change the starter so my buddy drove an hour round-trip to buy some 3/8" extensions and a breaker bar in the nearest town. It was Sunday and the auto parts store was closed but the owner was there doing something and sold my buddy the stuff we needed. When he got back to my truck it was about dark, 30 degrees, and snowing sideways. Great weather to replace a starter on the trail! lol A couple hours later we were on our way for some much needed pizza.
The other incident with my Pathy wasn't really a breakdown, but actual breakage. I high centered my Pathy on it's rear end on a rock at the top of the 311 trail at Evans Creek. In rocking back and forth trying to get it off the rock I managed to twist my rear driveshaft in two:
I can't seem to find the pics from that day wheeling, so I shot this one of it hanging on the "Wall of Shame" in my shop with other various parts I've broken over the years. So anyway, I bummed a Ziplock freezer bag from Garret's lunch as I recall and used electrical tape to seal it over the dust shield for the rear driveshaft in an attempt to keep some oil in the T-case so I could drive it with just the front end pulling. This was the first trip with my new front LSD installed and it had hammered out and completely destroyed what was left of my compression rod bushings in the first couple miles of trail. So I had a FWD Pathy with MASSIVE amounts of torque steer to get down from basically the top of a mountain that was half covered in snow. I needed to be pulled over a few minor obstacles as I just could not keep the truck pointed the right direction with the toe changing two inches every time I breathed on the skinny pedal. Things went slightly better when we got to tarmac, other than the fact it would spin both front tires to 50mph or so no matter how easy I was on the pedal. This was due entirely to toe change when power was applied. I ended up wrapping a ratchet tiedown around the back of the compression rods and cinching them together so the toe could not change as easily. With this setup I could go freeway speed as long as I was really careful about throttle application. A little too much and it would tighten the LSD, change the toe, and go whatever direction it felt like! It was a spooky drive home but as long as I kept the speed up very little throttle was required and it drove OK. With good bushings and an open front diff you can drive any speed you want in a FWD Pathy to get it home and it won't hurt anything. The front diff and CVs are the same strength as 300ZX Turbo rear end parts so it's not like you're going to hurt something with torque when you're in high range. Surprisingly the Ziplock bag and electrical tape sealed perfectly. There was oil about an inch deep that I could see against the clear bag the next day and it did not leak a drop. I swapped in the driveshaft from my parts Pathy the next day and all was good again. I will be re-tubing the shaft I broke with 1/4" wall DOM steel tube so I'll never have to worry about it again.
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Congratulations Kyle!
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You probably just burned the fusible links. If your stereo was on you might have fried it. I recently learned that there is an orange relay with a diode inside that protects the ECU from reverse-voltage if the battery or jumper cables are hooked up wrong. I don't know if the TCU (automatic) is also protected this way but knowing Nissan it probably is. Replace the fusible links, charge the battery, cross your fingers, and see what happens.
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Pathy pulling out a Toyota?
This one's a no-brainer!-
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Thanks guys, I suspected as much. Back when I had my Samurai, I made myself some basic rocker armor and designed it in such a way that it could be bolted to the frame, not welded. I think I drilled a couple holes, and used a coule existing ones. I'm not a big fan of welding to the frame, have any of you had success with bolting armor to it without welding?
It can be argued that bolted on is actually stronger than welded. If you weld the sliders on only the outer wall of the frame rail is carrying the load. If they are bolted through the frame both walls share the load, though the outer wall does see more than the inner one unless you weld sleeves into the frame for the bolts to pass through. A lot of people buy "bolt-on" sliders, bolt them on, and then weld the base plates to the frame as well. Bolting them on and then welding only the bottom edge since it sees most of the load would still allow you to cut them off if you ever needed to without making a huge mess of the frame. That would be a nice option to have if adding or subtracting a body lift later.
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The factory step rails are no where near strong enough to use as a jacking point. We refer to them as "damage amplifiers" because if you come down on something with one it usually causes much more damage than if it wasn't there. If you wheel your truck get rid of those things!
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Yep, those last three were all taken from the same spot on the same run at Elbe. This is the place where my winning pic from last year was taken. It's a deep hole with a muddy bottom and a few rocks and stumps under the water to keep you on your toes. Kyle's pic is a screen grab from my video and is my favorite. There were so few entries I tossed the last two out so at least there are more Pathy pics to look at.
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You shouldn't need any sealant when doing a clutch. If you need sealant for a gasket surface I suggest using Toyota's FIPG silicone as it's the best available in a tube. I used Nissan's excellent silicone until they discontinued it in squeeze tubes and switched to selling it in caulk tubes. The Toyota and Nissan silicone appear to be the exact same product... and probably are. So you don't have sticker shock when you walk into the Toyota dealership, FIPG is about $25 a tube.
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I pulled my air cleaner off and adjusted the TPS on my VG34i. Now the funky little surge when coasting down a long hill is gone once again.
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I'll just leave this here where somebody might find it.....
http://i284.photobuc...3-25-12/005.jpg
.... and nominate it for ToTM!
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silverton:
Elbe Hills 3/25/12
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I've been meaning to do this to one of my spare brackets since you mentioned it to me like a year ago, should probably look for one of them to do it...
You actually need to weld the piece to the support that sticks down on the carrier, the plastic rub block is on the bracket that mounts to the body. As soon as I can get my Pathy into my driveway where the welder reaches I'll modify mine and post up some pics.
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Not saying it impossible I'm saying it's impractical. I'd be willing to bet that it couldn't be done, work properly and be reliable for anything close to $5000. But until someone is willing to put there money where their mouth is this is all pointless.
Saying it could be done for $5000 is like these shows on tv that declare we can build ?whatever? for $5000. Then you find out they got $20000 in free parts from some place and they didn't account for all the nickel and dime expenses that added up to a few thousand dollars. Or they just happened to have high dollar parts laying around their shop that they didn't declare a value for.
So you're saying I can't accurately quote a custom built long travel front suspension system? Projects like this are what I do for a living! I have 20 years professional experience designing race car parts. The (likely) world's first triangulated four link coilover rear suspended 2nd gen. Frontier is being built in my shop right now. There are lots of people on forums that talk out their a$$ about stuff they know nothing about. I am not one of them.
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This is most likely a bad ignition switch. There is no relay in the starter circuit, the ignition switch carries the full load required by the starter solenoid. If the contacts are fried it may carry enough voltage to appear 'good' with a volt meter when the wire is unplugged from the starter but it may not carry enough amperage to actuate the solenoid. Check the negative battery cable as well, and be sure you have a beefy ground cable between the engine and chassis.
Yes, you can add a starter button the way you described if you don't want to buy a new ignition switch... but if you're going to do that you should tap power from the harness side of the fusible link otherwise there will be no fuse in your new circuit and you risk an electrical fire if something goes wrong. The fusible link is the only fuse protecting the starter circuit, standard fuses cannot carry enough amperage.
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That's a bad voltage regulator in the alternator. It's spiking the voltage and can fry all sorts of things from light bulbs and your stereo to the ECU, TCU, and just about everything else electronic in the truck. I would fix this ASAP before it damages something really expensive.
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Then you gotta put them back in that tight
A good trick here when you're putting the new engine in is to bolt the engine to the transmission with the RH motor mount and the P/S pump NOT attached to the engine. This gives you enough room to use a long extension and a torque wrench in front of the motor. You can also keep the crank from turning with a socket and breaker bar in one hand while torquing the TC bolts with the other.
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Scat seats are popular with the air cooled VW crowd. You might find a Baja Bug forum and ask there, some of those guys beat and jump their junk with no mercy so they ought to know how well they hold up to abuse. I'm putting Recaro LXs in my Pathy if my buddy ever finishes re-upholstering them in grey velour.
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I run a 33x10.5 and a 60" Hi-Lift on my stock tire carrier and wheel the hell out of my truck. I also use it as a ladder to get onto the roof and I'm about 200 pounds. I would not run off road with a heavy tire while the carrier is open. I also don't climb on it while it's open. When it's closed the little skid block bracket holds up a good percentage of the weight so there's less stress on the quarter panel mounting. Since you wheel your truck I suggest bending the lead edge of the bracket that lands on the plastic skid block up slightly so when the truck is flexed out and the body shell has a bit of tweak the bracket doesn't slam into the plastic straight-on and break it when you close the carrier. Another option would be to weld a short piece of 1/2" round stock across the lead edge of that support deal so it raises the carrier up more smoothly when things aren't quite lined up. I've broken a couple of the plastic skid blocks but haven't gotten around to modifying my carrier so it doesn't happen again.
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Welcome to NPORA and I hope to see you on the trails!
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Rear main seal, Nissan part number 12279-AD205. It's $28.48 from http://www.courtesyparts.com as a reference. I would not run an aftermarket seal here, saving $12 on one of the most expensive-to-get-to parts on the truck is not a good value IMHO. I've seen many VGs with the original RMS at 250k miles with no sign of even slight seepage.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eCYMiHl9Us&feature=g-vrec&context=G2b02a6bRVAAAAAAAAAg
Looks like the solid axle is working damn good to me.
I'd say no. Not compared to even a decent bolt-on long travel IFS setup like they run in Frontiers and Titans. Notice how much time the front tires spend off the ground? That truck's speed is severely limited over the whoops by the tremendous amount of unsprung weight up front. There's also nothing in that video of the truck going over a diagonal water bar or offset whoops where one tire hits the bump before the other. That kind of stuff puts solid front axle trucks on their head.
It is entirely possible to build a stock-width, long-travel IFS Pathy with no seriously expensive or exotic hardware. Use an R200 housing from a 240SX with Pathy gears swapped in mounted centered in the chassis. That makes the oil pan a serious bugger, but it's do-able. You're going to need a baffled, high capacity pan to run at speed in the desert so you gotta build one anyway if you want the motor to live. Getting the driveshaft past the bell housing is a question mark, next time I'm under a Pathy I'll see if the U-joint angles and bell housing clearance look possible. A notch could be cut out of the bell housing and a small diameter driveshaft built if necessary. Next you obviously throw away the stock arms and the T-bars. Build custom LCAs with pivot points on the chassis a foot or less apart and upper arms so long they almost hit the headers. Locate the coilovers just behind the CV shafts to reduce the amount of twisting load on the LCAs. I would modify and fully gusset the stock Pathy spindles as they allow you to retain stuff like readily available cheap CVs, hubs, and brake components. If they prove to be weak they could be replaced with something custom built from scratch.
Then you have to work out the steering. It might be possible to run a short version of a center link with the idler and Pitman arms indexed inward when going straight ahead. Or maybe just move the inner TRE pivot points closer together on a custom CL that's stock width? I'd have to work up some baseline numbers on the A-arm angles to know if that's even remotely feasible. Worst case you'd have to put a Trophy truck rack in it or something, I imagine there's a ton of outdated, used off road race hardware out there for (relatively) cheap like there is in all other forms of racing?
Next you need some custom long half shafts, this can be done the way Jimmy Baja did for his wide long-travel setup by sleeving them with some DOM tube but that's not exactly the 'right' way to do it. The right way is custom billet shafts and they are gonna be about a grand.
I'm going to guess such a setup's limiting factor would be the stock-based spindle and bearings. You could probably run 35s but due to the drop in unsprung weight 33s would probably be better for high speed use.
If it were done by sleeving the CV shafts and running a weird center link that retained the stock box and idler, and there's room for the front driveshaft, I think I could pull it off for less than $5k turn-key. Who wants to be first in line?
Yeah, didn't think there'd be any takers!
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I NEVER would have expected or could have seen me working on cars doing stuff like this! Lol. I did my starter by myself
Good job!
Today I finished wiring in my high-wattage headlight relay harness. They screwed up and sent me a 9007 harness in a 9004 package. Same plugs, different pin outs! Dennis figured it out. Had to swap all three wires around on all three 3-pin connectors. Wasn't too bad once I figured out where the release tabs were to get the terminals out of the plastic housings. Tomorrow I'm going to swap in my new headlight bulbs: 100/55w halogen 9004s.
Stock 9004s are only 65/45w. I'm more excited about the 10w increase on low beam than the high beams... which I expect to be astonishing. 100/80w bulbs are commonly available but the lows are way too bright for the street, not to mention illegal. I searched for a long time to find a domestic source for 100/55w 9004 bulbs. Hopefully they live a while on low beam as I run headlights-on all the time. -
When you go to pull the diff out raising the engine a couple of inches helps a whole bunch! This gives room between the oil pan and the mount that sticks off the front of the diff tube on the RH side for the diff to rotate down and out. I use my transmission jack to R&R diffs and they still suck. If you can get the bolts out that hold the RH diff isolator to the frame crossmember that would make things much easier I'm sure. I had a four foot cheater bar on mine and decided to leave them in rather than break them off in the frame. The cross bolts through the isolators are torqued to aboot 7.5 million foot pounds but they are through bolts with nuts so you don't have to worry about breaking them off and messing up your frame. Stuff like that I put a Craftsman (no Qs asked unlimited lifetime warranty) socket on a breaker bar and put the floor jack under the end of the handle to break them loose. You get good at using methods such as this when wrenching on big stuff like Unimogs.
Mid pipe question
in The Garage
Posted
On my '88 the stock Y pipe and cat both had threaded holes with bolts screwed in. I know all the stock cats have threaded holes, but I don't know if all the Y pipes were that way?