wofat

Full axle, rotor to rotor was $250. Kind of a screaming deal for Me since I got a disc conversion in the mix.

I revisited this last weekend after I heard and felt a light *thunk* in the rear end. The diff felt like it was dragging, grinding and had an elliptical wobble so I swapped out the other pumpkin. The drain pan and plug had a whole bunch more shavings and shards but I didn't see anything overtly blown apart on the old pumpkin, maybe the input bearing? I compared old vs. new while they were both out, the old one turned much harder and had a lot more play back and forth when I turned them by hand. Anyway, newer one is in and the car feels much better. I drove into work (Seattle) all last week, much better mileage than was usual. Thanks for all the advice/info.

JUst Xterra and Frontier? Not the pathys? There's an 01 auto on cl right now for 500 bones. http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/pts/1770671084.html

Yeh, that's the band-aid fix I'll have to do. I already have a dose of lucas in there but I'll add another jug at least. I'm hoping to get a junkyard Ford cooler, You know what models had 'em? I don't think I could ever figure out how to rebuild an automatic and I don't have enough money to pay someone to do it. I did a Toyota five speed once (new bearings, some spacers and seals) but I don't have the tools or knowledge to rework an auto. I could freshen up a five speed if it's not beat to sh*t. The last pathy I had was a stick and that mofo was punchy, I miss that.

I never had a good feeling about this tranny, now it's starting to slip. I need to nurse it along for awhile but I wanna do a 5 speed conversion. I already found alot of threads on this, but if anybody thinks they know of a really good one I'd love a link. If anybody's parting a car in Tacoma, or if anybody wants to split a parts car let Me know. Obviously I need the tranny, pedals, floor plates, master and slave, flywheel, console and sticks. I don't need glass, interior, panels, engine, I think I'm good for drivelines, You know, pretty much all the rest. If I could get fender flares and a rear window with the wind deflector, a passenger armrest and a dash (no gauges, don't need 'em) that would be a plus but def not a deal breaker. Lemme know. TIA!

NM, I figured it out a different way. I meant the JY one that's sitting on my garage floor, not the one in the car. I marked the ring gear and input, twisted the input until I got one revolution on the ring gear. It took just over 4-1/2 turns of the input shaft, so my money's on a 4.6. This is the one I'm talking about: http://i215.photobuc...0k/DSCF1228.jpg It's got the junkyard markings on it, the pumpkin in the car has never been out so that should be a 4.6 as well. I tried to find any info on the case markings (ND496) and found nothing, the markings on the ring gear were equally useless (S378 AL821). Thanks.

46. Would there be a way to tell what the ratio is on the diff that's not in the car? Yeah, there were slivers, kind of curly little things about 3/8" long. They don't show up in the pics very well, there's one on the magnet.

He never swapped the diff, just the axle shafts. I think the grinding (from before he worked on it) was probly an outer bearing on the passenger side. He insisted that he swapped the whole transaxle even though I proved otherwise. Both pumpkins are from '88 autos, I wanna say 4.625? I'd love to see how a 5 speed would do with that gearing, would highway speeds suffer too much?

Just had to put in new rotors and pads, all is well again now. No weird noises from the diff so I'm just gonna keep driving it as is. That was easy!

I'm getting a lot of wobble on light braking, heavy braking is straight and solid. I went through the front end and fixed any iffy stuff so I figure I'm looking at a bad bearing (or now maybe a warped disc) in the rear. The outer bearings seem good but I want to repack and tighten them just the same. It looks like the guy just swapped the axle shafts and left the pumpkin in. I put the old grease back in and had a little over a quart extra (even after I held back the crap with metal). I hear what You're saying about diffs, I limped a Vega home once (back in HS) cracked open the diff and teeth fell out. It was missing a third of it's teeth and still ran, poorly but it did move. Is there a way to test a differential out of the car? If I move the drive plate back and forth (on the JY one that's not in the car) I have about a quarter inch of play before it catches the gears to reverse itself. Is that right? It's better for Me to work on them when I don't have time constraints, when I rush I make mistakes and it takes me twice as long. I'll letcha know what happens. Thanks.

Not gonna do it tonite. I hit two spinners on the axle shaft nuts, that means the calipers and discs need to come off and I don't have enough time to mess with it. I gotta drive it tomorrow so I tightened everything down and refilled the gearbox. I'll get it this weekend when I'm not rushed, that way I can get rebuilds for the calipers, new hoses and pads (they're real bad). I really wanted to see inside that diff, I got a hunch it'll look like a hand grenade went off in there.

Thanks Silverton. I think this diff is past grinding anymore and the JY one looks pretty good. He put in a TON of lube, I dunno how he got it all in there (there's a little breather tube on top????). That probly quieted it down quite a bit. I like the discs, that is a bonus. I thought the JY ones were drums but I guess I never looked that close. They forked it in the back of the truck at the JY and the mechanic had his helpers haul it out, I just figured they were the same. If it's pretty normal to get a lot of shavings I guess I won't get too anal about cleaning it out, just the big chunks and change the fluid again soon. Thanks alot, I'll keep ya posted.

Drained the differential and lookie what I got: Looks like blown out bearing races, this was the best shot I could get of the magnet after I swooshed it around in the drain bucket: Big chunks, little shards...dayam! A couple years ago I hired a friend's Dad to put a tranny in the car. After driving it around a bit I noticed some grindy/clunky noises coming from the rear diff (especially cornering). I picked up a JY diff to have the same guy install it and now I can't figure out WTH he did???!!! He was supposed to do brakes, shocks and swap the differential all at the same time. I did ask Him just to swap the pumpkin, he insisted that swapping out the whole axle would be easier. I dunno 'bout that. I had drum brakes originally, now look: I bled them yesterday, that's why it looks wet, but them are disc brakes. When I picked the car up, I dunno, something just told me I better grab the pumpkin off the old axle just in case. I'm glad I did, it still had grease marks from the JY. I think He just swapped out the axle shafts and called it soup. I'm putting this one in a couple minutes from now, just wanna see if there's any words of wisdom You Nissan guru's can share with a Padawan like myself before I get going (including don't drop it on your head). I'll get pic's of the carnage inside the case, I think there's another magnet in the bottom of the diff. How am I gonna clean all the metal out?????? Look's to Me like just the four bolts on each axle shaft and pull 'em out a little, four bolts on the driveshaft and unbolt the pumpkin. Reverse for install. I couldn't find a gasket so I'll have to seal it up with black permatex. Let Me know if You guys can think of anything pertinent for Me, I'll be checking back. TIA

I don't know what He goes by on here, has a early 90's pathy with lots of lift. He just put a crate engine in it, dunno if that helps. I don't know how active He is, he just highly recommended the site. I'll check it out the cooler info, I've been looking into it a little bit and it seems like cheap insurance. Oh, different rotor but I'll check the timing thing too. Thanks!

Rock Auto boned Me on my order, said my bank had me on credit hold but the bank had already authorized the payment. Then they said My address was bad, they shipped calipers to this address a week ago. Wrong calipers, too. See the differences? No biggie, I just swapped parts and they work fine. I really needed the timing belt and other stuff I tried to order, though. I'm getting hosed on pricing locally. Hubs were easy but it didn't fix the 'pulsing' that I get with light braking. Suspension and steering all look solid, I'm thinking my pumpkin or a rear bearing is getting ready to take a dump on me. I don't get the pulsing with heavy braking and when the car is compression braking I can feel a kind of elliptical roll, almost like a wheel was egg shaped. I had brake hardware and a rear hose on that Rock Auto order as well, those guys really effed up my weekend.

Yeah, I guess I should. Where's the best place to install it? What's the best one to get?

Thanks, I'm getting a better and better feeling about this rotor. Haines had me unbolting all the linkage and a-arms, even if it is a Nissan I know that aint right. The tool for the washer is on it's way: link. I hear ya on the timing belt and I read the write up and watched that other guys video (hahaha ). I have a feeling the PO had it done not too many miles ago but I don't want to roll the dice on that. The motor works good, I wanna keep it. The PO was from Sacramento, He moved up here and cooked the tranny. The car sat at the end of His driveway for a few years, he finally relented to his wifes nagging and put it on craigslist. He was the second owner, the first owner was his uncle or sumthin'. I pulled another slushbox out of a parts pathy with 160k ($120) and paid some Salvadorian guys $400 to pull the cooked one and put this one in. Been driving it daily for two years now, no major issues. I really want to do a conversion, I don't trust these AT's. Yessir! I got the brush guard a couple weeks ago from a guy on CL, real nice guy. He cut Me a screaming deal on the guard and even bolted it up for me, very cool. He recommended this site and I'm glad he did. I've already gleaned a ton of info here fishing the archives, I know if I run into some real trouble I'll get good advice. Thanks for the site and the warm welcome.

Thanks. The Haines manual made me jump back and forth between three chapters and didn't seem to have instructions for just a rotor and repack. I have the seals, I think I have everything to do it except time. I'm taking two days off next week so hopefully I can get this, the timing belt/water pump and some new fuel lines in. The PO took really good care of it, the interior is in pretty good shape (real clean), all the fluids looked clean and it comes from Sacramento (no rust but a heat cracked dash). The only salt it ever saw was from spilled french fries.

Here's some pic's: Bone stock 1988 pathfinder 226xxx miles Whorehouse red interior AT/AC/Sunroof Everything works except the CC I've got 'pulsing' when I use the brakes, next weekend I'm doing some work on it. New rotors, calipers, lines, Warn hubs and a bearing repack. My question is this: The whole drive axle has to come out????? Seriously?????