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I'd also go with bearings, but wow, by this time your brake rotor would be scraping and making horrible noises. The wheel would be flopping around. On my 97 D21 the wheel was laying in on the right, but I had an encounter with a rock that bent something. Nobody could find what bent through just measuring, so the truck got written off. I pulled it back to life with a SFA that took away any guess work on the IFS. IFS is like a back problem, once you operate, the trouble never stops. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Daver123, thanks for the reply. Sorry I'm only getting back to this thread now, been offline for a while with work and technical problems. Yip, I'm running a leaf sprung SAS at the moment. I would really like to try my luck with a three link and Panhard. I thought of Radius arms, but I see some guys are saying they get binding. Basically what I think I need is measurements from someone who has managed to get a stable rig at higher highway type speeds, but have been able to achieve some good flex, I mean, that is what the SAS was for in the first place. I have ended up with around a 6-7" lift, so I am hoping that just to copy the length of your arms and hieght of the mounts off the floor on the diff and the chassis ends should give me a good place to start. I can compare angles of the upper and lower arms and see how this fits into my plans. I supppose technically, I should rather be looking at the distance from the centre of the diff tube to the chassis mounting point. I know you can't really have a good handling road rig, and good offroad flex in a single package, but yours seems to be close, and mine is my daily drive that needs to be fairly manageable for my wife to drive as well. Of you think I am hoping for too much, please tell me. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Will also be following this thread. I would like to a have two spare wheel carriers on the rear bumper, but this could het very tight with two 33" tires, and also somewhat heavy. I have already tied into the chassis on the rear with 16mm (probably around 3/4") flat stock thatvare my recovery points, and just capped the stock towbar after shortening it and lifting it slightly because it was messing with my departure angle. Then I did a 7" lift, and everything changed[emoji24] . Now I am looking to do something that will tie back to the chassis to protect the body when coming off a rock. The tow bar will have to get a big drop plate with another tie in to the chassiss to support and stop any twisting. My front end cross member no longer resembles anything Nissan after the SAS, and also incorporates copious amount of 3/4" plate and carriers for the suspension. We have a fairly unique bushbar on our rigs here, and I would like to keep as much of that look, but pull the edges of the bumper up to aid approach angles. Anyhow, so I'll like to see what designs are out there. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Do you know where you were getting vibes on your first setup. Was it the angles from side to side, or too short rear shaft that was causing the problems? I am on my way to a second divorced TC behind the TX10. Problem is a have to go this route because of the diffs I am using and need to have the right drop.

Daver123, your lift looks about what mine has ended up to be. I am not happy with where my leaf SAS has ended up. The handling is a problem and it looks like I may have a problem with the way the additional blade with military wrap. The eyes do not allow any movement over the first blade and hence a bunch of binding. I actually think a lot of the weight is now supported by binding instead of spring tension. I am on my way to go cut the eyes off the military wrap, but could end up with my van sitting on the bump stops. Will a three link with panhard have the basic geometry as yours on the chassis mounts and length of arms? Is it possible to get some measurements from you with regards positioning of your arms on the chassis and angles. As you know this is my daily driver and time in the garage needs to be kept to a minimum. My budget is also, as usual, zero, but I have a set of coils front and rear from a 4.8 Patrol I hope to use. Any help would be appreciated. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Mine came about when I bent the D21 and I had no other way to keep it on the road. Quotes were open ended to try and fix it and nobody could say with certainty that they could get it right. Insurance wrote it off and I could not afford that. I was unemployed and had to do something to save my only ride. Our 4x4 forum here got together and all kinds of donations came in. I had to work with what I got and a very limited budget. Leaf pack from the rear of a one tonner hardbody is what I had. I have since been struggling with "funny" handling issues and have even cut a welded the front diff out three times to try and change castor in the hope it sorts things out. Now I find that my leaf pack that I added a military wrap blade to, could be the problem. The wrap blade has no space for movement on its eyes, and is under binding and tension. My reasoning is that I may end up with springs that can't hold up the front end when I cut off the eyes of the military wrap blade. I still can't afford much for this project and I think a new leaf pack will make for a whole new build. I have a set of coils from a 4,8 Patrol that I think could come in handy on a 3 link. I have even thought of building a radius arm to replace the trailing end of the leaf pack using its original mounting points, and adding a panhard with coils. Internet searches tells me its not going to be that easy. My build is very unique as I doubt anybody has used the diffs I have. I have moved the drive train to the other side of the vehicle in the front to have a right drop. Rear has to undergo the same changes. So, what I really need is some info from someone that has done a D21 3 link with panhard, that can tell me where my chassis mounting points need to be and angles of the arms and things like that. Radius arms seem quick and nasty and guys say thet don't articulate very well with binding. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

I'm thinking more and more of going with a 3 link. Would be nice if someone had the geometry figured on a D21 that could tell me where to mount stuff and what to do. Mine is mostly a daily drive and I am sure coils would .make a big difference. My big problem is that I doubt that anybody has done a D21 SAS with the diff I used, and the resulting 7" lift. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

When I did my D21 SAS, I pulled in at a scrap metal merchant and asked him to weigh the front and rear independently. Came to 1200kg up front and 900kg on the rear. You should be half that on each wheel. Had leaf packs built to carry appropriate weight on the front end with the one tonner leaf pack as a base to work from. They added one military wrap blade to the pack. I could possibly have gone a bit heavier as the pack carries the weight with an exactly straight blade. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Now you mention it, the donor vehicle I bought for the last rescue, was a 82 MQ Patrol UTE for its suspension. It also went to saving another two vehicles with a heap of spares left that have probably helped even more. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

So mine is not quiet a Pathfinder, but in 1996, it was the closest thing Nissan offered in our country Earned the name "Hillbilly" in 2006 already. But I have carried the name further by in the way the vehicle has been modified and fixed over the years. Budgets have always been tight. Vehicle has been written off twice by the insurance, but I have each time been able to rescue it. End result is some sketchy work and repairs. But it has never left me stranded next to the road or trail. Gets used as my daily intimidation tool...err.... driver. He is part of the family. Disclaimer! ! No offence intended to Hillbillies. I use this term with utmost affection. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

I got a aftermarket Pathy look alike with fender contour so unique that no over the counter snorkel would fit. I built mine from fibre glass. It took a while to get it as I wanted, or at least was happy with. Started off with expanding foam and a lot shaping. Seal off and smooth with body putty. Even got the vehicle model embossed in the fender. Pulled a mould off the plug I built. The head was a special build and got attached permanently to the pipe section. Doing it myself I could make sure the pipes all seal 100% and do a seal test every so often. Block the head and the engine must die from air starvation. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

93 Pathy is based on the D21 chassis. You can crank up the torsions and maybe even add a coil over, but 40mm is about the limit and you are into having problems with draglink, idler arm and tie rod ball joints going south in a hurry. OEM spares last a bit longer, but we know how much that costs. I cut bump stops to give myself a bit more droop, as 40mm puts you very close to dropping onto your bump stops over suspension fall out situations. Then I started getting CV binding at full droop. Only way to get a descent lift is with drop box/frame to drop the entire front end off the chassis. The D21 front end hates lifts and bigger tires. Nissan did not give us much to play with. My D21 leaf sprung rear end was open to just about as much lift as I wanted. Bashed in drop boxes and 150mm lift. With a one piece propshaft my angles on the UJs are still ok. I just had to extend the propshaft a bit to reduce the amount of hang out on the slip yolk at the gearbox. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

My D21 is slightly modified in that region to take the shackle mounts for my SFA leaf pack. Chassis extended forward by about 20 centimeters (8") with 1/2" flat stock 3" wide with a "C" channel crossmember 3"x 1"x 1/4" thick. Off that I have my shackle mounts and attachment points for my standard Nissan bullbar that had absolutely no issue lifting the 1,2ton front end with a hilift jack. One day when I am brave enough to tackle a 3link setup, I will not need all that steel construction, but parts of it can stay for bumper and winch. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

You could also have dislodged a resin build up in the pipes between the filter and the injectors. Now that gunk has broken loose and stuck in your injectors. Spray pattern is compromised and no good for cold starting, but not affecting higher revs performance that much, with enough air swirl to achieve combustion conditions close to normal. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Where do you attach the bumpers to the chassis. Is it only under the bumper on the cross member, or do you also go through the grill past the radiator and pick up those two little brackets. They seem a waste of time to me. I am also wanting to do something more fitting my truck. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

I never stripped my engine, just replaced, but I believe I bent rods. Something I was warned about, is hot engine parts that suddenly get cooled by the water ingest and forming cracks. These cracks cause problems later down the road. Not sure how true that is, but does kinda make sense to me. This must be like a rollercoaster ride for you. Think you ok, then not. Hope you get it sorted. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

On my phone I can't see what you drive, but I was also threatening for a long time to do a snorkel. More a gungho rough and ready look thing, than anything else. On the 2.7TD, or any diesel for that matter, they run sweet with the fresher/cooler air you get from a snorkel instead of the hot air under the bonnet. Then I had a little missap, drive a stretch of water that many others had done while we were there the afternoon. But I decided it was slightly deep, and I would drive just a meter or two closer to the edge. Drop off was fairly steep and you end up doing this water at quiet an angle. As luck would have it, there was a great big hole that I dropped my left front wheel into. Over articulated and when the right rear lost traction, the vehicle stopped pushing water and the bow wave broke back over the bonnet. D21 air intake sits behind that headlight, and even before I could get to the key to switch off the engine, it was too late. When evrything settled, the left side (our passanger side) had water coming in through the window. My side was barely ass deep. We stood im the water for around five minutes before the suitable recovery vehicle and gear was ready to pull me out. It was with the pulling out that the water came washing forward and through the car. It was right there and then next to the dam, over the next hour, I pulled evrything apart and eventually got it running. But I could hear there was something not right. Thought the white smoke was from water burning out the engine. But it did it every time we had a cold start. I eventually still drove it home 200km (120miles). Two days later the insurance wrote it off due to it being uneconomical to repair. I took a cash settlement and fixed it myself for just on half what they paid out. The old motor gave me around 10-12bar compression per cylinder, where it should be 22-24bar. Anyway, the snorkel was a problem from day one, as I drive a South African aftermarket copy of the D21 Pathfinder you guys got over there. There were so few of them, that nobody thought of marketing a snorkel for the vehicle. Looked at importing one from the US, but one of the forum members took a template of the Pathfinder, and I found the snorkel would not follow the fender. I wanted something slick, and the pvc pipe thing did not do it for me. So I built a model of expanding foam and body putty of exactly what I wanted. Then took a mold of it and cast a glass fiber snorkel. I can proudly say that it has saved my me at least once. Air filters last way longer, and the old diesel runs much better with the cooler air. It also sounds good between gears when the turbo does a mini Oshkosh woosh, lol. Here is what I did. That pic just wont stand up straight. Excuse the phone pic quality, my camera has been through hell and I need to replace it. Something I must stress, many of the snorkels you can buy, do net seal properly. If you can not kill the engine by blocking the snorkel head, its not much more than a decoration. I have tested, and check it periodically to make sure it is fully functional. Mine was really a fun project, and it took me few months and a few versions to get it the way I wanted. It a bit big, but I wanted no obstruction in the intake size, and I did not want it obscuring my view. Hence the flat pipe design that equates to 1,7 times the volume of the standard intake pipe at its biggest. BTW, I tried the pcv pipe thing, but our temperatures are too hot here, and every few days, I would have to turn the pipe 180° as it would droop and catch the body or the door when you open it. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Think they are all the same. Manual shows all D21s to have the TX10 TC. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Sounds like you were just about out the water when it died. If the fuel filler was under the water level, get ready to drain the tank. It's probably too late now, but never expel water from the cylinders with the starter. Turn plugs out on a gas motor, and injectors or glo plugs on a diesel motor. Then turn by hand till no more water comes out. Then go for the starter. But very short bursts. Petrol engines are way more forgiving in these situations than diesels. I drowned my diesel a few years back, and was told later that I bent the connecting rods after the actual drowning by just turning the motor on the starter to evacuate the water. I was up to my windows deep in the water, but my old donkey D21 Hardbody came out with zero electrical damage. Even the radio and speakers still work eight years later, just the cd player no longer ejects cds and last year I lost the electric window unit on one of the rear doors. If you have extended breathers on your diffs and gearbox, you should be ok, but its worth it to jyst drain and replace those oils for good measure. But with the amount of water our rigs see in these types of situations, I check and replace every few months, and also check wheel bearing and seals often, for good measure. Have you considered a snorkel? I know it's not our intention to go drown our rigs, but it does instil a lot of confidence when faced with a water obstacle. But, know and check your equipment. Also know that a snorkel does very little for the real show stopper when it comes to water. Electrics are your real problem. But now I am going way off topic. Hope you get your rig back on the road soon. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

And that's what I am hoping for. Problem is these things hardly make it to the junk yards. They get sold complete, and believe it or not, mine was a runner. I just managed to beat the guy down so low on his price that I picked it up for less than a Dana35 would have cost me for my SFA, and that before I even included the price to regear to 4.88. These diffs I got, came with 4.88 gearing for about three years in South Africa on the Safari Heavy Duty. And yes you are right, there is probably not many people that would consider these diffs for a D21 SFA because they are right drop both front and rear. But when I had a look at the Calmini TX10 doubler kit, the cost to import it was on par with purchasing that Safari/MQ. So, for the same price, I do my TC doubler through a divorced unit, and I get to uprade my Hardbody diffs.....Well I consider a C200 front and H260 rear to be an upgrade, doubt I am wrong. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Removed it from this. 1980-83 Datsun Safari/Patrol MQ Along with drive shafts, rear end and transfer case. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

I agree with EXPLOR. To pull an IFS longer is not going to be easy. Besides, as soon as you got bigger tires and better approach angle, you end up going places that is just going to bend and break an IFS setup. To go 33s, you probably in for around 2 - 2,5" forward on the front axle. On my d21 I got away with 33s without moving the rear axle, but that was along with a 6" lift. Now it also keeps everything in proportion. Break over angle is also kept in line with your new found approach and exit angles. That along with bumpers and bullbar modds, and I am at 58° approach and 47° exit angle and 47° break over. Unfortunately not able to go off road yet with a few mods still to be done. So can't tell how much better it is from standard. But pretty sure anything must be better than Nissan stock IFS. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

I'm doing a D21 leaf spring SFA, and found that I could not fit the shackles on the rear of the springs. I had to extend the forward spring mounts so far to keep the spring pack horizontal. First try turned into a bump steer nightmare. Then, taking into account that you want to move the axle forward to fit bigger rubber (as I had to by just over 2"), you have to extend and drop the front end of the chassis so bad, it takes a lot of fabricating, and I don't know if the D21 chassis can take that type of stress with that much extension. I turned mine around and put the shackles on the front again. I have a very flat leaf pack, and maybe with a left drop diff, I could have gone SUA. But I made life difficult for myself and went right drop axle and a SOA was the only way to get the pumpkin to clear the sump. My minimum lift I can get away with to fit the axles I chose, was around 6" I suppose you could start looking at giving the springs some angles to mount inbound of the chassis members, I was just not up to it, I use the car as my daily driver, so all the work happens in little off time moments I make for myself.

Wow, great project and build. I'm also in the process of SASing my 97 Hardbody/Terrano/Parthfinder (depending where you are from. LOL) I'm feeling way better about my two year build when looking at your time line, thanks for the inspiration. Mine has its own set of challenges. Firtsly, its my daily driver and has not been off the road and out of use for more than a month. That was when we did the initial cut out of the IFS. I opted for the simple and cheap leaf sprung setup for the front. But typical my style, I had to complicate the build by going right hand drop on the front and rear and using Patrol MQ diffs. C200 up front and H260 on the rear. Patrol TC behind the standard TX10 TC and tranny of my 2,7TD engine. Well that's mostly the plan. Front axle is in and we have it running stable. Some work on the rear diff and the drive shafts to mate a Patrol TC to the TX10. Patrol and D21 wheelbase and track are the same, but I moved the front axle out by 2,5" to take the 33" rubber. Have to start relocating exhaust and fuel tank to make place for the drive train. And all the while, we drive it every day. Very jealous of that long arm flex. Already planning the next mod, and this one's not even done yet. Keep up the great work. Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk