spazman

I got mine from amazon for $160. Looks like they're going for $155 now. Amazon $155 Warn 29091 Manual Hubs The only issue I had with mine was the grease in them somehow solidified in a couple of places making it no longer engage all the way, I thought they were engaging because they clicked but the wheel would almost feel like it was hopping. I took them apart, regreased them, put them on and it was still there so I thought it was the transfer case or front diff. But I just took them apart again this weekend and found the rock hard grease in a couple of the teeth, popped it out with a toothpick, cleaned them well, regreased and problem solved. Great product and my mileage has gone up 2-3 mpg since putting them on so well worth if it you're putting any kind of mileage on your rig.

Nice videos! Actually doesn't look too much worse than when I use to go up there, but your guys 6" lift makes it look a little less severe than in my stock jeep!

I just did two trips in one day pulling a 6x12 open uhaul trailer about 20 miles one way and had zero issues with my 98. As long as the trailer has breaks it's not a big deal, just takes longer to get up to speed. I didn't even notice it was back there once i got up to speed and stopping was no problem either with the brakes on the uhaul trailer. I had 2 fridges, a couch (with foldaway bed), 2 dressers, a wine fridge, and boxes of misc stuff (half of them full of books). And the back of the pathy was filled completely, So I'd guess I was over the 3500lb tow rating but had no problems. Backing it up my brother's driveway where it was pretty steep, she sputtered a little but that could be because of my clutch and tranny going out.

I grew up in Buena Vista and have driven up all those roads. Pretty drive and fun 4 wheeling. Lots of pucker places up there too with some of the roads going across rock slides with the first stopping place if you went off being a couple hundred feet down the hill. Those switch backs are super tight too, I'd have to do a 3 point turn to get around some of them in my jeep comanche! Someday I'll get back up there and do those trails again. Last time I went to Grizzly lake was to go fishing and remember blowing a tire halfway up that section you're speaking of. Not fun changing out a tire on that! That section of road was tricky but definitely wasn't a 6 rated obstacle 10 years ago but got worse every time I've ever been up there so I can believe that it's probably pretty bad now. Can't wait to see more pictures of that area though!

It's the main gear in the transmission... if you don't have enough oil in there or don't change your oil and loose the proper lubrication you scortch (I know that's not the right word) the gear and it whines. The only fix is a complete rebuild including the gear or just finding a nice used one which I'm looking at doing because it's cheaper than rebuilding.

Yeah... definately make sure the maintance has been done regularly... mine just hit 170k miles the manual tranny has got a serious whine (death whine), the thing overheats if I run the a/c for longer than 5 minutes, struts are blown in the front, the clutch is slipping. So I am contimplating cubing it because I don't know if it's worth the $1500 in parts I know I need to get it fixed to run another 100k miles. But that being said, if it has been taken care of these things are beasts. Even with these problems it did better this last weekend pulling an open top 6x12 trailer packed full of probably 3k lbs of dressers, fridges, and the such than my brothers newish jeep comander pulling a 4x6 puny trailer with maybe 500 lbs of stuff. So I am not here to discourange anyone from the R50's becasue they are a good vehicle, just don't buy a car off your parents who were the origanal owners that didn't do much beyond change the oil every 3k miles then let my wanna be nascar style big city driver of a brother borrow it for a couple of years and not maintain and abuse it. Most of the stuff going bad I can attribute to his crappy driving and not to the pathfinder being a crappy SUV since the clutch and struts were both replaces less than 40k miles ago...

Okay after talking to a buddy who owned a driveline shop he says my trans is toast and on it's way out. Now here's my question, what is the difference between all the years of wd21, and r50 manual transmissions besides the fill hole? I'm just seeing what my options are for replacement. Oh and my wheel bearing is in tight, looks like the control arm bushing is done causing the play in the wheel.

Hey thanks for the help, I'll hae to see what's going on and take everything apart again. I just got some warn hubs a few months ago and they worked fine and engage and disengage. The fluid out of the transfer case looked good, the diff, again like pepsi. I didn't see any metal shavings or anything like that out of either, a little on the magnets but nothing to throw up red flags. There isn't much play in teh wheel bearings wither, if you pull on the wheel it might move 1/8". The front seems to be only bind on one side at a time not together. Hopefully I can get some poking around done and figure all this out.

Yeah I'll have to shop around for sure. Read the TSB and saw it wasn't for me but figured I'd still overfill a little just to be safe, figured if it's too much it'll spit it out the top. Seperate but similar question. I'm realizing that my drivetrain is crapping out on me, and when I lock my hubs now it feels and looks like things are haning up in teh front diff so it's making a crazy vibration. When 4wd is engaged or not there is that vibration and if you spin the front wheels they spin like they should but then on stops while the other spins about 1/4 turn and then you can see the diff start to bind up. Is that screwed too or am I just just having a major brain fart. Figured I'd see if anyone has any ideas before I go pulling things off and taking them apart.

sounds like a plan to me, I guess the search for a replacement trany begins. Anyone know if there is somewhere that states the cross compatibility of the models and generations. I have an early 98 so will any R50 work? from my little bit of research it looks like they may be different 96-98 and 98-01 but want to clarify. I'm sure it doesn't help that I've had this for 10k miles and didn't realize that the fluid had probably never been changed and looked like pepsi with chocolate milk swirls.

Well just realized it doesn't make that noise in 4th gear... damn it!

My clutch sounds like it's slipping but only when I first start it after it's been sitting overnight or longer. But lately I have been hearing a whining, like when you're in reverse but when I'm going forward and it's a lot louder when I get on the gas over 2500RPM. I'm haven't really ever missed with a transmission/clutch since I've never had any problems with anything I've owned in that area so I have no idea what is going on. I swapped the tranny fluid thinking maybe it was low, well it wasn't but it was black since I don't think anyones changed it ever (160k miles). It looked like someone had tried to change it, partially stripped the fill plug and said screw it. So all that being said, it makes taht whine when the clutch is disengaged and you're parked so I crawled under there while it was running and it's definitely coming from the front of the transmission around the clutch area. The noise goes away completely when the clutch is in though. So would this be a bearing, the clutch, something else I'm not aware of? Thanks

I think if the instated the "lose a hand" if you get caught stealing it would stop a lot of these people from doing it. Going to jail for a couple of weeks with TV and 3 meals just doesn't really sound like punishment, more like getting stuck in a crappy hotel for a while, a hotel where someone is waiting for you to drop the soap... I get pissed but figure I can be proud of everything I have because I earned it! Oh well you live and learn, then cautch the son of a bitch and break his had in a vice...

Just a vent, but why the hell can't people get off their asses and get a real job instead of stealing peoples stuff? I must have hit the button on my remote and unlocked my pf because it's always locked when I park it in the driveway. But it wasn't locked this morning when I went out and it looked like my kids had gotten in there and played and pulled the stuff out of my glovebox and center console. Then I realized that they had not been out there all weekend and that my ipod (cheap old ipod shuffle) and the title to it was missing from the glovebox. Yes I know I shouldn't have had the title in the glove box but long story short, I got bent over for hours at my last job so I had to sell my Impreza that I had paid off to pay the bills and bought the PF from my parents. I had all the paperwork including the title in the pf and was going to stop and get plates on friday but of course had to work late so figured I'd just put them in the glovebox and do it on tuesday. So it's more of an inconvience for me to have to get a new title becasue they can't really do anything with the one they stole. My mom crossed out her name on it and signed it again and in colorado they are super anal about stuff like that and you have to take in a form saying that they scratched it out, it is their signature and blah blah blah. Just pisses me off that you can't leave your car and house unlocked or something in front of your house without wondering if someone will feel intitled to it and take it. I live in a smallish town and bust my ass to pay my bills and get pissed at people sitting on the corner begging for money, if I don't have enough money for something, like I have in the past, I figure it out find another job earn more money and not just go around stealing people's stuff. I am super lucky becasue I had a $5000 GPS unit in the back seat of my pf that they didn't see, and I'd be screwed if that got taken. I lock my car everytime because 2 years ago I had my bike and kids trailer stolen in the middle of the day from in front of my house that is 30 feet off the street. Makes me want to find these peices of crap and make them explain it to my kids why we can't go to the park as often since it takes 30 minutes to walk when before it was a 5 minute mike ride. Again, just a vent, really pissed that there are people with the balls to come into your driveway and take your stuff as if they deserve it more than you do.

I am officailly accetping defeat, not normal for me but I'm out fo gas in my welder, the damn thing won't even so much as budge so I guess we'll see if a shop can get it off for me. Dang.

yeah the 1/2 in drive on the inside, not the threads. I'm not the best at describing things so other people know what I'm talking about (at least that's waht the wife says)...

Anyone have a trick on how to get a fill plug out that has the [] on the inside of the plug partially stripped? It's stuck in there good and looks like the PO had maybe tried to change the fluids and stripped it a little. I can still get some bite, just don't want to risk stripping it completely.

I replaced my stock fog lights with ones like those, needless to say they work good. They just don't seal so I went through a deep muddy puddle and now the lenses have a nice brown film on the inside, just have to take them apart and clean them so not a big deal but I guess you get what you pay for!

Personally I'm going to go with a FJ when the financials stabilize. Worked with a guy who had one and it went anywhere, was the 6 speed and he could get 27 mpg on the highway. Yes it had stock non-aggressive tires on it so I'm sure that helped the gas but it was nice. The cherokee, pathfinder and 4runner seem better for luxury and room if you plan on hauling anything around without a trailer. so like 180x said, depends on what you plan on doing. Off road frequently - FJ or wrangler, otherwise the other three would be a good fit.

Hard for me to compare the difference because my springs slowly died and were saggy but it was a night and day difference for sure from the worn out stuff I was replacing. So when they say caR50 I understand because mine handles as good as my wifes mazda CX9 but can still offroad like a beast, minus the blow front strut I have that is getting oil everywhere... I'm going to swap in the KYB GR-2's when I get paid next. Defenately a good lift. Can't say if it's better than the AC's but I like it.

Yeah it doesn't smell like it's burning but defiantely smells like something is really hot, like when oil starts to smoke a little but definately doesn't smell like engine oil. And I only smell it when I roll down the window or have the fan blowing full blast but can't trace it by sniffing around when I stop. I'm thinking maybe my last encounter at work going through mud and huge puddles might have somehow leaked a little in there because that breather tube had what looked like thick muddy oil in it. I guess it's time to change the fluids and see if that helps. At first I thought it might have been the oil getting on my rotor but then realized that I just blew that out and it's not it but needs to be replaced too. Ahh the never ending list of things to do.

Looks like some kind of return line, just pulled on it a little and it came off on the top(engine side) of the transmission and right where it connects to the transfer case. Not sure why it'd be leaking like it was... the investigating continues...

Here's a couple of pics, it is above the transmission case almost directly above where the clutch release cylinder is. The clutch release is on the bottom right of the first picture to give reference and the light on the upper right is the engine bay.

I've been smelling something weird for about a month and looked everywhere and couldn't see anything leaking, no fluid levels were low. Until today, I found that there is a hose that goes into the top of the transmission, any idea what that hose is, since it's tight as hell up there and I don't have a the time to just drop teh transmission all the way down. there are two hoses up there and the closest one looks like it has rubbed against the transfer case and worn through. I have a 5 spd by the way too, clutch has been slipping ocassionally so I'm assuming these are related. Thanks for any help!

I'm pretty sure I got a chevy one from checker and ground down 2 of the 4 prongs then had to grind the remaining to just a little to get them to fit. It was only $15 at checker/oreilley and did the job well. So if you're in a pinch and can't wait a couple of days to order one in like I was, this works like a charm and is much easier than the screwdriver approach.