Mr. Pickles

Your ball joint and/or UCA look wacky to me. Maybe its just the difference in yours vs. mine below (Rough Country), as you're doesn't angle at the end to correct the BJ angle. Is that a BJ spacer on there too on yours? And what's up with the nut on the bottom of the BJ? It doesn't look tightened down.

I've had a Summit kit for a while now, as have many members here. I've never had a bit of a drip. If you're unsure, I'd do some more looking/checking to figure out an angle to snug it up a bit tigher. If you have a body lift, you can reach in from the fenderwell. If not, from below might give you better leverage if you haven't gone there. If you're in doubt about the install, take it off to make sure everything is ok (threads, and IIRC there's a rubber O ring in there, then reinstall. That would only cost you a few $ in oil. Cheaper than oil stains on the driveway or a blown motor due to low oil. Which kit style did you do? Did you go with a Nissan style filter, or something else? Where did you relocate to? Underneath by the chassis, or up under the hood? Pics are good. I did the Ford small block V8 filter, suggested by Slick, as they have more capacity, and the filters are cheap and everywhere. Here's a LINK to my install, and there are a few others out there. Mine is more specific to mounting the filter than on the mounting of that plate, but like I'd say, its cheap insurance to just go back through it if you're unsure. LOL my Pacesetter headers are still sitting in the garage. How did that go?

Alas, then we see eye to eye, grasshoppa. (just put an HID kit in the Mrs. Acura recently... holy isht!)

I've never had a problem since. I think the issue is the added power draw and heat with the tiny stock wiring to the stock plug. The nice part of relaying them is you can bypass all the stock crap wiring, and the worry of frying it when you play with more power.

I did the relay/rewire a while back that 88 posted. I ran 12 gauge wire off a $10 spool of wire from Autozone, from the battery to the relay, and then to the headlights. I used maybe 1/4 of the spool, plus a $5 relay and some crimp on connectors. Its really easy, didn't take long at all, maybe an hour or so to go through and figure the whole thing out, and then tie things down and clean it up. The lows are sooo much brighter and stronger after the swap. I also have PIAA driving lights too, which is another option if you want even easier, but relaying the stock headlights is cheaper and nice. Figure under $20 and an hour-ish for good results. P.S. I also went with higher powered bulbs off eBay years back, I think like 80 watts low beam (as opposed to wiring the lows and highs, which I've seen diagrams online on how to do). I think you'd be much safer doing the low+high if you had quad bulbs like some vehicles have (separate lows and highs) to avoid the excess heat and draw. I'd seriously question running both low and high in the same bulb like we have. Anyways, mine melted both light sockets quickly, so I had to replace both sockets, and they weren't as bright as mine are now.

I'd have to agree that it may be your location(s). I've been going to Firestone for probably 4-5 years now at 3 locations: Auburn, Kent east hill, and Puyallup, WA. I bought the lifetime warranty on both our vehicles, both bought at sale price, and I've gone at least probably 12-15 times total. Works for me, and they don't hassle me. I've done it after suspension work, replacing the UCA's, the last time after I replaced all tie rod ends and my center link, plus the wife has a magnetic attraction to potholes and such. No questions asked. Granted, yes its a quick & simple job, but it prices out. I can't vouch for their regular service work, cause I've done these repairs myself, but otherwise their customer service has been great to me.

Its always fun. I had to replace mine a couple years ago, then I got a defective reman'd unit, which ended up with 3 or so installs. Swapped it again, then a year ago or so, it died. Pulled it, tested fine, replaced. And again... Wouldn't you know, the wiring between the ignition and starter had fried. After lots of cussing and a few adult beverages until I figured that out, I bypassed and rewired with a relay now in the circuit. As I figure, I've had it out 5 or 6 times, and can report: 1) no weird extentions or joints are required, just 1 long extension and a few tries 2) just drop the front splash/skid plate, the starter really will barely slide out with the right amount of twists and turns. It took me forever on the way out to get it right, but eventually with practice you can almost curse it into place. With practice, it was about a 10-15min exercise in wrenching and linguistics.

Sorry to hear your head unit is toast, but that's what I suspected... You can fry one quick with a slip of a live line, etc. You can find a decent new or used one (thanks UNCC) here or on eBay. As far as questionable or "long" grounds being mentioned, there is no need to have something long to the battery or elsewhere. I'm just super-skeptical as far as chassis grounding a stereo at its chassis or stock ground. In the least, run a fresh ground from the stereo chassis mount in the dash to a known or solid ground. The most basic would be to drill a small screw to the body directly, scraping away any paint to make sure of a clean contact, and run as short a wire as possible in as big gauge wire as is available and reasonable. I've gone through tons of wiring issues on mine, from stereo to lighting to engine and such. I've also wired a dozen or so stereo's at least, from stock replacements to a few thousand watts of amps and such. My biggest suggestions would be to NEVER trust the stock wiring junk. This is Nissan's weakest link in my book. When in doubt, always suspect the wiring. And when replacing, always run it clean to the source, insulated and prepped, to bypass any shorted junk, and always verify voltage and make sure you have a clean and solid ground. I just won a long battle with my windshield washer, which refused to work but the motor tested fine, no blown fuse, etc. Come to find out, I had 8v at the plug terminal, even though it ran a test light fine, ran the motor when wired with a jumper wire, etc. I ended up wiring in a new relay and wire off the battery to the 8v switched power, which was still plenty to power the relay and then on to the washer. I had a very similar thing with my ignition circuit, the line from the key ignition down to the starter was toast, which I rewired. The point being, if in doubt with these trucks, rewire. Or at least test it with a new chunk of wire with and inline fuse straight to the battery. If you can remove the part/item and test it directly, do so. These trucks are screwy and will leave you scratching your head if you don't go in solid.

Look again, you do have rain gutters, but they're internal inside the door jams at the top. Yak racks (and I believe Thule too) use these bent clip deals to reach inside the doorjam and mount a rack. Just an FYI, you might check eBay for some used Yakima or Thule mounts (I believe Yakima calls them towers IIRC) for a cheap homemade hybrid job. Years ago I bought the "towers," clips, and crossbars for like $75 shipped. I swap back and forth seasonally between a homemake basket and Yakima ski racks I picked up cheap. Its a crapshoot, but if you line something up there's no drilling and you could take them off easily if needed.

These trucks vary some after a body lift. Mine will shift into 4lo with a bit of a tug straight back, and I put in a 3" body lift almost 5 years ago or so. Its probably better to just mod it for clearance though. BTW, you can either make the hole bigger, swap to a Harbody transfer case shifter which is longer, or chop yours and add some length and a bend to it to allow clearance. I believe 88Pathoffroad went that route, you might want to search for it.

88 made his several years ago when they weren't that common or availbe, but there are some now for cheap. Or you can solder some up for a few $ if you're handy. I put some in along the bottom of my dash several years ago from an unrelated kit for like $10.

Excellent arrangement, and kudos for your helping out the strangers.

Holy backward Pathy, Batman! I roll most trails in 2 wheel just off idle, but that's with a rear locker. If things get tough, 4 low in 1st or 2nd is the trick. You can roll over most anything that isn't completely verticle, and you can idle it until you almost stall the engine, then give it a stab of throttle to keep it going if needed. I hardly use the clutch, or the brakes for that matter. Low and slow will get you just about anywhere you need. Just tell the asshat behind you to take it easy, or let them pass by.

It'd be more imposing with a frame. hahahaha

Are you sure the deck itself isn't fried from random adventures in wiring? You can test it straight at the battery, just use an inline fuse on the power side to be safe. Constant and ACC (red and yellow) to the + battery terminal, black to -. If you have a speaker sitting around, you can hook that up and pop in a cd to verify the thing is fully functional. It should power up fine with or without an antenna. You say you bypassed stock, which is fine with the cheesy wiring in these trucks. But what did you tap into for + and ACC? At the fuse block, battery, etc.? You shouldn't need to have an inline fuse for ACC, but it doesn't hurt things, especially if you're rewiring and such. Its better to be on the safe side. I'd vote to step back and double check everything. Pull the stereo and test it off the battery to make sure you're starting with a good unit. Verify a good solid ground, not just to the stereo chassis that sits in the dash, but run another to solid metal. Confirm all power connections are good. Good luck!

Mine has done the same for a couple years now, with a 31x10.5 15 tire mounted. There is noticable play in the bottom bushing and it rattles all the time. There are a few threads about replacing the bushing, and its apparently a bit of a beast to do, I just haven't gotten around. I got the bushings from the local Nissan stealer for like $4 though it took a few days to order, just gotta get around to swapping them. Good luck.

The swaybar is linked side to side via the frame, and that is functional suspension, so yeah... if one side is ripped off = no more sway bar action. Ya THINK it might have a LITTLE play?! Either fix it (if its a daily driver) or remove it (if its a trail truck). Right now, you're driving "removed" (one side broken off!!!) and it ain't so great on the road, huh? Not just broken, but worn bushings too. Rear control arm bushings are entirely different, but can also be bad. Check them out, or replace them. The front sway bar links are another part of the puzzle, and the tension rods/strut rods/compression rods are by FAR the most important part of this discussion. If you already suspect them, do that first. Failure could be catostrophic on the highway.

I'd think the shocks were bout last thing on my list. Holy isht, Batman.

Add in my '94 SE 5sp manual open 4.3 (original), with Lockright these days. Those are interesting #'s B, but I'm not sure about the sample numbers. LSD's have seemed a lot more scarce in my searches. Maybe not as much with older trucks while off road. But all in all, yes, there's a ton of a mix between the trim levels. I'll try to take note again on the way to the junk yard tomorrow.

Rami! Long time, how you doin? Still playin round with guns? Sorry bout your remaining tranny issues, but they should be able to be resolved cheap and relatively easy. Stick around man, have a look around these parts again!

Holy crap, I feel your pain. Glad to hear you're ok. I had that happen right after an alignment at Les Schwab (evil bastards- avoid at all costs!!!). This was about 5 years ago, right after their guy told me he had issues and had to really work and pound on the UCA bolts. F-n sunnovabitch, I made it 1 mile, pulled in and parked at home, then 1 mile in the morning and *toast.* I went round and round and round with them locally, regionally, headquarters... where they basically told me to go to hell and hung up on me. They told me it was MY.... MY!!!!!!!!! fault as the truck must have COME IN like that. They just plain ignored everything. Riiiiiiiiight. F- Schwab. The muthafukas, it just worked out better to fix mine and tell everyone I know. *F* that damn company. Les Schwab can F'n DIE!!! *steps off the soap box* Definately look into longer bolts. A bolt supplier can hook you up. Some guys have found a source by searching the web for bolt and nut suppliers, and just asking if they had/could fab them. Its been 5 years on new bolts and heli-coils, then a set of aftermarket UCA's, and lots of wheeling along with probably 10 alignments since then, and no issues. Knock on wood. Good luck!

Agreed, both about the story repeat, and the importance. A winch and bumper might some day grace my truck, funds permitting, but I have a 30K lb recovery strap that works fine for now. Not much worry of breakage other than the other rig, and if at all possible, I try to recover rigs from my rear. There's more solid mounting there from my receiver hitch, and much more vehicle in the way between broken bits and the back of my head.

You might try again and see if you get a different person's response, and deal with them. Mine were like $130-140 if I remember right, but that was like 4 years ago. They used to separate the a-arms from the Hardbody kits, but I think they realized they were stuck with a bunch of extra leaf spring lift parts, and that apparently stopped. Is it any cheaper to order on the US side, and then have them shipped down? Good luck!

What he said. The spacers DO NOT provide lift, they just correct the angles of the ball joints, but can also add leverage and screw up other parts. Move on and up to new UCA's.

Holy cow, got a headache, so I'm not reading that last bit. If your battery is good (supposedly), verify battery cable terminals and clean them anyways with a terminal cleaner brush, then try to start it. If not, pull the starter and have your local shop bench-test it, usually free and just takes a sec. Then if it tests fine, maybe give it a gentle tap/smack and have it tested at another shop to verify. If that's good, move on, and start verifying voltage all the necessary points at the starter (+ and solenoid switched), as well as the plug for the solenoid switch near (behind, passenger side of the battery on mine) and throughout the ignition system. If your + and - negative cables are at all questionable visually or with voltage drop, they're a cheap and easy swap regardless at this point. You can also check at the back of the ignition switch. That's where I narrowed it down to, something between there and down at the ignition/solenoid wiring, it was a tricky b_tch on mine to figure out, that's for sure. A simple bypass from the ignition switch on down below solved my issues. I've got a write-up on here, somewhere, about 9 months- 1 year ago I believe. BTW, mine had a series of symptoms that eventually were all addressed. Gunky starter due to oil spillage (resolved with a new starter and oil filter relo kit), bad connections throghout, corroded cables and wiring, bad wire circuits, etc. It was by an occassional failure of one of the above, one by one or by visual or test inspection while checking something else out, that I ended up replacing just about everything that makes my truck fire. A year now, and no problemo whatsoever. I'd highly recommend anybody with an older truck, even if its still working fine, take the time to check out your starter wiring and such. It would be nice to clean stuff up, clean off your starter (maybe even remove it to do so), replace any questionable wiring or terminals, etc. before you (or the wife!) are stranded late at night in the middle of winter, or on a trail, anything like that. Ok, just found my old post on this from last year, with lots of good stuff and suggestions on there: Linky to old post