Mr.510

+1 on the VG33! I'd either do that or build a VG34. Or do a VG30ET. If your Pathy is an automatic I'd start with a newer transmission, rather than rebuilding/modifying the original. I've got an '01 Xterra trans in my '88. Supposedly these newer transmissions are significantly more durable. It certainly shifts better than any original Pathy trans I've driven. If it's a manual, get maximum capacity bearings. Also, get a sealed bearing for the counter shaft at the center plate and take the seal out of the forward side. The number one cause of transmission breakage is failure of the center counter shaft bearing. This is because any and all metal floating around in the gear oil gets washed back and forth through the lower bearing, at least until it finds it's way to the magnetic drain plug. The worst thing is that any chips off the reverse gear will inevitably travel through the lower bearing before they get stuck to the magnet. You cannot run a fully-sealed bearing here as it will overheat, so you just take the forward seal out. My transmission rebuilder showed me this trick when he was building one of my racecar transmissions.

Yeah, I just bent the lips over a little. Totally reverse-able. The wheel arch is still the same shape when viewed from the side. The tires just barely touch when the truck is flexed out and backing over stuff kinda hard. The fenderwell is totally stuffed with tire and there's no way I could run chains without a sawzall and sledgehammer.

I have no idea what they were designed for but I've always preferred "pizza cutters" and these fit the bill. My Unimogs have really tall, skinny tires. I ran 34-9.5-16.5 Swampers on my '64 Patrol and it would idle through almost anything. Man did it piss off the guys with 400hp "mud trucks" in the '80s. I've been 'wheeling massively underpowered trucks most of my life. High contact pressure is the only way to make them work in the woods so that's what I'm used to. My Pathy is rocket-fast compared to every other truck I've used extensively off road. Here's a recent pic of the "good side": And a shot from the morning after I put it on it's side :

I've got an '88 SE Offroad that came with 31s. It's been on 33-10.5-15s on stock Lego wheels for a couple years with no lift. I didn't have to trim any metal, only plastic. In the rear I had to cut the flare mounting tabs off at the top of the wheel arch and bend the sheet metal tabs up to clear. I also had to bash the lower corners of the quarter panels a little bit. Basically I just folded the lip in a little so it wouldn't chunk the rear tires. I trimmed all the flares but it'd be much better to just take them off. I'll be doing that and losing the inner fenders soon. The only rubbing I get is the inner sidewalls in the rear at full flex. It's all smooth metal so there's no tire damage, it's just a little annoying. Oh, I did have to swap out a bunch of the factory flare bolts for beefy sheet metal screws with integral washers and low-profile heads. Again, loose the flares and that issue is gone. I'll try to post some pics later.

Dowser said: I did a search and didn't find it. Got a link? I'd like to see how someone else did it before I go re-inventing the wheel...

There's no difference in running off the battery for a few minutes. I'd kill the lights and any other high-drain accessories if possible and don't turn the engine off (if possible) before giving the alternator a chance to catch up. So it's packing them full of mud that typically kills Pathfinder alternators? I guess relocation makes a lot of sense then. I always carry a big pressurized water fire extinguisher in my Unimog to blast the mud out of the radiator when things get really deep and soupy. We used it on both Mogs after playing in this hole: Guess I should add one to the Pathy's gear list as well.

In the "New Nissan Parts" thread an alternator relocation bracket was mentioned. Something to put the alternator where the A/C compressor was. I assume that people are frying alternators fording deep water and moving the alternator up would obviously help. My question is: Has anybody run a Field disconnect switch on a Pathfinder? 20-some years ago I built a Baja out of a '71 Datsun 1200. I fried alternators fording creeks *all* the time. I re-wired the Baja to run internally regulated alternators as I worked for a Japanese engine importer and got used ones free. I carried a spare alternator bolted to the roll cage in the trunk and used it often to get home. What I eventually figured out was that if you break the "Field" wire no current goes to the stator through the brushes, the outer windings do not produce AC current, the diodes aren't charged, and deep water doesn't hurt anything. I put a toggle switch on the dash that broke the connection of the Field wire and never fried another alternator. When approaching a creek or deep puddle I'd flip the switch. The "Charge" idiot light came on (of course) and I'd go about splashing around. After exiting the water I would leave the Field disconnected for a few minutes and rev the piss out of the the motor a few times to blow dry the alternator. Then flip the switch turning off the idiot light and getting the alternator back to work charging the battery. I've been 'wheeling Unimogs for the last 15 years and with their waterproof electrical systems I'd nearly forgotten the old Field disconnect trick. Now that I'm playing with my Pathfinder in the woods more I think it's time to install a switch in the Field wire. I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has done this? I'm looking at the charging system diagram in a '91 FSM right now and see no reason not to install a switch. Thoughts?

Packie88: Thanks again for asking around the forums! Everyone: Of course all of us would like really cool parts, in stock all the time, with awesome 24-7 customer service, for half the money... but that's not very realistic in most cases. What I've done with my business since the late-'90s is sell only direct to the end user. I eliminated the wholesale pricing level and was able to drop the "retail" price of most items 25-30%. There are no longer any dealers or distributors of my parts, all sales are factory-direct. I'm going to start prototyping some Pathfinder parts and see how they go. Upcoming projects: 1) Sliders. I need rock sliders for my WD21 so I'm going to build a set in the coming weeks and see how they work. If I end up producing them for sale they will be bolt-on with the option of welding should someone want to do that. If they work out I'll probably offer them with and without a nerf tube and for stock and body lifted trucks. The square tube will be 2x2, 3/16 wall. The nerf tube will be 1-3/4" and at least .120 wall with two or three spreader tubes between it and the square tube for extra "smashability". I've seen a few too many nerf tubes folded up against the door from hard landings on big rocks. 2) Headers. I've been having headers of my own design built on my tooling since about '98. These are required to do the 510 VG conversion as it's a tight squeeze. It turns out my headers are tucked in so close that they fit almost anything with a VG in it. They are very high quality, second to none in the industry. The flanges at the heads are 3/8" and they use ball-and-socket reducers that require no gaskets and will not leak. Ever. My Pathy has cracked manifolds and blown-out gaskets. My intent is to put a set of my headers on it and have a Y pipe built that uses a ball-and-socket reducer where the crossover connects. This should end up a completely leak-proof arrangement that requires no welding for installation so it can be easily removed for engine or transmission replacement. I 'wheel my Pathy and, as such, anything I produce is going to be well-tucked for maximum ground clearance. If it works out as intended we'll build a fixture off of it and offer a header set with Y pipe for (W)D21s. 3) Panhard drop bracket. This looks to be a straight forward part. I'm thinking of a drop mount that bolts into the stock location and picks up a couple holes in the frame rail for triangulation. I'll probably produce it with 2" and 4" drop locations. I will design it so that if the customer wants to use the upper hole and chop off the bottom one they can. ?) We'll see how the above projects go and take it from there. I'm not going to throw out a teaser of a whole bunch of stuff that will never see the light of day. By all means if you think of anything else that would be cool and is not available let me or Packie88 know. I'm not interested in knocking off anyone else's parts and prefer to design and produce stuff that fills holes in existing markets. I'm a one-man-shop so I can build niche parts that aren't worth a big companies' time. At my "real job" I work for a big manufacturing company so I fully understand both sides of the equation. At the moment there are three WD21s('87,'88,'93), two D21s('87std,'88?ext.cab), and an R50('99) in my immediate family. All are 4wd and local. I can use them all for parts fitment and Packie88 has offered his Pathy for fitment of sliders for body lifted trucks. I'm sure my espresso machine will be working overtime as I dig into these new projects... :coffee!: Thank you everyone for your suggestions and this great community!

Redpath88: Did you ever get that CL re-welded? If not, I drive through Tacoma twice a week. Meet me someplace and I'll fix it for you for free. Same goes for the idler arm if it's sketchy. I've got a heated chem-strip tank so I can get all the paint out from where there are supposed to be welds prior to tuning it up with my TIG.