Mr. Pickles

Oh man, just missed indeed. We probably saw your ship on either or both islands (kinda hard to miss those big things!). Hope things are going good!

That's a nice a$$, Tex!

I've wheeled the hell out of my 94 WD21, and have recieved props from many rigs, Nissans, Toyota's, Chevy's, built Sheep and such. My previous 4x4 rig was a Nissan 720, which I also ran and used the hell out of. I've run dirt, mud, water over the hood. I've chased a lifted Rubicon in the sand dunes near Ocean Shores, WA, until I buried the front up the frame. Of course, I backed out, corrected and followed through, and he was pretty amazed. Fire roads, ski resorts, forest service trails and such. This old truck has got me through some serious muck and stuff. And yes, its still a grocery getter if I need, never seen a trailer (yep, seen the back of a tow truck a couple times though), its been beat to hell and polished back to shine, tires ripped and shredded here and there, parts broken and replaced. I'm a firm supporter that its driver skill, experience, and of course equipment. I've made it through some stuff early on where the truck saved me, but more and more with experience, I'm sure I can put the truck and its assets in a better situation and get to better places than most people on the trail. Why do people get so defensive about their rigs? Yep, its an 19XX/20XX beast or miniBeast, body-on-frame or unibody, whatever. Its suits your use. Why whine who drives what, especially within a global brand, one which already gets limited aftermarket and media support as it is. Can't we all just get along?

Calling Captail Obvious....

You had a hit-and-drive in Kirkland, and yet I had the hardest time finding the freeway...

So a mild-starting Sunday ended up with a frantic and heart-wrenching run to the hospital. My sister-in-law, along with my 6 month old nephew and 2 1/2 year old niece, were already en route via an ambulance. We actually beat them there, and luckily there wasn't much more than a SERIOUS scare and some whiplash, bumps and bruises. The kid's car seats worked great! Worse off was the family truckster, a 2002 (I think) Chevy truck - turned accordian. The other driver in a late 90's/early 2000's Ford Explorer didn't see that traffic on the highway had stopped to allow a left turn, so the driver and her vehicle (with her own child, thankfully ok) apparently hit full-on at 35-45mph. The bed of the truck was pushed into the cab, the whole thing was smashed up, the truck box/tool box ripped half way off, and the tow truck ended up having to literally pull the Explorer out from under the wreckage of the truck, as it was tilted up in the air. OMG. Good news: mom & kids are ok, at home with meds for mom's pain. We all thought 2007 was a brutal year. Welcome, 2008!

Mine with 3+3 and only 31" tires. 10", I don't think so...

I heard somebody say that, although I haven't seen one myself. I believe it just deleted everything from the front seats back: rear seats, carpet, speakers, maybe interior panels, etc.

Not sure which they're called (or both names), but I'm thinking it may be time for some attention. Its a 94 with 162XXX miles, the last many thousand miles with a locker in the rear diff causing all sorts of movement Nissan didn't plan on. I haven't poked around yet, but there's a bit more play it seems lately, which has me suspecting wear. From what I could see, there are some bushings available on AC for like $35 each, and you'd need 4 sets to do the upper and lower arms. Ouch. Has anybody swapped these, and if so, from what source/how much/etc.?

Agreed, I did the tape thing for like 4 years, and just replaced it every 6 months - 1 year. The washer fix has lasted fine for quite a while now, but that's next if it ever comes back.

Good find, looks like that should resolve it, huh. I've been meaning to tear into that for a while now, but I figured they'd probably break and fall apart if I tried. $20 each, eh. Its good to see its finally been addressed, but it just peeves me that Nissan just now admits they screwed up roughly 20 years after the initial design and tons of trucks sold, and all their error will set you back is $40 for a a couple pieces of plastic. They're probably molded for 25cents each in a Taiwan sweatshop. Lovely. But hey, its cheaper than a fire at least.

That's what i'd be guessing too, at this point. Maybe run some more system cleaner for a bit and cruis around, but if anything that's a Band Aid. 88 or anybody, any suggestions on how to narrow down a possible injector issue? By the way, sorry if I'm just blind, what year is your truck? TBI or MPFI?

That's good stuff. Add to you "kit": duct tape, some wire, and a pair of vice grips. You can fix 90% of the problems in the world with those 3.

I've had a 40 series for about 5 years or so. Can't speak for the rest of the exhaust, as its still stock. Yeah, its a little louder and throatier, but you don't go and buy a louder Flowmaster muffler for quiet. Anyways, mine has lasted 5 years of abuse and occasional scrapes and such, but its good to go. I also have a set of Pacesetters waiting for install, so please post up.

Agreed, the money spent on PIAA lights is on the NAME and housing, mostly. *trying not to offend anyone* I can't see how anyone would pay those obscene price tags for PIAA bulbs. Most of the perfomance as far as the light projection goes, regardless of the bulb style, is from the housing design/style.

That's a new one. I do believe we've heard guru, master, and such. Its good to know you've been deemed immortal though. Good man!

I don't see a way you're going to have to replace a fuel filter every 3 months, unless you're dumping stuff down into your tank from your local Gasolator & Taco Stand, or your fuel system is rotting away somehow and providing its own mess (unlikely). Maybe you really do have some injector issues. What injector product are you using? Have you tried a couple tanks in a row including the system cleaner product? Does anybody know a method for checking the injectors? 2nd, have you checked other stuff like the air filter and catalytic converter, etc.? Basically, other easy choke points.

Have you checked the computer for any error codes? There's a how-to in the Garage section. Maybe something is giong out on ya. Ditto on the rest of the stuff- cap and rotor, etc. I'd also be highly suspect of you getting bad gas, especially from somewhere like Safeway. Those places tend to go through tons of product. Have you verified that he MAF wiring is back together securely and such?

Where's my foot? *search* Oh, its around back, kicking you square in the ass. Something must have just been out of alignment, cause I pulled apart quick, checked it out, and put it back, and it works fine. There's a small trail down the street along a fence line in the trees, perfect to test. So here I am, in and out of 4wd, rolling, stopping to check for movement, repeat. I hear this "um, hello" and look up to see a woman standing on her back deck, wondering what this jackass was doing trail riding along her back yard on Christmas Eve. LOL

Calling Mr. Dumbass, hello, Mr. Dumbass! I have the FSM from K9. Sunova... maybe too much Hawaii sun on the brain? I'll take a look, and thanks. Its sitting till tomorrow, and now I'm going back to melt into the couch in the middle of a Bourne trilogy marathon.

Thanks, it missing the "stuff" inside the hub though, isn't it? Yeah, i've got a similar diagram, and I believe I have it right. Gonna check tomorrow. I guess I'm more wondering if there is a specific setup to putting it back together. You know, X part put in at this angle, then Y part put in next to engage Z part. I don't know if that makes sense, but basically the stuff I've seen just says to remove and reinstall, but doesn't mention if there is a specific "how" to put it back together do it, or if it doesn't matter, and just put the stuff in order and go.

Hey there, You'll see in my other recent post that I just replaced the driver's side CV shaft. I've got an issue with the auto hub, as the spring kind of "sprung" when I pulled it off (pieces got loose). I replaced it as best I could by memory and what made sense, as the instructions I've seen, as well as the Haynes manual, simply state "remove hub, install is the reverse of removal" and the pic isn't any better. Anyways, the hub appears to be stuck engaged, and it won't disengage after spinning the shaft by hand (when jacked up) nor after reversing a few feet. Does anybody have any insight into this, or a particular part/area to check out in the auto-hub? If it wasn't the holidays (and hence cash being tight), I'd rather just toss the auto's of course, but you know how it is...

Done! (with several breaks... hey, football was on! ) I ended up getting those flange bolts by starting there first before loosening or removing anything else. I locked in 4wd, then went at them one by one from the bottom of the truck where there's a lot more leverage to be had vs. a socket and long extension, using a 12 point wrench instead of a socket. A bit of heat from the torch (thanks Red for making me think again about heat!), then a wrench and cheater, and #1 was loose. One by one, they came free, then it was a breeze since everything else was already broken loose and cleaned from yesterday. I knocked it out quick, didn't have to remove the brake caliper, and I didn't even need to disconnect the tie rod end at the front of the knuckle like recommended elsewhere. Instead, I just removed the shock cause 1 bolt and 1 nut is so much easier. Then there was plenty of room for removal and reinstall of the new shaft by just swinging the knuckle out from the rear and being careful to watch the brake line. All in all, on a clean truck (read: no rust or bs), this would be a pretty straight-forward job for others thinking about it. Heck, a chunk of the project was making enough room in my tiny garage to pull the truck in. I did run into an issue with the auto-hub reinstall, but I'll post that seperately.

Well, I'm back at it. Part of the reason for giving up was that the local Pep Boys quoted about $200 installed. I went up first thing this morning, only to find that whoever quoted me happened to be off by, oh, another $200 or so. I knew that sounded too good to be true. I stopped on the way home and picked up a propane torch. Gonna move stuff around and hopefully squeeze the pig into the garage here in a few minutes to give it another shot. Got football on the tv in there and a full beer fridge, so wish me luck.

No torch heat available, although I should hook that up anyways for the future, and with the holidays, no time either. I tried various angles, impact with a mallet, etc. This repair didn't actually come up until thinking about it yesterday. I was going to just drive on the torn boot next weekend, then I figured I better try the split replacement boot I ordered from AC. Go figure, I've used one from them before and it was fine, but this one was waaaaay too small in diameter, it didn't come close. Ok then, I thought, and tracked down a replacement shaft from NAPA for $61. I soaked those bolts repeatedly for a few hours, but couldn't get them to budge. Seriously, I'm talking spinning them around to get full leverage, then slipping into 4WD and using a ratchet with a 2' cheater pipe over the ratchet handle, but no-go. I tried several of the bolts too, several times, just in case. I finally gave up and said "F" it. I put it all back together, thankfully in like 20 min or so as I had been cleaning and lubing things as they came off. I've got family stuff over the holiday, then work for the rest of the week, and then we're hauling people up to play in the snow next weekend. Pep Boys says they can do it for $75 labor regardless, and at this point, I've already blown a day off which sucks, so I call uncle. Hopefully they'll stick to the book price for labor, and let them figure out the damn bolts. We'll see. Tis the season and all that...