hawairish

TJM has a rear air locker that's spec'd for a Patrol...which is a 33-spline H233B. The TJM (168PL04) and ARB (RD135) units replace the entire carrier, so they're carrier agnostic. You just swap the ring gear onto it, press on bearings, install in diff housing, and set lash. (Well, and also plumb air lines, install compressor, etc.) The LSD can be tweaked. I just swapped from open to LSD with a re-packed LSD. Hit >300 ft-lbs at some point, but re-arranged for 175 ft-lbs. Requires thicker discs/plates, but swapping plates with discs also helps. Steven at Rugged Rocks has also been trying to bring a rear mechanical locker to the scene for some while now. If it comes alive, it will likely require an open 2-pinion carrier. Lokka or ARB (RD202) for up front. Lokka installs in the open carrier, ARB replaces the carrier. ARB will likely require different shims. There's a Lokka group buy going on now for about $300 shipped...direct from Lokka, it's about $400. Also, your stock gears will have to suffice...I don't think you have an option. Unless the R&P that exist are spec'd specifically for an R50, they won't work...wrong cut. But you'll be fine at 31's.

Fun stuff. Welcome aboard! First question...when you say crappy stereo, you're talking about a stock radio, right? Any suspicions that someone's been working on the radio or any other electronic accessory and tapped into the wires back there? Everything routes through the area under/behind the radio. You can pull up the center console pretty easily just by removing some screws to see if the cable has been disconnected (or damage, or other). Getting the radio bezel off is a little trickier since the clips that hold it in are pretty snug (they were on mine)...I wedge in plastic cards and trim panel removers to take mine off.

I think that's a pretty good find. Though did the metal twist in, or was it bolted in? Wondering if he re-tapped the hole, or just cut of the stud and drilled a hole in the metal cap. The latter would be far easier. The OE look like this (shown upside-down): Bottom is a flat metal disc adhered to the rubber; disc has a hole in it for bolting to the chassis. Ah yes, that mangled thing. Ha, I think I knew it looked odd but didn't give it another thought until today. Of course, not that any of this is really important now. But, for those guys with chewed up bump stops (mine were also gnarly before replacement), this may be a cheaper replacement option.

Also, I might be interested in some of the LSD internals on your pulled diff if they're in decent shape.

Very easy. Jack up the axle, pull the wheels, disconnect the driveshaft (4 bolts), disconnect the brake lines at the wheel hubs, undo 4 bolts at each hub, pull the wheel hubs out maybe 6", undo 11 bolts on the diff, pull the diff. Reverse with your replacement, bleed brakes. EDIT: Ooops, don't forget to drain and refill the diff. And always open your fill plug before your drain plug. But to Kingman's point, if it damaged the axle shafts, it's nice having a full donor axle just in case, either for parts or full swap. Since your truck is disabled anyway, wouldn't hurt to try pulling the diff first to know what you need. My donor axle cost me about $250+100 core, but donor diffs were $135+5 core through my local JYs. You'll know pretty quickly if your axle shafts are toast. It would be a good time to replace seals, too. Probably not. Unless you strike gold and find one with a lunchbox or ARB inside! But the factory LSDs for your generation apparently had some good numbers. Not a locker by any means, but not slouches either.

I'd think you'd just want to pull the tranny+tcase as one piece, and the engine separately, and leave all the radiator stuff intact. You might be able to pull it as one unit with some cutting, but would you be able to install it as one unit? Probably not; you're going to end up separating something eventually.

Me thinks your previous owner put in OE Jeep bumpstops, which would actually be really smart (tons of replacement options). They're a 2-piece design with a removable yellow or orange rubber piece that looks like expanded foam. I had a Jeep and had to remove them once. Was it like this? Great pics, too! That tire...whoa.

Thanks man. I'd still really like to get an OE piece to free up that area on the carrier (thought about mounting the thing to the door, but the stamped steel door pattern makes for too uneven of a surface). This was a <$25 solution. I also considered an extender bracket to just relocate from the OE location...that way I'd also have access to the lighting, but I think it would've rattled too much. I started looking at some off-the-shelf Jeep options, because you know there's going to be a few...yep, I found a few, and they all start at $70 for some stamped steel centerpiece with laser cut spiders and spider webs and maltese crosses and chrome and gaudiness and flamboyancy that Jeepers need. Nissan: no frills.

Yep, 08/89-12/94 is the range that Courtesy Parts shows for a 4-pinion R200. By the same token, appears 87+ WD21 with the R180 are also 4-pinion. Not sure this holds true for the newer R180's.

You might be able to eye-ball this by looking through the fill plug hole. You'll be looking at the back of the carrier; if you see another 8 smaller bolt heads inside the circle of ring gear bolt heads, then it's the 4-pinion carrier. Without, it's just the 2-pinion (1-piece). Honestly not sure how good the view will be, but I have a pair of R200's in my garage so maybe I'll find out.

A lesson to crooks: don't sell fake Mitutoyos for under $90. I think Steven's more of a phone guy.

Yeah, it's probably more of a 'heads-up' than anything. To be honest, I've seen conflicting information about which carriers actually made it into the R200's in the early 90's. The Nissan USA parts website doesn't make much mention of it, only the 2-pinion...but then again, they have so many permutations that are likely filtering out some configs. Courtesy Parts' diagrams do show a 4-pinion available for that era and nothing else. Try going to parts.nissanusa.com and putting in your VIN there. Once your VIN is 'set', go to Power Train [F], then Front Final Drive [381]. This will show the parts diagrams specific to your vehicle, which will indicate which carrier you have.

Wrapped this up last night. I had gotten the switch hooked up the other week, but hadn't put a light on the license plate. I ended up just splicing a weatherproof harness I had lying around from another project into the OE wiring. I kept the stock harness just in case. Kinda had to bastardize the switch to expose the leads. There must be some intermediate harness there, because I still have yet to see a switch match that plug. The dash light: Guess I could've gotten in closer, but it's the VW beetle with a very large donut on the left. I used a rubber well nut for the switch. Similar in function to a blind nut, just not permanent. You put a screw into it (it has a threaded insert) and it compresses the rubber around the hole and holds securely. I'm waiting for a boot to put on the switch. For license plate mounting, I ended up going with one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Trailer-License-Plate-Bracket-Snowmobile/dp/B006SIRYGG. Puts out a good amount of bright white LED light. I had been looking at some 12 LED thingy, but just seemed like it was way more lighting than I cared for, and the wire leads were reportedly very thin gauge. In retrospect, it might have been easy to work with, but just seemed too cheap for me. I picked up some vinyl coated loop clamps (1-5/8") for attaching to the frame. The license plate holder has 4 holes; two for mounting it to something, and two for mounting the license plate to it. I wanted to use the first 2 holes, but there wasn't a good location that allowed me to mount it without pinning the wires exiting the housing, blocking the taillight with the plate, or drilling into the carrier (not ready to do that yet). So I just bolted it up where I had the plate originally. I thought about mounting it sideways, but not sure I care to find out if it's legal or not. Besides, I'll probably end up moving it. For wiring, the LED has a black and white lead. Black is 12V, white is ground (makes sense, right?). Also, the FSM is worthless here because the colors in its wiring diagram are for the wiring before the taillight harness (the one the bulbs actually plug into), and they change at the harness (but it doesn't reflect that). I spliced into the wiring for the taillight/stop lamp bulb (note that this one bulb is really on two circuits...you're tapping into the taillight circuit, the one that comes on with parking lamps or headlamps, not the stop lamp circuit that lights up when the brake is pressed). I drew 12V from the green/white wire, ground from the black wire, and left the green/yellow wire alone (sorry no pics). I just heat-shrank the exposed wire ends, put a loom on, and elec-taped everything. There's enough gap for the wire to protrude above the taillight housing without pinching the wires (i.e., no drill), but it does hold them firmly.

Thanks! The obligatory shots. I wanted to find some other trails during the trip, but it didn't pan out. The pile of rocks just happened to be where I pulled over to check a noise on the roof and figured, "Well, better than nothing!" I was tempted to drive over the pile, just to get it out of my system. One more 'stretch' shot:

Yes, 89-94 R200's were 4-pinions. They were 2-pinions before and after that range.

Sounds like they were pulling your chain, and you did the right things to make sure everything was good.

Ok ok, fair enough B! Adding is easy, but division...

Easier way to find on-center distances with calipers: (Taken from http://littlemachineshop.com/instructions/usingcalipers.pdf) You can use the same trick on the wheels studs, just use the outside jaws, zero it out, then measure far surfaces of two studs again using the outside jaws. Though...I'd just be comparing them to each other and seeing how they fit. You should be able to bolt all of them together in a stack without issue. If it seems obvious that the 3 holes opposite of a tightened lug nut aren't centered, then the bolt-hole diameter is just wrong. Judging by your pics, the diameter is too large.

Yeah, mainly meant for stock springs, but you can stack them with lift stuff as a few others have done. The subframe spacers counter the strut spacers to restore geometries. So as long as your total amount of lift (struts spacers + springs) is offset by the subframe spacers, you're in pretty good shape.

We are talking struts, right? If so, the GR2 (er, formerly GR2 but now Excel-G) specs at 23.23" extended and 16.69" compressed for a total travel of 6.54". So, OME at 180mm= 7.06", about .5" more travel. The direction you're going is fine with 2" spacers + 2" springs and 4" SFD spacers. That's the idea I ran with previously (2" spacers + .5" springs vs 2.5" SFD spacers). Are you going with AC or the HD OMEs springs? The HDs spec a little taller free height (410mm) than the MDs (395mm...so 1" taller) at the same spring rate (150 lbs). Sources: 1. showmetheparts.com/kyb (If you drop the /kyb and just to go the main website, you'll see a lot more parts.) 2. OME catalog 29, 6/14

So it'll be dogged while street driving. So when does the wife go out of town again (i.e., when does the SAS begin)?

Probably going to want to dig that hole sooner rather than later. The 'good' news is that if it's a broken disc or plate, it'll likely stay in the stack and carrier...but it's got potential to worsen as pieces grind down or fragment further. But as mentioned above, if there's major damage, you can just drop in another diff and be done with it. I'll see about putting up some diff tech how-to's later tonight to not clutter this build. I owe CDN_S4 a walkthrough on changing drum brakes anyway.

But it'll still be 1:1 for 2H/4H right?

My penalty for knowledge is the perma-smell of gear oil in my garages and nostrils. SAS would be awesome. Though I'd think you'd be dogged with 35s @ 4.88, no?