hawairish

I'm presuming 2004 R51s existed in Qatar, and that we're talking the same engine between 2004 and 2005, being the 4.0L VQ40DE, correct? If yes, then probably not the ECU beyond potentially a learning process required for the throttle as Slartibartfast suggested. You'd need to pull any codes with a proper scanner...one that can also pull chassis and transmission codes, not just OBDII (or whatever the standard is in Qatar).

Sounds like you have the "older" all-mode system. You have a dial with "2WD|AUTO|LOCK" but also have a "H|N|L" floor shifter? Newer systems just had a dial switch "2WD|AUTO|4H|4L". Not that it matters much here, only to note that even in those 2wd or auto modes, the CV still spins with the tires because the truck uses fixed flanges. The switches and levers just disconnect things inside the transfer case. CVs, differential, and driveshaft all still spinning. All said, a broken CV sucks but is a fairly trivial and reasonably inexpensive fix. Wear and tear doesn't usually lead to breakage, but sharp angles and contamination (torn boots) do. Not ruling out coincidental damage because we don't have enough info (i.e., your vehicle's history, mileage, usage, maintenance, etc.), but generally, breakage usually stems from some amount of force or binding. I've not had a problem resting the knuckle at a given angle with the CV attached, but I've also always made every effort to ease it into a resting position and eventually always support it. I can also attest that getting struts off the knuckle can be a hassle. Who's to say there wasn't extra force applied to pull the strut. But again, why did he pull the strut in the first place to inspect it? What service were you having done?

You can shift between D, 2, and 1 all you'd like, but as Slartibartfast mentioned, it's all about speed. And particularly for wheeling, you can switch between them without stopping. Just keep in mind that when going downward (particular 2 -> 1), you'll have a bit of rev-up, which may also cause some surge when at low speeds. In terms of shifting, the only time you would stop is when going between 4H and 4L; transmission to neutral, vehicle stopped. If I'm tackling something requiring 4L, it put the trans in 1 from there anyway. Presuming that since you have an SE, you have the part-time system (I believe the all-mode/dial system was an option on SEs, but standard on LEs)

Ha, don't worry about that R50JR guy. He's just bitter because he doesn't get to drive his R50 often enough. The reason for the ask about any suspension mods is because strut spacers can be bad on the CVs if there's too much spacer. He's just wondering if that could have been a contributor. Doesn't sound like it. That's no good. I'm assuming it's the same in NZ as it was here in the US, but R50s had drive slugs/fixed flanges, and not manual or automatic hubs. So, the CVs are always engaged unless they've been swapped. And in this case, the "shock" (actually, it's a strut) technically does not interfere with the CV, however there's no upper control arm that prevents the knuckle assembly from tipping outward when the strut is removed. Only things that would be attached would be the tie-rod, CV, and lower ball joint. If the mechanic pulled the strut off the knuckle and let it drop, it would "stretch" it to its fully-extended length and shock the CV, most likely damaging the bearing cage in the outer joint (and potentially the ball joint, too). This is also to say that when the strut is removed and the knuckle assembly is allowed to tip outward, even gently (potentially even when tipping it out to remove the strut), it puts strain on the CV and lower ball joint, and so, it should always be supported when the strut is not attached. My main question is: why would the mechanic have needed to remove the strut if he suspected a leak and wasn't planning to replace them at the time? The only leak point would be at the top of the strut body, and the only obstruction would be the dust boot, which can be slid up with a screwdriver through the spring coils or is usually disintegrated. You would have visibility of any leak just by lifting the truck off the ground, I would think. Dust/grime would be present on the shaft and where it enters the body. Removing it would be unnecessary. What other services were being performed?

I would think the computer wouldn't like them missing...but I'm not sure how it would know? There are no sensors on the valves themselves, but maybe it'd manifest as a vacuum leak, because that's what actuates the valves. Just looked at the removal instructions in the MT section, too. Honestly, I'm baffled by them. It does say to remove the snap pin and withdrawal shaft, but also to remove the withdrawal lever (I really want to just call that the release fork!) and release bearing. Pretty impossible to remove the bearing from the input shaft when it's obstructed by the clutch, flywheel, and engine, let alone doing so through a small hole on the side of the transmission. But I can't even imagine how removing any of that stuff would be necessary because they're all connected to the bellhousing/transmission. The install has all the parts reassembled before mating it to the engine, so seems really odd why they'd need to be removed at all. Nissan doing dumb things again.

Speculating here, but them only thing holding them together should just be the bellhousing bolts. I can't imagine how cotter pins could be used here. But, any misalignment between engine and transmission when trying to split them will cause binding on the alignment dowels and input shaft. Super important to make sure things are as straight as possible. How do you have things supported when trying to split them? Are there any tabs or gaps where a pry bar can fit to start splitting them? It's common for those to exist. A dead blow hammer is also a good tool to have here to smack the bellhousing without damaging it. So in the end, are you just mating the 2001 engine to the 2002 AT, or are you converting to manual? As Slartibartfast mentioned, you'll need parts engine parts (like the lower intake plenum for sure, and maybe the intake manifold). If doing a manual swap...I imagine that would be far more involved, but having the full donor helps tremendously.

Worth a shot, I suppose. Maybe even spray some degreaser up there first and hose it off to gauge how bad the leak really is over a day or two.

Which FSM are you viewing? That image shows a WD21/WD22/D21/D22 style case that does have a seal at the tube end. But the R50 style does not. You can see the tube is not machined to accept a seal. The machining you see is where the bearing resides. The collar at the top of this RH stub shaft from an R50 is where the inner seal resides, against the differential carrier. This is the collar I had to remove in order to modify the shaft so it could seal with a newer style ARB. I had the older style ARB and no modification was required. This is why I know with 100% certainty it has an inner seal. Note the wear on the collar, too. The bottom spacer does not have a seal it seals against. There’s a grease seal on the shaft. It cannot be removed like the pic you showed of the FSM.

Here’s a primer about the diff: If you want more/better pics, I can maybe tear mine apart…it’s sitting on the side of the house as I work through an axle swap. Been meaning to put a Lokka into it and swap all the seals so I can sell it off. But for sure, the inner axle seal is only accessible from inside the housing. I use a pipe to drive it out from the RH tube shaft, and then it gets driven in the through LH stub shaft opening. A skim amount of RTV on the outer bearing would help. Not sure sealer would do much better, but maybe.

I’ve put so many lockers into these things to know. Including full dissection of the RH shaft because I needed to modify it so it would seal against the inner seal because of some BS that ARB did.

And yes, I’ve reused the collars before. Stuff like that might not even be available from Nissan; haven’t checked.

So…replacing the inner seal requires pulling the differential from the case, which means dropping the case out of the truck. At that point, you’ll also be pulling the LH stub shaft, and another seal to replace there.

I’d have to take a look, but I think the seal is installed before the bearing gets pressed on. You’ll be able to pull the RH stub shaft once the CV is pulled, but still would need to tear down the stub shaft to replace the seal. I want to say the FSM also calls for some RTV there too.

I've not considered KBB as reputable for pricing for a very long time, at least not in the last decade. I mean, pretend you were in the other guys shoes and owned that vehicle...would you list it at $2663? Obviously, R50's aren't any sort of heritage vehicle, but they're pretty good looking, dependable, and have a solid drivetrain. I'm not huge on mahogany, and I'm not even sure I've seen that color before, but it looks great. Does the buyer seem flexible on pricing?

Sounds like a gem. $6500 feels high, but all things considered (including today's economy), it also feels worth it if it has all you're looking for...and IMO, having a vehicle in excellent physical conditions goes a long way to justifying the price, not to mention one that's mechanically sound with proof of maintenance. By comparison, I paid around $5K for a 2004 SE in 2014 with 156K miles. Was in great physical shape, very good interior shape, and great mechanical shape, with OME suspension lift, and armor items (skids, sliders). That was a deal I didn't pass up. I guess my questions for you are: 1. What are you looking to do with the truck or use it for? 2. What features are you looking for that limit the search to the pre-facelift years (96-00 with 3.3L) vs. facelift years (01-04 with 3.5L)? I don't know anything about 4Runners, aside from the likelihood someone with one asking $6500 for a truck with 250K-300K on it.

Yes, provided it's late 00-04 Frontier or 00-04 Xterra. 99 and early 00 Frontiers had 31-spline diffs and slightly different 4.625 ratios. 96-00 Pathfinders and the years I mentioned are 33-spline and had 4.636 available. 01-04 Pathfinders were only 4.363 ratios. All of those year 3rd members will bolt in, it's just the different ratios and splines to be aware of. And of course if you want (or want to keep) an LSD unit.

Nice to see a lot of the improvements. That front driveshaft, though! I do like the truss setup and floating mounts for the coilovers. That's the problem I'm having on my project: the axle is too narrow at the C's so I need to get the mounts up.

I'd say removing the dust cap should be the last of the 3 options, if an option at all. I think it's kind of crimped or pinched on, so I don't think it'll just snap back on...you might need to dent it back on. If you don't need to service the caliper, I'd probably just unbolt the bracket and leave the caliper intact...but juggling the pads can be a little bit of a pain sometimes so undoing the exposed bolt, rotating the caliper, and pulling the pads seems to be an middle option.

Very old post, but I'll play along. The circled part is just a dust cap. I've rebuilt two sets of these in fairly recent memory for my disc swap projects and I don't recall ever removing it. If I remember correctly, there's a small-head bolt inside that holds the slide pin sleeve and gets tightened into the bracket. It's just suction that makes it feel difficult to remove. The caliper can pivot on it. Once the caliper is pulled off the pin, the bolt head is exposed.

Killed a few minutes in the garage tonight, and fortunately I think the radiator conversation is moot now. I like the idea of e-fans, but I went into it knowing it was just going to add complexity and cost. The lack of good options makes it tough to pursue further. The original plan was to just move the radiator over to the passenger side about 1/2" and keep everything otherwise stock. At the time, it was hard to tell if that would actually work. That's why getting those engine supports and chassis rail brace in was a big milestone, so I could get confirmation. Looks like I only need to move it 3/8" so I was very close, and things are still pretty tight, but it looks doable. Fan blades clear the shroud, which is probably the most important part. Took a torch to the shroud to make some clearance. In hindsight, I probably should've just used the heat gun or boiling water. Looks like $h!t, and the plastic melted through a little, but I really just needed to get quick fitment confirmation. I may just cut an opening, or rivet in an ABS patch, but this going to work. I have some points where plastic will rub on metal, but I can trim that or live with it. Regardless of the path I was going to take here, the radiator was going to be replaced. It's actually nice to not have to put something else in. The truck will already be a Frankenstein by the time the project's done. I'm having to closely track where all the parts come from...Land Rover, GM, Jeep, Toyota, and even other Nissans. In this case, I only wish there was some sort of radiator upgrade for the R50, but staying stock saves a few bucks and moving the mounts shouldn't be too difficult.

Yep, I spent a while browsing through Summit and Jegs. Their filters are somewhat useful, but that’s how I came across the CTS-V option, was looking for OE replacements and there were some options. Also found this odd site, size.name, that just a bunch of radiator specs and limited filters. Found a couple with useful sizes, except they were pretty much all for international vehicles or still used mechanical fans. One for a Terrano would have worked well, slightly narrower than R50. VG33 equipped trucks are similarly sized, but the outlet on the passenger side when I need it on the drivers side. The good news is that I did a little research on the “expansion tank” setup, and the CTS-V option may actually be viable now. Amazon has universal tanks and there’s should be enough space to mount above the steering box. The overflow I could actually spill into the OE reservoir, and I think I’d just need to tee-in a return line somewhere…and I think I’d have just the spot by the thermostat. Now it’s just a matter of pricing this out…RA wants $40 for a replacement fan wiring harness, and I’d need two of them. That’s not happening.

I hope so! Haven't heard the sound of an engine hitting concrete, so that's a plus. I still have the support bar in place just in case. The filler neck is pretty novel, never seen something like that before. Unfortunately, that particular style wouldn't work here because the hose itself is only about 2" longer than the piece I'd need, and the hose steps up, which means the cap wouldn't be the high point (I think that matters?). But, great suggestion, I do appreciate! But yeah, the radiator search has just been strangely difficult to even be in the ballpark. Even the CTS-V isn't a perfect option...right width, inlet/outlet placement and size is spot on, but it's also about 3" shorter that stock, though thicker. However...I'd like to think if it can cool a 6.0L 400hp car, it stands a good chance against the VQ. I just don't like the pressurized bottle, and I definitely don't like that this particular radiator was only ever used in exactly one car that only existed 4 years. Custom radiators are grossly out of the question due to cost, but even then, I can't even find anything that would work. It's nuts. Worst case, I keep what's stock and maybe see about having a custom shroud made for the mechanical fan. Not sure yet.

Hit a major milestone today: the engine supports are supporting the engine. They're not done-done, but their function of supporting the engine is done. Still need to make a panhard bracket for the LH side and such. I'd been working on the chassis rail brace the other week, and got that all mounted and welded on... That was going to be the end of it, but then I had an afterthought about adding another mounting provision to really try to beef that area up, since the PHB mount will be directly under the rear leg of the subframe cradle bolt. Ended up like this... Didn't get any pics of the supports after taking these, but was just jamming today. Right now the axle and everything is back under the truck and lined up for the next round of work, which includes the transmission crossmember with radius arm mounts. At some point, I spent some time looking for an OE radiator that had electric fans from some other car model that was similarly sized. I can't believe how difficult that search has been. Original plan was to just move the radiator over maybe 1/2", but it would also require heavy modification to the fan shroud to clear the steering gear box. The best option I have is from a Cadillac CTS-V from nearly 20 years ago, but it uses a remote pressurized reservoir instead of a tradition reservoir and radiator cap, which means system changes I don't want to do. Need to keep researching that, because I'm getting to the point where I can start putting the engine back together.

I hit a mental roadblock for the last several weeks trying to figure out how I was going to support the engine. This is one of those moments where it would've been awesome doing a swap on a framed trucked because the support likely would've remained 100% intact. Instead, removing the subframe and trying to replicate the OE positions ends up being a massive pain. There are just way too many constraints. The left and right side mounts positions on the subframe aren't in symmetrical positions, and they're angled, and with the way the motor is slung up, it's impossible to know where the original position was to feel comfortable enough piecing something together while underneath. I had spent some time early in the project mapping all the distances and angles off the subframe, but even after CADing their positions, it was still difficult figuring out how to place them on the truck. Passenger chassis rail has too many parts around it to comfortably weld onto, and driver side, while wide open, has other design constraints I need to work around (like placement of the upper panhard mount). And then on top of everything, just trying to keep things serviceable (like having the mount supports detachable to make replacing the motor mounts easier in the future, as opposed to fixed mounts on the chassis and trying to lift the engine 2"+ higher). So, last Wednesday I had the day off and was staring at things again and just decided to chop up the subframe to see if I could use the arms off it, since it'd effectively retain all the OE positioning. It seemed promising, and spent the weekend trying to make it work. Basic plan (for now) was to lop off the front subframe mount and build a new plate to attach to the arm. It also needed to incorporate the mount for a bumpstop (cheapies from GM applications). The RH arm is basically done, but I wrapped the weekend by fitting it to the truck and haven't gotten more pics of it yet. LH arm below, just to give an idea of the starting point. I started on the RH side because it had less constraints. New front mount in place and welded up. Need to add a gusset in there above the bumpstop. The little piece of metal between the arm and chassis rail is a disc with a tube sleeve welded on. It'll get welded to the rail, and also in the wheel well so that I can put a bolt through it and tighten it against the rail for additional support. I may add one more sleeve and bolt towards the rear, not sure yet. Right now I've left the rear subframe mount alone, but am planning to replace with plate steel and add provisions for a crossmember (basically restoring a missing link). It'll also add more support to the arms for the motor. One major advantage of this approach will be on the driver's side. The flat underside will give me real estate for the panhard mount. Since the driver's side chassis rail will get a lot more plating for the steering box, it should make for a pretty solid mounting option.

Funny part is I didn't even think about strapping it up, just the habit of pulling it for misc. projects. So yeah, in that case, strapping it up somehow ought to work, too.