jasonb

what problem did you have bleeding? i've never bothered to do anything with the load valve when bleeding and it seemed fine...

in principle i agree that you need to re-adjust them as they break in (there is a lot of pad area there). thats fine with me, but what i felt is a much different pedal when i was offroad and for a few hundred miles following until it gradually improved. i'm wondering if the little automatic adjuster was rattling around on the washboard roads and loosened things. it was weird. i also do a lot of towing (approx 4300 lbs) so i'm essentially twice regular weight, so i want all the brakes i can get.

yeah, your right, i phrased that badly. let me try again i'm thinking of putting the rugged rocks bottom links in because i like them. design looks similar to heim joint but ive been told with better wear. i was thinking of putting poly bushings in the top links. (i plan to do myseld so labor $$ isn't an issue) would appreciate any feedback on this idea. i do a lot of towing with my pathfinder, so having a stable rear suspension is huge. separately, i was making point that if somebody is going to pay a shop to change bushings out of the stock links it would be similar cost to just buying the rugged rocks links because there is very little to no labor cost for the install (its an entire link). your right, the rugged rocks links aren't dot approved. but then again, the 6point harnesses in my track car aren't either

few weeks back i decided i was going to fix the terrible braking on my pathfinder. i went after the fronts first and put hawk pads using their high torque street pads. then i went after rears. i found porterfield r4s compound rear shoes and put those with new drums. pedal feel improved huge. felt braking with light press. pressing harder was very linear. so i went on my road trip very encouraged. then i went off-road. no big deal, just dirt roads in the desert, all high speed stuff but very washboard. it required hefty braking when i would come up to some obstruction in the road, followed by high speed again. after about 30 miles of this the brake pedal feel was back to ****** again. long travel and not linear at all. on the drive back home on highway, the pedal feel seems to have returned almost back to where i started. sigh. so i'm thinking seriously of putting rear discs on this thing. i was reading about it here http://nissannut.com/projects/H233b_disc_brakes/ but i'm not sure how ebrake is going to work and the details of differences in bearings/axles. has anybody done it? advice appreciated

how many miles you got? i've never replaced my bearings (only greased when doing pads). i'm at 184k now.

anybody got a writeup on changing fluid on a 5speed? its definitely time. i've forgotten if/when it was changed last.

+1 for the HF press. i have the little 12ton and it works great although i was denied once on one bushing the last time i dealt with the death sway. (somebody asked above: i got death sway at 110k miles, freeway speed, gentle curve, slightly downhill, constant speed. it would sway back and forth, progressively getting worse until i would lift off the gas and the front shocks would gradually smooth things back out. if i had not of lifted i would definitely have crashed). so its time to deal with the bushings again. i don't mind doing my own work to replace but i was wondeirng what yall thought about these: http://ruggedrocksoffroad.com/rugged-rocks-hd-adjustable-lower-rear-suspension-links-nissan-pathfinder-1996-2004-p-3885.html if you ask me, something like this makes a lot of sense over paying somebody to put polys. same price and easier to maintain. i'm thinking of putting poly in upper arms and teh ruggedrocks on teh bottom. interested in your feedback