Slartibartfast

The alarm on these was an afterthought, so it's pretty easy to remove. Most of it is just plugged in between stuff. Your ignition switch plugs into the alarm harness, which plugs into the main harness--so you just separate the two plugs and plug the switch into the main harness, without the alarm harness in between. Same deal for the power locks, at the A pillar. I think the horn was the same way. A couple wires are scotchlock'd into the harness, so you'll have to pick those apart or cut the wires on the alarm harness side. The parking lights are tapped near the switch, and the dome light is tapped near the fuel door release IIRC. The wires for the hood switch and the siren go through the firewall along with the fog light harness, so be careful which wires you cut there. IIRC the fog harness is also scotchlock'd to the headlight harness near the switch. The alarm brain is the square box under the driver's seat with the hole in the top (or a white sticker over the hole in the top, if that's still there). You will need to remove the driver's seat, the kick panel, the clamshell, and the trim plate along the bottom of the door jamb. Might need to remove the dash panel under the clamshell as well. Didn't take too long when I did it to mine, and my starter circuit has been reliable since.

Not on my own, but I've seen it come up a few times on here. Good to hear you figured it out. I'm not sure if it's the debris covering the slots in the wheel or the shaft flopping around in the dead bearing that does it. And yeah, that #6 plug can be a real piece of work. The right combo of extensions and a U joint can get it, as can the socket in the factory tool kit (assuming the R50 had the same tool kit as the WD21). When I went through mine, I had a reason to pull the intake off anyway, so I went ahead and did the plugs while I was in there. They're much easier to replace when you can see them!

^Yep, that's the one! Not sure how the link got screwed up, sorry about that.

Sounds like the bearing in the distributor. Here's a writeup for rebuilding it.

Looks like Wes answered this the last time you asked.

I had an intermittent no-start or weak start on mine. It would crank slow like the battery was dead, then crank like nothing was wrong seconds later. Or the starter would run, stop, then try to start again. I replaced a whole bunch of stuff, including the starter, ignition switch, and inhibitor relay, without success. Finally I tore out the alarm and its harness. The harness intercepts the wiring from the ignition switch. In my case, it added about six feet of wire and a couple more connectors to the circuit. The alarm in the round-dash trucks moved the relay up into the dash IIRC, so the wire run should be shorter, but it's still a potential source of trouble. The weird thing was, I had already deleted the alarm brain and bypassed the starter wires in its harness, so the only thing in play was the harness. Still, the issue has been gone since I ripped that crap out. Mine didn't need jumper cables to go, so I don't know that this is the same issue. If you run out of ideas, though, that's what I'd try next. The factory alarm was an afterthought and is not that difficult to remove.

CV axles binding?

The only real complaint I had with the Radars was the cracking. I think the Toyos are better in the snow, but I had them a few years apart and on two different rigs, so I can't really offer a good comparison there.

Huh, I'll have to look into those guys. I've heard good things about Red Head as well, I think someone on here got them to rebuild theirs.

I tried adjusting mine once and screwed it up so badly that I had to buy a reman box to replace it, so good on you for getting it right. That said, there's only so much you can adjust out of them. The adjuster on top sets the gear lash, but it can't help with slop in the ball screw. I would lay money that most if not all of your remaining steering play is in the gearbox. That's where mine is, anyway. That reman POS is sloppier than the box I started with, before I messed it up. I'm planning to swap over the steering box from my parts car when I do the rag. I don't know how much better it is, but at least it doesn't leak.

When we first got my dad's hot rod going, we discovered that it would just about change lanes when he hit the gas. The thing that finally solved it was replacing the rear leaf springs. The old ones looked fine, and I still have no idea what was wrong with them, but clearly something was shot.

I did a bunch of research the last time mine needed tires. Realized that with how little I drive, the tires would die of dry rot before the tread wore out, so I might as well get something soft and sticky. Ended up with Toyo AT2s. They weren't cheap, but I have no complaints about their performance. Good in snow, good in the dry. We don't get much rain. Haven't had issues in what little mud I've gotten into. No complaints on noise, either. I think I got them in '19 (with '17 date codes). Tread's still good, no sign of dry rot, haven't noticed any decline in performance. My previous truck had Radar RLT-8s, which were alright for the most part, but started cracking between the tread blocks after a while. I don't remember how old they were at that point, but they still had plenty of tread left.

I checked on my rag joint today. It still feels solid, but the cracks tell me it won't be for long. The one in my parts truck looks just as bad. Now that I need one, I figured I'd take a few measurements and see what else I could track down. The bolt circle is 60mm. The mounting holes are about 10mm with metal inserts. Roughly 12mm thick at the bosses. Most of the listings I found for rag joints did not spec any useful dimensions. The only one I've found a bolt circle measurement for is the Borgeson 000941, which, conveniently, has a 2 3/8" bolt circle--which is basically 60mm. That said, it's not poly, and it's listed for a bunch of GM pickups, so I don't think it's going to lead you to a poly version, either. If you do manage to track one down, I'll be curious to hear if it makes any noticeable difference to steering feel or NVH. I'm just gonna order the Lares, though.

I finally got around to swapping the springs over from the partsfinder. I didn't get as much lift as I expected from them, but they did turn a slight squat into a slight rake, so, that's something. They'll do for now. The hatch corners are now 6'8" off the ground.

Grab the shaft below the coupler with vise grips, have someone work the wheel back and forth (with about the same torque they would if they were driving), and see if the coupler flexes. That'll tell you right quick if the coupler is bad.

I can't find Nissan's part number for an OE one. The diagram only shows it as part of the column assembly. The only options I'm seeing are the aluminum one, some sketchy cheap crap on Alibaba, and the Lares 210. This listing for the Lares shows it cross-refs to four-banger HBs and first-gen X/Fronty, but given none of those have a thriving track day bro market either, I'm guessing you're SOL on finding a poly version. I'm not sure a poly rag joint would feel any different. The stock rubber joint in mine is plenty stiff. There's more play in the steering than I'd like, but that's not where it is.

RE the noise, my first thought is the power steering pump, which is loaded when it's up against its stops. Could also explain why it calmed down once the fluid warmed up. Wouldn't explain the wheel speed connection, though, unless it's just the higher engine speed spinning the pump faster. Wouldn't hurt to check fluid level and condition. Steering angle shouldn't be changing the load on the wheel bearing by enough to matter, not at those speeds. I would be looking for CV axle binding issues (unlikely if the truck isn't lifted) or tire clearance issues before suspecting the bearings. Might also take a look at your steering stops. I don't know how the R50 does its steering stops, but mine are metal on metal (they used to have plastic caps, but those are long gone) and now and then it'll creak like a haunted house at full lock. I just gob a little grease on them whenever I'm under there. I wouldn't expect the leverage to play into the hop, but I guess the harder coils might be changing how the system resonates? Control arm angles from the lift might be factoring into it too. Or even the tires, assuming you're running different tires with the new wheels. Maybe some combination of the compound/tread pattern/sidewall stiffness just doesn't hop like the other tires did?

I'll bet this is a quirk of the Ackermann angle. When you're turning, both front wheels follow curved paths, but the inside wheel follows a tighter curve, so it has to steer sharper. The geometry to make this happen is built into the knuckles (where the tie rod attaches vs where the knuckle pivots). The farther you turn, the more the Ackermann kicks in. This also means that any error in the geometry will show up more the farther you're turned. Anything suspension-related tends to be at its worst at the limits of its travel anyway. I'm guessing the steering angles at full lock don't quite agree on how tight of a turn you're taking, which means one wheel or the other has to slip, which is more dramatic on the polished concrete than it is on normal road surfaces. Strato's wheel offset is an interesting wrinkle to this. Changing the offset wouldn't change the angles, but it would change the curve of the paths they're on--evidently enough to get them closer to where the wheels are pointing. Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think I've ever driven mine in a parking garage, but I have noticed that it disturbs gravel more at full lock. Probably the same thing going on. In any case, Ackermann is not adjustable (apart from racecar stuff), so I'd file this one under It Just Does That. It's also possible I'm full of crap. But if you're not in 4x, then it's not torque binding. If a tire was hitting something in the wheel well, which would make sense with it only happening at full lock, I imagine you would've noticed the noise or seen the shiny spot. I've heard of the rear limited slip chattering if it's got the wrong lube in it, but I wouldn't expect that to only happen when you're against the steering stops.

At least you had the part on the shelf! Hopefully it holds up. Sucks that they built a bigger truck, with a bigger engine, but downgraded the diffs. The R180 was what the four-cylinder W/D21 got in the front. Spinning up a wheel and then suddenly finding traction does tend to kill things. I blew the front end in our snowplow doing that. Replaced the spiders, washed out the glitter, winced at the marks it left on the bearing races, buttoned it back up anyway. It's held up so far. We run chains on it now, which makes it much harder to get stuck, which reduces the abuse the diffs have to put up with.

Those are the engine computer codes. You want the ABS codes. Separate computer, different procedure. Spelled out on BR-34 and 35 of the '94 service manual that I linked in my last post.

The ABS light on is good news. That means the computer knows there's a fault, and can tell you what it is. Pull the code and it'll tell you where to look. Otherwise you're just throwing expensive parts at what could be a wiring or even hydraulic fault for all we know. BR section is here. The sensor on the rear axle tells the control module (computer) how fast the rear wheels are spinning. (Well, technically how fast the pinion is spinning.) The control module under the seat watches the sensor, decides when there's a problem, and controls the solenoids in the valve block accordingly. The valve block is bolted to the inside of the passenger's side frame rail, about even with the B pillar IIRC, and has a solenoid to block off the rear brakes from the master cylinder, a solenoid to dump brake pressure from the blocked-off rear circuit, and an accumulator to dump the pressure into. Its design and behavior are spelled out in the BR section of the service manual. IIRC replacing the sensor requires removing the flange for the driveshaft. The PD section should cover it if BR doesn't. And, yeah, that's an expensive damn sensor. Are you sure it's the rears that are locking? When my rear brake circuit wasn't working (long story, stubborn air pocket somewhere), the fronts would lock pretty easily, because they were trying to do all the work. A malfunctioning ABS valve block could block off the rear brakes and cause the same issue. I realized my rears weren't doing anything when I jacked up the back of the truck, put it in drive, and was unable to stop the rear wheels with the pedal. If you're locking your rear brakes on pavement, I need to know what kind of pads you're running, because mine do not grab hard enough to do that.

I haven't messed with the round dash cluster much, but when I opened up the dash from my parts car (which also had an inop odometer), I found that the solder joints for the little motor that runs the odometer were cracked. By then I did not have a running truck to test it in (had already pulled the engine out), but I'll bet soldering those up would've done the trick. That is what I'd try. Just be careful while taking it apart, and watch for any bits falling out, in case the plastic gears are what failed. The fuel gauge is built into the fuel pump assembly, yes. The sender, the wiring, or the gauge could be acting up. I would check the gauge while the cluster is apart. Look for any bad joints and make sure the screws holding it in are tight. Failing that, the service manual (probably the EL section) is your friend.

If the ABS light on the dash is on, the computer thinks something is wrong. The BR section of the service manual (free download from Nicoclub) will walk you through it. I recommend filming the flashing light with your phone so you can play it back, because it's not the most intuitive thing to decode. They can code for several different faults, including the computer. Mine coded for the speed sensor. Looks like the light will also come in if the ABS kicks in when you're in 4WD, and that's normal--it's just confused because the drivetrain is locked together through the transfer case, and the ABS can't unlock the front brakes, so unlocking the rear brakes has no effect. If you can't get a response from the diagnostics plug, I guess it could be the computer, though I would check the fuse, the bulb in the cluster, and the wiring (the service manual has a check for this too) before ordering a replacement. The ABS computer should be under your driver's seat. It's the one with the rounded corners, not the box with the hole in the top (that's the alarm). Also check the brake fluid level in your master cylinder. IIRC the low fluid sensor lights up ABS and BRAKE on the dash, but it's been awhile since I dealt with that one. If the ABS light is not on, what makes you think it's not working? There is not much to this system, and it only works on the rear wheels. There is no pump to pulse the brakes. The service manual talks about noise and pedal vibration, though hell if I know how it would do that without a pump. I suspect they may have copied that text from the manual for a different model that used a more advanced system. The only noise I ever heard from mine was a click when the ABS tested itself. I'm on my second WD21 and have never noticed the ABS kicking in on either of them. I ended up deleting the system while chasing another braking issue and have not noticed any changes in handling.

Sounds like you're on the right track. I saw in an SMA video a while back that g/s at warm idle is usually close to the engine displacement, which agrees with your old 3.5g/s reading. A messed-up sensor would explain the trims and the g/s being off. Good luck cleaning the old MAF--and good thinking having a new one on hand.

If you can't pull codes by any other method, it might be worth a shot--but if it hasn't acted up in a while, who knows if the code will still be there.