ahardb0dy

sloppy or loose steering is one issue, pulling is another

If you need to hold the wheel to one side because the truck is pulling it could be low tire pressure, tires out of balance, tire wear (alignment), caliper sticking, I don't think the wheel bearing or idler arm being bad would cause a pull, a vibration probably.

Toyota wheels on the pathfinder, can't really see what was done to it suspension wise. Roll cage inside, doesn't look like much from the pics for the price.

SEE, You spoke before you thought !! LOL, I just replaced both rear rotors on my 94 so I know they are in there.

The brake drum shoes may be shot, you need to pull the rear rotors( and calipers) and check the drum shoes, the discs in the rear are your main brakes but the parking brake uses a drum setup inside of the rotor. If the brake shoes look like they have some meat still left on them than perhaps the adjuster is frozen, a good cleaning and lube probably won't hurt. Be careful of the brake dust it's not good for you to breathe, and I would highly recommend downloading the Factory Service Manual from the Garage section, it's free and you will refer to it often.

Any truck can get stuck it just depends on what the truck is built for. You could run small tires and make it through any mud hole if you had about a 1000 HP, the truck would just skim the surface like the mud drag trucks do. A guy I used to work with at the 4x4 shop had one, paddle tires, composite wheels, 454 big block with alcohol injection, it was sick. My old 87 hardbody was built pretty good I think, since the time I lifted it and installed 33" mud terrains I think I only got it stuck one time and it was on ice, just couldn't get any traction, I tried everything I could to get off that ice, branches under the tires, dirt, what ever was around, was hard to see as it was at night, finally had to give in and have my wife's friend with her Kia Sportage pull me off the ice, never heard the end of that one !!! Back home in NY we probably went 4 wheeling maybe 3-4 times a week, after work, weekends, late night romps in the woods, the beach, mud holes we had around town. My wife called my hardbody the beast, I was the one pulling other trucks out all the time. So no matter what you have, no matter how you built it, no matter the terrain, you will get stuck, it's almost impossible to build a truck for all the different terrains, and as you said the "redneck trucks" with the 54" tractor tires do get stuck as well. We were four wheeling one time down here in Orlando, FL. a place they called Sea world, some mud holes that ran along the power lines, My friend and I stayed in the sand I don't like going mudding in what looks more like a lake, but there was one guy who had like a 54 Ford, huge tires, just sitting there watching everyone and I asked him why he wasn't playing in the mud? He said if I get stuck there's no one here that could pull me out, got to know your limitations I guess !!! LOL

Guess it was about time to replace them than huh?? LOL

Nice bump in the torque as well ! You are comparing your VG33+ to a VG30, where does a stock VG33 fit in there? I guess it would be better than the VG30 but below your VG33+. Is Nissan Nut a member on here? Do you guys know of him? He has a lot of good info on his site about the VG33 swap, along with lots of pictures comparing the 2 engines. http://nissannut.com/maintenance/vg33e_upgrade/

Was just a thought, If the engine was coming out for whatever reason I may consider it, the only thing I think my engine needs right now is a rear main seal, I had it replaced when I had the JDM engine put in but I have an oil leak and it looks like it is coming from between the engine and trans, don't think it is from the dr. side valve cover as I do not see any oil on top of the trans.

Nice plug Precise !

Usually everyone recommends the normal or V-groove NGK's

remember use regular old NGK's Nissan's like those best

see third pic down, just found this: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/270890/1995-nissan-pathfinder/page-8/

my buddy at work was replacing the plugs on his 318 dodge ram and was on the last plug when the plug broke, it left the round shoulder part that is below the hex part of the spark plug, the whole insulator part came out in one piece. He was so worried about having to get someone to pull the head to get it out, than he asked me and I gave him a few easy outs to use. The problem was with the easy out having a square shank and even with a 12 point socket I found that fit it, the socket was turning on the easy out, luckily I noticed the easy out shank was about the size of a 3/8" ratchet, but where to find a double female 3/8" coupling??? I found one of those distributor wrenches that are two wrenches joined in the middle by the knurled part, which happens to be 3/8", he put that on the easy out and although it was a little loose it wouldn't turn far enough to the point where the easy out's shank could turn in it, it took some muscle but he was able to get the broken plug out with no further damage. Moral of this story is as Precise said, don't force the plugs where they may break, my buddy was lucky, you may not be ! Oh, almost forgot, ALWAYS use anti-seize on the plug threads when re-installing them, and I always use dielectric grease inside the plug boots.

I'm going to be replacing the terminals with the military style ones, I had a negative terminal that matched the positive one, but it recently broke almost stranding me at work, I replaced it with a cheap one from the auto parts store but I have always wanted a set of the military style terminals, they are nice as they have a bolt and nut that secures them to the battery post and another nut and bolt that can be removed without loosening the terminal to the post for adding additional wires to the terminal/ These are the ones I will be getting very soon: installed they would look like this:

The large wire from the positive battery terminal goes directly to the starter solenoid, than there is a smaller wire from the starter relay that goes t the starter solenoid that transfers power when the key is turned to the "Start" position. There are fusible links on the positive terminal as well. I only have pics of when I eliminated the factory positive terminal: this was the stock cable, there was more copper out of the ring terminal than was in it: I took all the small wires off the old broken positive terminal, stripped the ends and put them all into a large butt connector, than ran 6 gauge from the other end of the butt connector to my new battery terminal: This is with the new terminal installed, showing the new 4 gauge that goes to the starter, the 6 gauge that is in the previous pic, and a 10 gauge wire that feeds the relay for the starter relay mod, nice and clean and new:

My starter, before I replaced it, one day it started fine when I left to go to the junkyard, when I was leaving the junkyard it wouldn't start, had to have someone turn and hold the key to start while I tapped it with the jack rod, on the way home I stopped at 4 different places shutting it off at each one and it started fine, the fifth stop it wouldn't start again, had to tap on the starter again. The starter in my sentra was doing the same thing way back just clicking, I took it out, took it apart and wiped the inside down and it's been fine ever since. So even if your starter is on it's way out it may or may not work sometimes, best to replace it before your out in the boonies one day and it finally decides to quit for good. I also redid the positive from the battery to the starter, new 4 gauge car audio power wire, and added a ground from the starter bolt to the frame, again 4 gauge wire.

the starter just clicking could be the starter itself, a bad battery (just happened to me with my sentra), bad connections on the battery or starter, bad starter relay, clutch interlock if it is a manual trans. If your starter is clicking when you try to start it, check the battery connections first to make sure they are clean and tight, if they are check the voltage at the battery with a multimeter, you can also connect your battery to another vehicle like you were going to jump start it, if the truck starts when connected to another vehicle the battery could be bad or low. If it starts when connected to another vehicle than it's probably not the starter. You can also try tapping the starter lightly while someone holds the key to the "start" position, if it starts while doing this than it may be the starter or starter solenoid. The starter in my 94 was doing that originally than I did the starter relay mod and it was OK for another year until I finally had to replace the starter, my recommendation for a starter is spend the extra money it costs and get a NEW one the first time, local rebuilds suck !! I bought mine from rockauto made by pure energy, no problems so far, I don't see new ones on the rock auto site by them any more. Bosch also sells brand new starters if you can find one.

when I replaced the plugs in mine, the only one i had a hard time with was the pass, rear, I had to get my neighbor who has smaller hands to get the new plug started, the rest weren't bad to do.

with the tool that came in the tool kit or a long extension and spark plug socket, it's not that hard. Rounded off shoulders you may be able to use a american socket close in size, may need to tap it on, or possibly one of those sockets they sell that fit any size nut with all the needles in it ?

I was reading on Mr.510's and NissanNut's pages on how they did the VG33 swap into the WD21 and D21 and was wondering if anyone has done the oil pump replacement on a VG30 to move the oil filter to the oil pump area? I read about the different oil pumps that are used on the VG30 and the VG33 and how the crank snouts are different sizes between the two engines, 25MM on the VG30 and 32MM on the VG33, but from reading about the swap on NissanNut's page I discovered the VG30 used in the Nissan Quest up until 95 used the small crank snout style and had the oil filter installed at the front of the engine, so from what NissanNut stated that he used the Quest oil pump, with a VG33 oil filter mount, the pickup tube from a WD22 with the stock oil pan from a VG30, he said he used the lower timing cover from a Quest but had to modify it slightly to clear the harmonic balancer. This all sounds possible, anyone know anyone who did this on a VG30? Thanks

I wouldn't just re-torque the tension rod nuts you really need to remove the nut and the bushings to check the hole that the tension rod goes through, a lot of times especially on trucks that have the front end cranked up (via the torsion bars) there is considerable wear on the holes, they tend to get oblonged (is that a word??), and if the holes are no longer round it allows the rod to move which can cause a clunking noise. You should consider replacing the tension rod bushings if they are original, Rockauto has a kit from Moog and is what I used in my 94. On my 87 hardbody I used to own, the holes in the tension rod mount were bad and I had plates made and a friend welded them over the existing mount, machine shop punched new holes in the plates (before they were welded on of course) and than re-installed everything. Another thing to check with the tension rods if the holes in the mount are not round any longer there could be wear in the tension rod itself and they would need to be replaced, their are write ups on here as to replacing the bushing cups if they are gone, I did not have them on my hardbody and did not notice any problems by not having them. As far as the upper control arm spindle mounting bolts, you can check with a pry bar to see if there is any play where the UCA bolts to the frame. Another cause for a clunk, and this is normally only found when doing a full lock turn while going up an incline is the steering stops hit the metal on the lower control arm causing a noise, early trucks did not come with plastic covers on the bolt heads but later trucks did, if yours doesn't have the plastic bolt covers or even if it does a little grease on the bolt heads and the metal on the lower control arm will minimize any noise. Also make sure the shocks are tight and the rubber bushings are in there and are in good condition. Download the Factory Service Manual from the garage section if you haven't already, it's free and you will refer to it often, Welcome to NPORA we like to see pics, introduce yourself in the new member section if you haven't already.

what does the stock oil pressure sender go to anyway? Their isn't a gauge in the gauge cluster right? Does it just trigger a light? If so I wouldn't bother with a "tee" I would just eliminate the stock sender and plumb the aftermarket oil pressure gauge directly to the block. But that is just me, I did the same thing in my 90 sentra, picked up a compression to BST adapter and ran the tubing from the mechanical autometer gauge right to where the stock electric sender used to be. I know some people prefer electric gauges and don't want to run a tube with oil into their cabs but I haven't had any problems with the nylon tubing so far and they also sell SS braided lines for those that want something stronger than nylon tubing. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

maybe it's your headunit?