Bunchie

Morning RC, another beautiful day in paradise, hey? May I suggest the following factors: budget, time your Pathy will be out of commission, availability of parts/tools & equipment req'd, how long the "Boss" will tolerate having yer truck expoded all over the place-lol(wife's ability to ask "Soooo, how long is this going to take?", when I'm balls deep into a project is uncanny). The diesel option WOULD be cool, but I have NO idea how many systems would req complete change out or modification and subsequent availability of repair parts down the road. There is someone on this forum (will find out who, ina bit) who is currently upgrading his dead(he drowned it in mud)VG33 to a VG35 and has a "progress" thread on the go right now(saw it the other day) with great pics and commentary on issues he's run into. It may be a little eye opening for you- I know it was for me. As I recall he's in Georgia cuz I noticed the bright red color of the mud-Lotsa iron oxide in the soil, where he lives. I just PU'd a 2002 with a broken pass axle for $1K, body is in great shape...has a few minor things to fix as well. $130 for the tow from Coquitlam to Cloverdale. Found a removed & complete rear diff assy(180, K) in MR for $200(hoping gear ratio is the same, find out today), buddy's garage to do it all in-$0-PRICELESS!, just so I can have something to drive while Marvin(my green '01) gets all the new upgrade bits it so deserves. I will start a new build thread when that commences. I'll let you ponder the preceeding comments....enjoy the rest of this fabulous long weekend!

Correction on the year of the donor rear end:2000 not '99. I'll get the former owner to get me that engine bay tag info tomorrow then go check out buddy's "donor" in hopes of a match. Thanx for heads up on "holding one drum stationary" tip. Will advise of outcome of findings. V

Thanx gentleman, mjoTB: what if the complete rear end is out of vehicle? Guess I have do it the old fashioned way by counting the revolutions of the diff yoke, hey? Hawarirish: plan is to swap whole rear end and trailing arms as one unit. The replacement unit's probably got north of 220 K on it, so end bushings, etc should be replaced. So as Ill have the truck in the air to begin with why not swap the one w/catastrophic failure to something, for a few hundred bucks that is, at least, intact and will have new "Anti Death Wobble" bushings. The body is almost mint and as an occational use vehicle, it will tide me over til Marvin's upgrades are complete. The wife likes driving my PF and may consider swapping her '08 Sentra for a nice looking 2002 PF if I polish it up all real perdylike and fix the misc little fails it has. BOTH of you: any preference between the split or the solid TA bushing?? Cheers, V

So here's the story: bought a '02 LE yesterday for a $1K. It has catastrophic rear passenger axel failure: believe the retaining clip in the pumpkin failed and the entire axel/brake drum/wheel assy has walked out and now right side rear looks like a dragster-lol. I suspect now that the axel shaft splines are roached. so I found a complete '99 rear end assy for $200 on CL. MY QUESTION IS AS FOLLOWS: did Nissan make any changes in the rear end specs between'99 & '02 that I need to worry about; like gearing, to be specific???? Overall the body is in great shape-better than Marvin(my 1st & current R50), it's got the LE rims I've always wanted and an Alpine touch screen stereo completely set up w/sub woofer connections(Bonus). It does a few other issues-AC/heater fan, drivers window no worky and the beige (AACK) leather front seats are toast, These issues are minor as I'm a low voltage electrician & good fixer of broken s#it. The plan is to fix the '02-henceforth to be known as "Goldy", and use it for my day to day needs, so that total upgrade work can commence on Marvin. Yeah, personal injury insurance settlements! Good people, I need yer expertise and insight. Much thanx in advance. Chher, Victor.

Hey mjo & megaton, are we talkin front or rear bumpers here? I've got an ARB front bumper on mine but wish to do something for the rear. Am consideing fabing one from scratch BUT if I could mod an existing rear application THAT would be sick!! Any thoughts???

Name: Marvin. Color: Green. Standard Ordinance: Full Premium Fuel Load and 1 X Illudium Q36 Expolsive Space Modulator Mission: To witness "Earth Shattering Kaboom!" Where's the Earth Shattering Kaboom!?!?!

If the engine runs fine for a while, it CANNOT be timing gears (?????) It just doesn't make sense. Just sayin...

That seems like a pretty ambitious project...are you ready to spend a lot of time and money in this endeavor? Dont get me wrong but a diesel would be cool for sure but the 3.5 IS a good engine and you should be able to find one for a reasonable price from a wrecker or someone whose parting one out. Just sayin...

Also: replace that thermostat. Although you have the 3.3 and its reasonably accessible, its been sitting outside for a while and it's a cheap part(I always test a new one by putting it in a pot of water and heating it up to make sure it indeed does open)-I had one that didn't, right out of the box. Soooo frustrating if you make the assumption that it will work and it don't!

I can appreciate the "God saved my ass" statement. I truly believe that if he wasn't involved in my life, I wouldn't be here to make that previous statement...ALWAYS BE THANKFUL!! Sorry, I'm rambling. Check CL for an engine stand. It doesn't have to be new just solid. You should spend no more than a $100. Bought mine off CL for $75 then sold it for $80 when I was done w/it. WINNING! You may indeed use the best of both engines for maximum efficiency of your endeavor. And investigate that "silicone" thing you showed us-it may have been someone's stopgap measure that might bite you in the butt later on. If your budget allows, replace as many of those "hard to reach" gaskets as you can. And as to "Why...Just why?" cuz you can't fix stupid or lazy. Just sayin...V.

GREAT story! I'm just having my oatmeal and truly enjoying your tale of mechanical adventure. Everybody needs an "Attaboy" every once and a while...ATTABOY!!! I believe that will have been a defining moment for you. You're a young buck, like MY son and these milestone events will give you the confidence to take on bigger challenges life is bound to throw your way! When I was much younger, my good friend Dave made a comment one day: He said, "I can't". His dad, Don, replied, "CAN'T MEANS WON'T!" Those 3 words have stuck with me decades later. My Pathy is now showing all the signs of "Death Wobble". The good boys and girls on this forum have a myriad of experience to pull from and using their knowledge I now know WHAT to do and WHAT to watch out for. Never be afraid of asking for insight/help on a subject you are unfamiliar with. I'm 57 and a security service tech w/30 years experience under my belt and I STILL ask Q's when I'm at a loss w /a problem. Life is tough: Work SMART, not HARD! Cheers, Victor

Well THAT didn't work so well-lol. Was going to add: use pics in conjuction w/your cardboard and notes on the cardboard too. Use a zap strap run through 2 holes in the c/board to hold any nuts you come across.

Could you not add another stock cross bar (or 2) to distribute the load more evenly? That should give you 8 points of contact rather than the stock 4. Should be cheap enough from a local wrecker...

You may have a braking system issue: a caliper or brake shoe that is dragging enough that when stopped, is enough to make the vehicle not want to roll under the minimum torque being applied by the tranny. Jack it up, put it in neutral and see if any of the wheels are binding. With heat, things will expand and it may be just enough to cause the normally"free wheeling" parts to start binding. After a drive with some average braking, pull over and see (feel) the rims for any unusual increase of temperature, especially the rears.

If I tell you nothing else, I will tell you this: Your choice of TIRES is of profound importance. Quality tires for our PF's will cost you around a Grand. My story: Spent $170. a corner believing that I got me some decent skins. Truck loaded w/work stuff, I made a left turn around a negative camber corner at speed, in the rain, back tires hit the 2 ft wide painted crosswalk lines and just kept going...in the right direction with the wrong end of the truck. Spun it 180 degrees, hit the curb and did $1800 worth of damage to my rear suspension. My worn out Michelin's had more grip than these new P.O.S's!! Moral of this story: If you can afford $1800 in repairs, you can afford BETTER tires. Pretty rims can wait, especially if you're on a budget.

Well THAT'S a pretty negative attitude-lol. I think that you should think, "Yeah, I SHOULD make some, quality, Made in Canada sliders and increase the number of items in my Cool catalog of PF body armour!" I'm sure I'm not the only one who just thought this...just sayin...

You done an admirable job on taking a generic silver PF and giving it some attitude, well done! Not a big fan of large diameter rims on 4 X 4's but that's just me...I do like the style of them though. Your comment on the sad lack of the Patrol in the North American market, is right on the money....I'd buy one just on looks alone!

Not sure what sort of life span you're going to get out of that application of a rubber coating on what is, essentially, chrome. Had you prepped it by lightly scuffing the chrome off, it might have stood a chance. Biggest problem is they're singular, plastic and DST'd to the paintwork. The idea was was good in princple...far sight better than that fay gold thing they did for the asian market, Yeeeeesssshhhh!! Me, personally, am going to see the brown dude at my local swap meet and buy me some new letters of MY choice, HAHAHA! It's going to be AWESOME!! Somethin' w/a little shock value like my license plate surround that sez: I DRIVE LYK YOU, A$$HOLE. I LOVE watchin the expressions on peoples faces when they read it while waiting behind me at the lights, IT'S PRICELESS! Spring is here, woo woo.

And whereabouts are you...in BC? I'm in Cloverdale...

Always good to have a go bag...er, your case, Bin! Body: P/W it good, dry the areas of rust and try RustMort, available at Lordco. It reacts w/rust & seals up the metal to stop it from spreading. Then hit w/black(er whatever) rust paint. Stop gap measure for sure but The ONLY cure for cancer is removal and replacement of sheet metal. And that will cost you $$$ trust me on this

Yup, dielectric grease absolutely! Also self vulcanizing rubber tape-originally for marine applications, used in conjunction with Plasidip brushable liquid. & Im sure someone sells a w/p alternator-lol.

I'd lean towards the electrics myself. You know you've got fuel. P & N, have no load. Hows the distributor? They're coming up on 20 y/o...wobble, wobble? ?? 2 sense worth

It COULD be something as simple as a missing ground(or negative) wire. Your pic shows a grenaded female electrical coupler...what's it for? The stereo? Or??? Can you be sure yer harness is configured correctly I'm a Low Voltage Technician, so I know a few things about what can cause "No Juice" issues. 1st, the 2 most important troublshooting tools you will need are: a 12 volt test light & a digital volt meter (yer local HF should have both these items for cheap). Test light will instantly show you if you have juice-provided you have located a good ground for the alligator clip end. The DVM will enable you to check for "open" loops, voltage(obviously), and 0V continuity, resistance, relay function, etc. Although I haven't actually pulled one up, a lot of folks here have provided links to PF Field Service Manuals. For that matter, my generally useless Haynes manual has wiring diagrams at the back that have wire color codes & connector pin layouts. Im sure it will be something fairly simple as I am assuming that yer tunes were working b4 those thievin' barstards piked yer tunes!! Be positive-you WILL find the cause!