pathfounder

There's no center diff, so by necessity, the ratios are the same front and rear.

So is it the toilet adapter or the air filter that keeps the s**t from getting into your engine?

So.... Left it at CT last night. Tires were rebalanced for free this morning. Was told that all rims are slightly bent, which I can believe. All tires are "choppy" as well apparently. I think based on the fact that the truck was fine with the old tires (other than having no traction), the new tires are just not that good. It's possible that the last owner had suspension issues which caused unusual wear, or the tires are just crap. I hardly ever drive on the highway, and it's only a problem above 100 or so, so I am just going to live with it for the winter, and probably after that as well.

The transmission (auto) has always been a bit early on shifts, and I find it hunts at 70 km/h, although not too badly. It did that a bit before with the 265's anyways. The main difference I notice is in cornering, the wheels are slower to re-center, and the rear end is a bit more loose feeling. I chalk these things up to the height of the sidewall being greater. The differences are very minor all in all. I think a layperson wouldn't even notice.

I went from 265/70R15 to 31x10.5 on my '97, and I can tell you it drives different, but the brakes work just fine, and the ABS has been working overtime because of the snow. Also, I can confirm that there are no clearance problems. Put them on and enjoy the awesomeness.

The chassis mount point may need to be moved forward as well because of the lift moving the axle forward. The point is, the rod needs to be exactly parallel to the axle when looking from any point of view (top, rear, side).

Correct. When the panhard rod is parallel to the axle, it has the least horizontal displacement when the axle travels. Measure the difference in heights of each end of the rod. That difference is how much the rod needs to be dropped on the chassis end (or raised at the axle end).

I dropped by Canadian Tire today and they agreed to check it for free. I am probably going to do an after-hours dropoff tonight. I'll update when I have real news (could be awhile before I wind it out on the highway).

The Costco here will only deal with wheel and tire combos that were bought from Costco. I was originally going to have them do this entire thing until the guy at the desk told me to look elsewhere.

I'm walking distance from the Bank/Heron one. I've had mixed success with them. I'm hoping the Carling one would honour the warranty, given that it's a chain.

The Crappy right next to my place did them the first time, so I can probably bring the rcpt and have it done for nothing. I'm really hoping that a rebalance is going to do the trick.

The wheels are factory 6-spoke alloys.

I have some new-to-me tires on my truck. They are LT31x10.5R15, replacing stock 265/75R15. I'm not sure of the brand, they're just generic "mud claw trail blazer force killer" somethings. Ever since I had the old tires peeled off the rims and these ones put on, the steering wheel shakes in my hands above 110km/h. You can't feel them at all below about 100. I have a spare tire of the same size on a 3-spoke WD21 alloy wheel. Using that on the rear, I have swapped two different wheels to the front, and it still shakes at speed. Is this just something to put up with LT tires, or did they just do a bad job of balancing them? Or worse, does every tire have a broken belt or something?

You will need to buy a starwheel adjuster, or you can bend a flathead screwdriver that you are not fond of. Also, you will need a brake drum spring compressor, it's like a $5-$10 tool, or you can fashion one with a socket that has a nut in it (experiment with sizes). Wear safety goggles when disassembling and assembling. The springs are small but they pack a good punch. Don't lose an eye to a job like this. Do one side at a time so that you can reference what parts go where when you reassemble.

For a staggering $5 per month more, I dropped my deductible from $500 to $0 recently.

If you were a DIY kind of truck owner, I'd say replace the transmission (it's a black box) and then carry on. But if you're taking it in to a shop for all of these repairs, ditch it, and ditch it now.

If it's as bad as you say, you need to look for damage to one of the mounts or to the links themselves.

I was rear-ended in my 89 Sentra by some broad in a Mazda Tribute. My car slid into another car (which then slid into one more) and was damaged badly at both ends. To keep the car, I "fixed" it myself and sent the insurance company some photos of my "repairs", taken at sunset. They were satisfied and left me alone. Short story short, I got to keep the car and the insurance company was off my ass. If your truck is still straight and true, and if you don't want it written off, my approach may work for you. Best of all, it's not even fraudulent.

Sniffer.

I took my 97 Pathfinder in for the annual government moneygrab, and it failed big time. All three readings at 40 km/h were double the maximum. A year ago, I had it in, and it passed easily. All numbers were less than 50% of the max. Back then, the truck had a dead KS, and the MAF was malfunctioning, which caused the truck to run poorly at any time other than idle and full throttle. One of the rear O2 sensors was also in bad shape and would often trigger the CEL. Mileage was 9mpg, city or highway. Now, the truck has a new KS that works, runs like a champ, and gets about 15-18mpg. I got through the test with a "conditional pass". It was given a fuel system cleaning (which was a waste, I'm sure of it) and I was told that I likely needed new cat(s). There's only 12 months and 10000 km (6200 miles) between now and then. Is this believable, or did I just get hosed?

Lower link is parallel to the ground. Not sagging.

If the fitment is different on each side, you'd be best off to inspect things and see what's going on down there. Putting on spacers and so forth should be on the bottom of the priority list.

FSM: "Camber, caster and kingpin inclination are preset at factory and cannot be adjusted." It then says that if any of above are out of spec, checked for damaged parts.

Can't adjust camber or caster with MacPhersons.

Likewise.