Slartibartfast

I don't see why not. That way you'd have a much meatier diff in the back, and you wouldn't have to mess around with the driveshaft. Maybe you could have adaptors machined to connect the wheel studs to the CVs? I just realized that your present design doesn't have anywhere to hook up an emergency brake. If you use a shortened rear axle, I don't see why you couldn't keep the rotors or drums at either end and hook those up. They might hang down a little but probably no more than the diff. Feasible depends entirely on your budget and your skills. edit, I googled r200 and found these: http://members.shaw....f compare 1.jpg They're more or less centered but look to me like they'd require extensions (or different CVs/A-arms) to work with the stock stuff. You might be onto something with the cut down rear end!

My strut rods were the same way, they wouldn't come out without the lca jacked up a little.

You could just lengthen one side, but then you'd have to push the wheels farther apart, which would probably cause more fender rubbing, be a ton of work, and look stupid. You could shorten the CV shafts and the control arms, but that would mean a whole lot of work for less suspension travel, and who wants that? The CVs should be the same length. One thing you might look into, I think some other Nissans use the R200A (your front diff) as a rear diff. You might just see what's out there. There might be something in a wrecked Z car or something that's already centered or that you could trim down more easily.

Yeah, might be a little too much angle for the U joints to pick up. I'm sure a place that sections axles for sports cars could shorten one side and lengthen the other, though of course you'd have to change the mounts. Looks like they could just take the tube part on the right side and move it to the left side, and the pinion would be just about centered. Or you could build some kind of transfer case coming off the trans to push the shaft over the six inches or so it needs to be for the stock diff.

If you weld them middle-to-middle, you may have some trouble setting the proper caster angles for the rear wheels. Not that it isn't something you could overcome, just something to be aware of. Maybe an R50 rack would fit with a little hackery?

Sounds like it just needs an exhaust system and some evap stuff, or did it mangle something when the key failed? The collision damage is a PITA but if it was repaired properly, it should be okay.

There are a few build threads. It's basically the same motor (except for the bore and water jacketing and a few other things), but you have to put the VG30 intake and electricals on it. You can replace the VG33's cams with the VG30's cams for a more aggressive lobe size (?). The front of the crankshaft is also different, so you'll need to either use the VG33 accessories, get an adaptor (Mr. 510 made them, but he seems to have been abducted by Martians), or use the VG30 crank in the 33. I've heard that the 33 out of a Frontier would be best, apparently the accessories are mounted in a way that works with the WD's engine bay, but I haven't done the measurements (or the swap!) myself. There are several build threads on doing this mod. Also check this out, it goes way beyond a simple engine swap but if you skip the bits about boring the block and fitting new pistons, it should give you an idea of what you're up against.

Free MC Hammer pants!

Assuming that the issue did start with the trail ride, and that it isn't related to the bad bearing... Maybe a wire/sensor underneath got snagged? One of the wires from the O2 sensor on my WD was completely unhooked and it didn't throw any codes. I didn't notice a mileage change before and after fixing it, but I wasn't paying very close attention then. You might try jacking up the front end to mess with the wheels and make sure that both of the hubs are properly unlocked. Mine completely died a while back after I went over a weird off-camber bump in my yard. I was very low on gas at the time and apparently it got all the gunk in the fuel tank moving around, and clogged up the fuel pump. Maybe your trail run got some gunk sloshing around?

Three long-legged rats in one night? Sounds like cult suicide to me. Good that your bumper and lights were the only casualties. I took mine in for re-alignment after doing the strut rod bushings. I don't feel loads of difference yet but it doesn't clunk going around corners, which is a nice change. Also, I'm totally wearing socks and sandals right now.

Hit up Rob (Autorakhil). Check out this thread for some of the procedure for swapping the disks out. It's for improving the LSD but it should still give you an idea of what bits you need and where they go. (The FSM should have a diagram of the stock configuration.)

Awesome.

National brand, from Rockauto. I can't figure out how to direct link but you can search by part number (L68111). Dead cheap.

Got a picture of the switch? Also, got a couple paper clips and a tail light bulb to test them and see if they power up?

I guess adding fuel to the oil would dilute the oil, thin it, and help it get past the rings. Check the oil level and see if it's way high.

I just put a set of blue poly Moogs in mine. If the truck's your DD I'd try and pick up a set of junkyard rods before tearing into it, just in case. Both of mine had worn through the sleeve into the rod, but neither had gone far enough to worry me. As yours is six years older, chances are they'll be in worse shape. The kit came with four bushings and two steel sleeves for the rods. I also bought some L68111 bearing cups and had my uncle weld them on in place of the stock front bushing cups. Here's the writeup. I added some pics of my installation to the end of it. I haven't had it aligned yet but it's not clunking when I go around corners anymore.

If it ran a while with the CEL (and the hose didn't just pop off again) you might try resetting the ECU by unhooking the battery for a few minutes.

All I can think of is trying stuff with a multimeter, and possibly a 9v battery to figure out which contacts go to which motor. The two mirrors should have two motors each. I'm not entirely sure how that's wired with three contacts, but clearly it's possible.

Any junked Pathfinders or Hardbody pickups in the junkyard? Seems like finding a new LSD diff would be loads easier than trying to hack up a Jeep axle to make it fit. I'm pretty sure that the later R50s used the same rear differential unit (H233B), so you could just pop it out and go. The R50 LSD isn't as tight as the WD21 setup though. Look for the orange sticker on the rear diff casing, those things stay on through hell or high water. That said I've never heard of the LSD fully crapping out. If it's just the clutches, those are replaceable separately. Edit: I just read that the R50 233b is the 33-spline variant, whereas the WD21 233b is 31 spline. Sorry for any confusion.

My uncle helped me do mine today. It wasn't too bad, but the bolts needed a little torching to come off, and the job certainly needed doing. Both sleeves were worn through, and the rods were a little worn, but nothing we decided to worry about. The cups were knackered though. The passenger's side one was actually broken, which might explain some of the thumping noises the truck made on corners. So we welded L68111 bearing cups in their place. I had the idea to use one of the old buggered rubber bushings on the rod to center the cup for tack welding, and this seemed to work pretty well. Once it was tacked my uncle pulled the rods back out and welded the cups on the rest of the way. The rear cups looked okay, so we just did the fronts and called it good. We didn't bother sandblasting, but we did apply anti-seize to the rod bolts and bearing grease to the rusty bit of the rod to protect it from moisture. Now it just needs an alignment! And thanks for the write-up, it helped a lot.

When I fixed mine, I pulled off the wheel, the flare, and the plastic inside the fender. I was able to remove the entire unit and feed in the new antenna, which still works great (not that I use it much). It'd probably be loads easier with the fender off though, plus you could clean out behind it where dirt etc collects.

Or for bumper protection from people on cell phones!

My dad an I considered doing that with mine, but the cheapest local yard wanted $400 for just the rear frame from a WD.

If you do decide to do the timing belt, don't cheap out on parts. The PO on mine did that, put a cheap t-belt/tensioner/etc in it, and we had to have it all done again maybe 1k later when the tensioner bearing started whining. The main cause of failure was that the belt was way too tight, but still, for the amount of work (and the risk of damaging the engine if the belt fails), use good quality parts. And yeah, good luck in surgery!

Seeing as how it's bolted to the motor and all I imagine it would heat up a bit... then again I don't know the diesel engine setup. 1665XX and counting.