hawairish

Appears so. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1963_Elephant_Mountain_B-52_crash

Gotcha. I like the ladder as well...I especially love the Gobi racks. I was planning to get one for the Jeep a few years ago, and it included the ladder. I'd expect the X hatch to be a few inches longer. Though honestly, those tire steps seem far more practical and economical, and most of the ones I've seen collapse flat-ish. I think there's more need to the sides of the roof rack than there is the rear.

You'd think with the OP's city name of Oil City, they'd cherish a good oil leak. But it would be odd to fail an inspection because of it. In AZ, you fail automatically if the CEL is lit.

Funny...I just pulled my 2.5" SFD spacers out the other night to put in the 3" spacers I had been working on. So, I have a 2nd-hand set available. (And technically, I have yet another set of 2.5" spacers sitting around, but they lack motor mounts.) Bigredangry: I've been working on a 3" kit. It's now installed on the truck...just dropped it off for an alignment today to confirm that everything is kosher. I'll post up more details on a new thread probably later today.

Any concerns about losing access to your pop-open window, CDN? The X glass is fixed in place.

Solid, man!

Well, there's that too. But yes, that would've made a good difference in my diagnosis, but I had keyed off the "opposite direction" part and presumed no LSD, since this observation would be pretty easy to make (vs. assuming it was included in a package, of course). So, seeing as you do in fact have the LSD, turning the steering wheel (and thus making a turn) would cause the outer tire to turn faster and the lack of an additive would induce noise. You wouldn't hear it at higher speeds because you're less likely to be turning. It's all coming together now! You might've been better off replacing all the fluid with gear oil for LSDs (it includes the additive), just to be sure it got a thorough flush. But glad you got it sorted...before the wifey gave a beatdown, of course.

Hope I'm following your diagnoses correctly. Taking another stab... I think it might be a u-joint, pinion flange, or something else related to the rotation of the rear driveshaft. I'm assuming your tests are with the transmission in neutral, otherwise you wouldn't be able to spin one tire off the ground while the other was stationary. Am I putting your diagnoses together correctly? One tire off the ground rotating, either direction, other tire stationary: driveshaft rotates = noise Both tires off the ground rotating at same speed, same direction: driveshaft rotates = noise Both tires off the ground rotating at different speeds, same direction: driveshaft rotates a little = noise Both tires off the ground rotating at same speed, opposite directions: driveshaft doesn't rotate = no noise If so, I would disconnect the driveshaft from the rear diff and retry the tests. If the noise subsides, check the u-joints on the driveshaft. You should be able to move them by hand in multiple directions. Any play or jerky spots may be the culprit. May need to grease or replace. If the noise persists with the driveshaft disconnected, check the pinion flange on the diff...it's the brassy-looking cover behind the driveshaft flange that rotates when the pinion rotates. Sometimes if it's not seated correctly, it rubs against the diff housing. Just takes a mallet and something to gently persuade the flange to adjust a little (piece of wood, punch/drift, pry bar, bolt, etc.) If that's not it, hopefully it's not the pinion bearing. Couple other notes: If your tires spin in opposite directions when both off the ground, you don't have the LSD. Suppose I wouldn't rule out the brakes being engaged. You can rotate the adjuster for the shoes if you suspect that. Might also check the handbrake to make sure it's fully disengaged (not just the handle, but the cable tension). Is it easy or difficult to remove the brake drums?

jjonez: side profile of 31" (LT245/75-16): This is with 2" spacers and OME springs (1"/1.5") front and rear. Stock 16x7 wheels with .25" wheel spacers. CDN: Gorilla has a line of hub centric rings (available through Summit, Jegs, etc.), but you can also try justforwheels.com. IIRC our center bore is 100mm. I can confirm that this week. I'd think that if you went with the bolt-on type, your tires would stick out too far...you'd have to go with at least 1.25" to clear your longer studs if you used rear OE studs up front like I did.

I had a similar issue on another vehicle...ended up being a loose belt. Wasn't squealing on the pulley as I might've expected, but occasionally stopped turning the PS pump which caused the groans.

Much better! Glad it's all sorted!

If you extend your bumpstops, then lengthening the arms to re-center the axle shouldn't be a problem (i.e., it can't "get there"). But you should extend them when you put larger tires or spacers on anyway. My rules of thumb have been to lengthen the bumpstop 1" for every 2" of tire size increase, or 1" for every 1" of spacer lift. This generally ensures there won't be rubbing at the top of the wheel well, which (with longer control arms) would also prevent the tire from swinging too far back (er, up?) to hit the rear of the wheel well. You may also need to be mindful of the extendable length of the driveshaft if going with longer control arms...but nothing a small driveshaft spacer can't resolve if the driveshaft is too short. I used 2" body lift spacers (Performance Accessories BB02), a longer bolt (8mm x 1.25 x 70mm), and a nylock nut (to secure the bolt to OE bumpstop, center the spacer, and so I could just twist them on by hand) when I added spacers:

You wanting to use different (shorter) hardware? Otherwise, I'd just remove the nuts, flip the spacer, and call it a day at this point.

If you say so. Shouldn't be any different than installing struts on a stock truck. You could also install the strut spacers to the truck first, then install the struts. The struts aren't any longer with HD springs than they are with stock springs. But really...we're all just anxious to see this through!

Yeah, might not help too much on the stance. What do you need the spring compressors for? Are you changing out the strut mount bolts?

Actually, the 80° is about right. Other posts put it closer to 8.5°, I measured about 9°. The angle is based off the angles of the strut mouth surfaces on unibody, and they actually slope about 11° towards the center of the vehicle; this is the result from a 4° decline from front-to-rear and 9° left-to-right...this latter number being the one that corrects camber. Here's how you should think about this image from the other thread (http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/31584-my-pathy-project-lifting/) This: Is really this, when installed: And the coils wouldn't affect this, btw. This is entirely related to the strut spacer, whether it's on wrong, or made wrong.

Sounds like the mounting surfaces are oriented correctly, but are they also parallel? If the spacers are made or installed wrong, there's no amount of camber bolts that will fix it. You could just put your 2" spacers back on. You've still got your OME springs on, right? At least until you figure out if you want more lift in the rear. Sucks to have to go this route and keep re-doing things, but sounds like the better route to save yourself from the headache for now.

Ha, that's even more confusing. So are the mounting surfaces on the spacers even parallel? Are they in a different orientation to each other? If the answer is no, then they were made wrong. Have you been in touch with KrF through all this?

So have you gotten things with the strut towers sorted out?

Yeah, I had something like that in mind, too. I've been passing some other ideas at TownDawg, guess I should've posted some up here. But yes, I had something like that in mind, with some random bends/curls so that whatever resin/epoxy approach would have something to fill around and create an anchor. Another one that crossed my mind was an external panel, similar to how some Jeeps have diamond plate covers for their quarter panel and taillight areas. There's no reason I have to reinforce inside the body, and this gives a little exterior armor...well, if I think I need it anyway. Would have to do it to the driver's side too to be cool. Currently, my thought has been on drilling holes directly to the inner metal panel. The OE reinforcement essential ties the quarter panel to an inner layer of steel. If I use longer bolts, I can anchor to both layers of steel, and could easily reach the hardware from the back side. I'd still use blind nuts, at least on the quarter panel; I'd have to check the angles of the interior panel. This approach might negate the need for any filler for the upper mount. I'd still fill the lower mount cavity regardless, since it needs to resist compression.

Well, the mounting surfaces on the spacers are identical and symmetrical, so they can logically be mounted to either tower location. That's 4 possible mounting scenarios, assuming the lower mount doesn't contact the body for a particular orientation and the spacers are identical instead of mirrored. If they are mirrored, then there are 8 mounting scenarios. That said, there's a 12.5% to 25% chance of getting it right. Weren't they supposed to be marked?

Ignoring the angle for a moment, if the 3 upper holes on the strut spacer aren't directly over the lower 3 holes, the strut spacer must be installed wrong. And here's why: the SFD moves everything directly downward. If the subframe spacers do that, so must the strut spacers. All four mounting surfaces on the strut spacers are identical, so in theory they can bolt to either side, in either orientation (presuming the angle doesn't cause one surface to hit the unibody at the bottom of the spacer). I have my truck notebook with me while traveling this week. It's got all my sketches and measurements taken around the truck, including dimensions, angles, and orientation of the strut towers. I'll see if I can mock up something in SketchUp to illustrate my point.

Yeah, I'd see about loosening that bracket and giving it some slack if possible. The steering rack clearly changed over the years, probably when the VG came around. May want to check with KrF to see how they addressed that. I built an extension bracket for mine...was pretty trivial, but again, the hoses/pipes are different. I mentioned to Colin he may need to loosen brackets of the lines depending on how much the rack was rotated. Though, one thing to note is that all those items stay stationary, but you just want to make sure they're not stressed as-is. The strut spacers are on wrong unfortunately. When mounted to the unibody, tube portion of the strut spacer should be vertical, not angled. When correct, the upper mounting holes will be directly above the lower holes. The purpose of the of the angles on the spacers is to make that mounting surface on the unibody drop linearly.

Yep, that hose coming down at a 45...where does that even go? I don't think I have anything like that on mine.

Yep, the beauty of the SFD...keeps the same ride qualities. Angles look good in the pics. Welcome to the SFD club! Bumper tuck looks good too. Looks like he was able to take a few inches out, no? Or maybe he was able to mount the push bar farther out than he was able to tuck the rest of the bumper? Think you can get a close up of the power steering hose that has the bracket connected to the middle of the cross member under the steering rack? The bracket is different than on mine, but I think you'll want to put a piece of metal plate/strap to between it and the cross member looks like it might be under some stress.