Slartibartfast

When I pulled a taillight for mine I took out all the bulb holders first. This made getting to the bolts a whole lot easier.

It's not unlikely that the solder behind the meter needs attention (reheating). This is fairly common with tachometers. I haven't heard of a digital trip going out but then I don't think they were that common... I doubt it's implying anything about the electrical system.

Thanks guys, I've checked the rag joint already and it seemed sound, but I'll check it again with regard to the box. The wheel bearings are good and tight. I'll check the box and the UCA bushings tonight, thanks for the heads up on replacements. I'm not sure exactly how it was aligned but I'll keep the caster in mind. I'll take a closer look at the box, I filmed it a while back (bolted a flip cam to the frame) and didn't see slack in it but then it wasn't showing it in relation to the input shaft. Adamzan, is this the bit on ST-4 about measuring from the wheel? Before we hack into it we're going to try sticking two of my dad's R50 rims on the front of mine and see if it changes the handling for the better. He just got new tires put on his and he says the steering feels better, so who knows.

I did the casting resin a little thick, so the bubbles didn't all get out. I may come back in later and coat the surface with a translucent paint/better label than the Sharpie I used. Anyway... Not the prettiest thing ever, but it lights up with everything else and I like it loads better than the collection of mismatched and poorly placed switches I was working with before. The 93 hazard switch on the console works great and blends in pretty well. I've got a spreadsheet with the pinout/color codes for the round and square dash switches for anyone interested in doing something with them.

My Pathy has always had a bit of a wander to it. At speed I can steer a few inches back and forth with no change in the truck's direction. It's stable when I'm turning, but going straight isn't something it's good at. We've had the upper and lower ball joints, TREs, idler, and centerlink replaced, and it's got new strut rod bushings/cups and a recent alignment. The handling feels about the same as it did before, and seems to have gotten a little worse in the past month or so. The tires are 31x10.5 Radar RLT-8s with less than 3k on them. Wear appears to be normal, no cupping/feathering/missing bits, but there's a fair amount of cracking going on between the tread blocks. They're well within their weight range. I did have them up to their max rated pressure (50 psi) for a couple weeks a year or two ago because I was an idiot, but now I keep them at 30psi, 35 today to see if it would help (it didn't). My dad suspects the tires are the problem, either because they've got crappy sidewalls or because they're too wide. There's no way it was this wobbly from the factory (and I know a lot of you run bigger tires without issue) so I don't think the size is the problem, except if it's exacerbating something else that's flogged. We've had the TREs, ball joints, centerlink and idler replaced, and did the strut rod bushings a few months ago. I'm a little suspicious of the steering box, but it's tight when the truck's not moving. We did try adjusting something or another on it a while back, which made it feel like something was binding a bit but didn't change handling at all. I've read that a failing PS pump can make the box act up but I've had no other indication of pump issues (and the fluid looks fine, no idea when it was last changed though). The rear end doesn't step out one way or the other when I get on/off the gas, so I don't think the rear link bushings are the issue. I guess the A-arm bushings could be the problem, but I'm not quite sure how to check them or even if this is the sort of thing they'd do. Does all this point to a screaming issue that I'm missing, or is a different set of wheels/tires a good place to start? (Sorry for the wall of text btw.)

Join the cult!

When my dad and I swapped out the belts in mine, one of them (p/s IIRC) was the wrong length. The guys at the parts store said it'd work but nope. Seems like a fairly common problem... best to bring in the old belt and make sure the new one is comparable.

Holy crap! Good to hear you came out the other side.

I wouldn't say the strut rod bearing cup thing was a hard weld but then I didn't do the actual welding. It didn't take my uncle long at all though, in fact I think it took longer to remove the bolts from the rods. Mine had a bit of the same under-floor rust. We found one in a junkyard and bought a section of the floor from it, then welded it in. With a little grinding and some spray paint you can barely tell there was a problem. Nice score with the teardown parts!

I got rid of a little squeak in mine by greasing the bushings where the front sway meets the frame. There's one bolt on either side (after you've got the skid plate out of the way) and then a rubber bit, and I just rubbed some general purpose grease in there. It didn't squeak much but it doesn't squeak at all now. If it only happens while turning, that does sound like it's the diff. The proper additive should take care of it but I imagine it'll lunch the LSD clutches if it goes too long without the right lubrication.

Aqui esta: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/33748-harbingers-automatic-to-manual-transmission-swap/ I managed to 'revive' my old idler pulley by cleaning out/repacking the bearing. Then again if you've got one lying around and/or aren't a cheap SOB you can get a new one and save yourself an afternoon.

Holy scheit, that makes me feel much better about my frame!

Should've asked him where he bought tires for his tractor and had another go.

If you can wade through the wiring diagrams, the Factory Service Manual should have you covered. I had a link to it on NicoClub but they've done some kind of facelift on their site and now I can't find it. Or, find a similar rig in a scrap yard, find the offending harness, and figure out what's supposed to be where... or just buy the intact harness out of it.

I'd give the wiring harness for that sensor a good look before swapping the sensor. Mud/sticks/etc could've knocked something loose or busted a wire.

Burnout on gravel? I've punched mine in corners but I've never gotten a chirp out of it. The only way I've heard of the LSD sticker coming off involve a wire wheel. And yeah, locker or not really depends on what you do with it.

/crickets I gave it a whack with some enviro-tex. I won't know if I mixed it right until it hardens, but hopefully I did it right. I've got the wires for the 93 switch all done up and the wires for the fogs pulled. Thanks to the headlight relay mod, I've got unused contacts in the headlight harness, so I'll use those as my high/low beam feeds. I'll solder the lot tomorrow except for the one hazard plug I still need to find (gotta check the other yard on Monday). Funny how there are so many sharp things to catch your hand on behind the dash.

If the emergency brake light (square dash has those, right?) is on as well, check your brake fluid. I found out mine was low from those two lights kicking on.

Can't wait to see the build thread.

Should bolt right up. If it's the auto it might have some trouble handling the additional power though.

Great to see two flogged out Pathies getting a new lease on life, but usually when I see two sisters with tails I suspect inbreeding.

If you don't live near a Ratshack and don't want to wait for shipping, try a hobby shop. Ask if they've got 'grain of wheat' style 12v bulbs and see if they're close enough.

I got a few things done tonight, including swapping out all the dead light bulbs for the ones I scrapped out of the factory radio. The hazard switch I got from the junkyard had a busted hinge, so I rebuilt the one side with superglue, baking soda, an itunes card, and a plug post out of a TV. The switch moves smoothly and the repair won't show. I had hoped that the stock switches would give up their labels with a little sanding... nope. The red and white are actually cast into the surrounding piece. Oh well, this'll look cooler anyway. I figure I'll take the one I haven't cut yet and use it to make a plaster mold with the proper shape. Then I can use the mold to cast some kind of resin into the bit I cut out, letter it, tint the back, and call it a thing. Anyone have a favorite casting resin?

I pulled out my multimeter and figured the pinout of the switches. The 93 switch uses the same color coding (which is a relief) so wiring should be pretty simple. My next task is modding the dash hazards so they don't look so... hazardous.

Spring is finally here, and with it comes a weird compulsion to do things to my Pathfinder. My current goal is a better setup for my fogs and driving lights. Groping around for a little fog light switch at highway speed always struck me as a bad idea, and the Ratshack toggles I had the driving lights on just looked cheap. I saw a post recently where someone had put their factory fog switch in place of the blanking plate next to the hazard lights, which looked like a much better setup, and got me thinking. Braden hooked me up with a round-dash hazard switch which I'll put in in place of the blanking plate. One switch will control the fogs (switched by the low beams), and the other will control the driving lights (switched from the high beams). I pulled a rocker-style hazard switch from a junked '93 for the console to actually run the hazard lights. I do plan to mod the faces of the pushbuttons a bit, hopefully keeping a stock look but losing the 'why do you have three hazard switches' thing. Unrelated, if anyone's considering a solid axle swap, the yard I went to had a few old Wagoneers laying around with their front axles still under them. It's a bit of a drive for most of you but if you're after one, it's a pretty cheap yard, and turnover is really slow. Let me know if you're interested and I can get more info. (Seriously, give me an excuse to hang out at the junkyard!)