sumguy67

Your 3 wires are probably the leads to the Blower motor resistor. If your fan switch is not powering the a/c circuit, not sure how you could make it work without jumping the circuit with a switch and fuse. Sounds like your switch is funky. Or.... could it be that you clutch is sticky? The extra amps that go to the blower on high reduces the amps to your clutch due to the 'blower motor resistor'? Does electricity even work like that? I can't remember.... it's been so long since elec theory. HA!

I agree about rushing things..... but a week is lots of time. My background is in automotive structural design, some in truck frames like the H3 Hummer, some in suspensions and some in heavy off-road suspension and driveline.... the list goes on. After almost 20 years I guess I could say I've done a little bit of this before. The nice part is that I get to do the fabrication myself.

I totally agree... almost want to see if the cage works! HA! I want to put a heavy duty roof rack on mine and I'm thinking of building it right through the roof to the frame to act as a roll cage. Not so much interior intrusion that way.

Those lights look cool.... very off-road-ish. I agree with the interior cage idea. The structure of the rear pillar is quite significant and I hope to reinforce the new pillar (behind the rear passengers) quite a bit. Perhaps a 2 1/2" stainless roll bar. The cut rear area will be reinforced as well to support the tire carrier. The amount of effort isn't that bad. I started it Friday and plan to have all of the changes done by next Friday. Then I can move on to the body/paint work. That is unless I get an itch to chop the front....

Has anyone put in aftermarket speedo and tach for off-road apps?

Ok... the headlight (all outer lights really) are also fed by a 10A fuse on wht/blk wire that includes a route through the "inhibitor switch" (a/t). Not sure if this is the same lead (again manual not clear) but if it is then the problem may be with the shifter electrical. This, because, there seems to be a connection between the "lock-up cancel solenoid" and the "back-up switch". Is the truck A/T? This all assuming I'm reading the elec dia correctly. You should know that I went into mechanical eng tech because electrical stuff and I didn't agree. HA! I'd look at the dimmer again too......

Ah yes, but this is a work of art!!! HA! The truck is all marked up for both the 19" chop AND the truck bed chop. Until I put the cutter to the sheet metal it is still up in the air. For example, after last night when I dropped the rear frame I was considering going back to the 19" chop because I wouldn't have to put in the new rear frame. But I can't be lazy about it! The goal is now set. Here is a pic of where I want to get to: I will be adding front bumper, rear tire carrier, roof rack and an external rad carrier (somewhere). But this is the base idea.

I agree with the bolt comment. When I pulled the rear bolts (with a 30" bar on my 1/2' ratchet!!) they seemed pretty long much less adding 3" to them. The isolators must take a beating with a body lift, especially considering it's for an off-road application. I'm not sure what they provide in the lift kits, but I would suggest some large diameter thick washers to back-up the head of the bolts on a 3" lift. At least for the way I would beat-up an off-road truck! HA!

Well, the two rear bolts won't be a problem. I dropped the rear frame last night. HA! I plan to bolt up to the body and the weld the new frame in place.

First thing I would check are the grounds. It looks like there are 6 or 7 of them for each gauge function. Q#1 - do all of the warning lights come on when you turn on the key? Q#2 - do the gauges work? Electrical schematic shows that positive is a single lead that is "hot in start and run" with a 10 A fuse. (Wire is wht/blk) If your fuse is ok then it could be in your key switch. Coming from the ECCS there is a wht/blk on a 10A fuse that has in line with it a "lock-up cancel solenoid" for a/t. It could be this solenoid. Not sure if this is the same line that goes to the panel though (damn Chiltons manual). Can anyone verify? I also noticed that there is a "bulb check relay" that has a direct ground that you may want to check. What you may want to try is buying one of those cheap inline fuse holders and , using a 10A fuse, jump the original positive feed and fuse block to power the panel. If it works then you know it's your power feeding the fuse block. If it doesn't then you know it's on the other side, possibly a bad ground or short circuit. This is how I figured out my power window issue. And in the end I just left the cheap fuse line in to feed it.

So, it looks like I'm going to be doing some frame repair. Since I want to do a 3" body lift anyway, I'll take advantage of lifting the body and repair the frame at that time. So, since I have the body up and the welder in hand, I was thinking I will just modify the body mounts for my 3" lift. I haven't done any extensive crawling around under the truck to look at this but it seems reasonable. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

Yep! I'm taking pictures and will be noting the stuff I do. I'll Link the page here to share. After striping it down I was going back and forth: OPTION A - rear chop and bring the entire rear ahead 19". This would make the back of the truck body even with the back of the stock tires. It would eliminate the need to do significant frame repair but involves moving/modifying the fuel tank. It also involves raising the tail lights. Although it would involve significant welding, 90% of the cutting looked very straight forward for this. OPTION B - rear chop and remove the rear pillar and roof section for truck bed. Obviously this is a simpler change. I will still be removing all of the harness to re-mount in the cab. Involves frame repair (not looking forward to this). Will not give the tire exposure I wanted so to gain more clearance and angle of attack for the rear I will raise the tow bar and chop the lower rear fenders. Since this will expose the fuel tank a bit, I am considering a heavier tank guard or additional skid plate. May just reinforce the existing one??? I slept on it last night and decided that I wanted an off road Pathy but I wanted some function too. Having an open rear bed, outside of the closed passenger area, seems to be the prime motivator now. I'm constantly carrying fuel cans, chainsaws, tools, etc. Things you don't want in the passenger area. Fumes and smells and messes on the inside with the people doesn't make sense. Besides, having stuff inside during a crash or a rollover is scary. All that stuff flying forward and bouncing around with you in an enclosed cabin... YIKES!

Stripped the rear of the truck to see the structure..... I'm thinking of going the short box way. Looks cool!

Did you have ANY power? Mine lost all electrical power.

Funny you say that, because I pulled the fenders off of mine yesterday and bought some supplies (cutting & welding) today. How do I get myself into these things???? HA!

I see I'm not the only one that plays with pictures.... They look cool.

I had a window relay go that worked some days and not others. I think the window power booster started to go and was drawing too much current. I ended up jumping it with a fuse and forgot about it. If I remember correctly they work like self-resetting breakers as well. So I think I will get a spare for the main.

I remember battling fusible links in my '85 Rx-7. A week of electrical issues resolved with the wiggle of a wire. It just came loose. I'll re-check those before the day is done!

Yes! Now that it's getting power I can run the codes and hope something pops up. I should probably locate the main power relay and get a spare.

Yes, in fact I even tried a different battery. Plus I boosted to to ground and the hot line. It's just weird.

Even boosting would not provide power. Now it's fine?

OK.... this is weird. About a year ago my wife came home for lunch with the pathfinder. It was running great. When she went to go back to work it was dead..... no electrical at all. So I spent days checking grounds, relays, key switch..... everything. I could not find another place to poke my tester. Went at it again a week later and still nothing. I bought another Pathfinder (of course) and life went on. Well today, after playing with some pictures (see "Stubby Pathy" in General) I became inspired and I decided to go visit the old Pathfinder ( I have a bit of a car graveyard in the back). I put the cables to it and it fired right up!!!!!! What the H-E-double-hockey sticks ?!?!?!?! Took it for a rip and it's like nothing ever happened. Does anyone have any idea what could have happened?

I would relocate the rad and chop the frame. The hood on my project pathy is messed up anyway. It went up at 80 kph one day. So chop chop!!

It's nice to be able to review like this. Especially when there are no $$ to go ahead with it. HA! But it is realistic. I started like this when I did the rear modifications to my 1985 Rx-7. (That is all steel BTW)

This is probably more realistic allowing for seat and head room.... I don't want to bang my head off of the back window on every bump.