pathfounder

That is how my truck behaved when the MAF was bad. No codes, and sometimes under acceleration, the truck would speed up if I let my foot OFF the pedal a bit.

Mine once stopped in the vertical position and stayed that way for about 2 months. Works fine now.

Check all failure items, such as anything made of rubber (including the tires for that matter), and all fluid levels. Also confirm that your spare tire gear is all there, and that you can get the spare tire out from under the truck (if applicable). Also make sure you have things like a blanket, a communication device, and a first aid kit. Other than that, drive it. It will either get you there or it won't. If you're nervous, drive a rental!

I tried to clean a MAF with brake cleaner and it went from being broken to being broken. I had no choice but to replace mine. Luckily, I got a used one for $7 and it raised my mileage (and power I must say) by about 50%.

The whole point of sway bars is to provide a stiffer spring effect in roll and little-to-no effect when both sides are in bump. They give a better balance of ride and anti-roll than just springs would have. Road vehicles are fitted with this stuff for a reason. You need to either tune your truck for off-road ability or street manners and stick with it. Your recent suspension threads are starting to make me a bit nervous.

I would assume he wants the biggest that will fit without any problems. Someone should probably know or at least get close.

Can you leave it connected on one side?

MAF

I'll take a pic of my 97 tomorrow when the sun is up.

If you look on a factory R50, there is nothing adjustable on the suspension. A MacPherson strut is (for better or for worse) basically a peg with a wheel on it, held on the bottom with a control arm. The control arm can't be moved in any way (it bolts to the chassis and that's it), and the top of the strut can't be adjusted either. The _only_ thing that you can change is the toe, by means of changing the tie rod length (obviously). The toe could be off, in theory. If the ride height has changed, then the small amount of bump steer that all suspensions will inevitably have could cause the toe to be wrong at ride height. If Nissan knew what they were doing when they designed the steering, then the bump steer will be so small that replacing a strut with a nearly identical one is going to make just about no difference in toe. Now, it could be argued that resetting the toe should be done by the OP, just because of the small change that might be there, and because it could have been wrong to begin with. But for a few weeks of putting around, I'd say just drive it and don't worry about it. Things are different on a WD21 with double wishbones. That suspension is a complicated 3D setup, and everything affects everything.

Most MacPherson struts do not need any kind of alignment work after being replaced with identical units. On R50s, you can't adjust camber or caster without aftermarket parts anyways. The only thing that can be changed is toe, which if you only changed the struts, won't be out of whack anyways. Save some money and get the alignment done after the lift or other mods.

I would imagine / hope that the cams are hardened after re-grinding, in which case the cam would be better than when you gave it to them, in more ways than one.

The opposite is also true. If the pump needs replaced, do the timing belt also. I have no opinion on gear-driven pumps. I guess I would replace it once I could hear it.

Put some rad hose around the cable where it comes out at both ends of the link, and you'll have a pretty boss setup.

You pop the drums off. Make sure to release the parking brake (and of course, block the wheels). I put it in 4WD whenever I work on the rear axle in any way.

Balance job #1 and balance job #2 were exactly the same, other than different amounts of suckage. I think they just didn't care the first time.

Rear disk swap! Alternatively, replace the Pathfinder with a Mercedes SLR McLaren. Those brakes will peel your face off, but I hear they are a bit touchy. Still, it may be your best option to go this route.

I drove it on the freeway today. I only got up to about 120, but there was no shaking of any kind. It used to start shaking lightly at 80, and terribly over 105 or so. Clearly, it was the first balance job (or lack of one) that caused it.

I wish mine went down slowly, mine just freeze at the drop of a hat. Kinda awkward opening the door as a cop approaches the truck, or at a drive-thru.

Thanks, might take you up on that sometime.

I didn't take them to the shop that Adam recommended, just the same chain. I have no doubt that they are a bunch of crooks there, but I don't have the time/patience/money to take this any further. My truck is at a point where if the tires rattle the truck to bits, so be it. It got me to my exam and back this morning, so it's doing its job quite well. You're probably right about the bent rim theory. I think what really happened here is they did a BS balancing job the first time, and just gave me a list of other possibilities to distract me from that, and so that if it's still rough, they can say "we told you so".

Mine's somewhere in my basement with about an inch of dust on it. Never used it since I got the truck.

Drive in a tight circle in an open area (parking lot) with the truck in 4WD. Take your foot off the gas. If the truck quickly groans to a halt, you have traction, and as the other guy said, the tires will scrub and hop to relieve the stress. Find a place where you really don't have traction and THEN you can worry about noises and shaking etc.

I'd replace it real quick. If you need the vehicle right away, keep it in 2WD.

The adjustable bar still has the problem of causing the axle to move laterally during travel. I'm sure it works, but dropping the bar is the better solution if someone is running a very high lift (like the OP).