RCWD21

The title says it all. I went down a muddy road and slid off into a deep rut that wasn't there the day before and in the process I bottomed out on the frame and front suspension arms. And in the process of being pulled out I got drug through part of the rut and somehow bent both of my lower control arms. The passenger side is ok but the driver side, which I've been having problems with since I installed bushings, is clearly bent somewhere even though the distance from the bracket to the shock bolt is equal on both sides. I had to shorten the bushing to keep it from getting mushroomed away from the collar when it was installed. The only possible suspect place I can see that may be an issues she where the bottom most bushing is it looks curved to me but I'm not 100% sure. And now that I'm looking for new lower arms I can't find a single one. Everyone is out of stock. Can anyone help me find a set? I've looked for hours and can only find one used one. Help!!!

And this is after an alignment with all new components and shocks all around

Ok guys I've gone through another set of the poly bushings since I last posted. They keep splitting at the seems. I'm going to order a rubber set and seriously think abijt selling this rig. I'm getting tired of working on it. Everything is great minus these stupid bushings. I got stuck last night in a big rut and this morning I noticed my steering wheel is crooked but it doest pull or fight me. All I can see is that the bushings are split on the driver side again. I don't even want to look at the passenger side and I'm really hoping that I just damaged the bushing from being pulled out.

Its chain driven. yes there are gears for hi/lo but its driven via chain from an input shaft that links your trans output shaft and the snout of your driveshaft. when the chain breaks it bunches up on the primary shaft and will lock your rear wheels faster than you cn say oh s$%#!

Have you sorted your issue out yet?

I think for simplicity I'm going to do the 90amp alt upgrade. Do you think that would be enough to charge 2 batteries and supply power for about 400w of lights?

Haha guilty as charged but I have yet to read the guide lines until now as most of the rules are just common sense and proper judgement lol but obviously that doesn't exist with everyone on these forums. Thanks for the info guys I'd still be scratching my head if not for the help haha

Ahh ok! I wasn't sure about reviving an old thread. Some forums are anal about that and I wasnt sure lol. But speaking of the body spacers, I have a 96 hardbody for parts and was wondering if I can get all the body spacers and a few extra from the junkyard to replace the ones on the pathfinder, would that give me a body lift at all? I just want something to get some extra distance between the floor pan and the y-pipe because my floor was getting really hot until I stuffed extra insulation under the carpet but it only helps ever so much. Thanks for the alternator info guys, As for the fan Ive looked at every single thread I can find specific info. Would a fan set from an 87 maxima be a correct choice? Only asking because the local junkyards are pretty thin most of the time and not too helpful on which vehicles they have

I've been searching for several things so I'll ask them all on one thread as I don't want to revive threads from 2006 lol. My first question is, I know the hard bodies are factory lifted 1.5 to 2 inches depending on who you ask. If I were to collect enough of the body spacers would that effectively lift the body? I'm looking for a way to get rid of the hot floor in the drivers side. My second question is both swap questions. The maxima alternator and the maxima e-fans. What year car are the fans from? I read of one guy using a set from an 87 model. What else would I need to pull from the car? I know I need the temp sensor adapter for the radiator hose and the sensor that's in that. What do I do about a fan controller? Can I get that from the maxima? The next part of my question is what year specifically does the alternator need to be from? I'd like something upwards of 100amps in forward thought of me addind trail lights and a second battery sometime around the same time if things go as planned. And just incase I've searched and searched and haven't found anything with conclusive results. Everything I've foundeither doesn't have pics or no specific years and part numbers.

I don't know of anyone that's experienced enough to look over this thing. And around here everyone wants an arm and a leg to "check things out" and I thought that was the case but I'd rather ask and know for sure from someone far more experienced than me

I was actually looking into that, have you ever experienced anything like this with any of your rigs? I'm going to try installing the modified bushing AMD sleeve just to see if it sits better and doesn't compress as much. If it does end up being just a quirk on the side then this thread will hopefully help anyone else that sees this and is experiencing a similar problem (I can't find anything at all online). Monday I'm going to finish the steering smd install my front shocks and get an alignment even though I can get it close to 3 degrees from factory specs just by eye. I guess I'm just lucky with that but at least I can drive it to where I choose to get it aligned

Today I measured even more and I compared the right side to the left side and I can't find any differences at all. I've even pulled out the digital calipers that I have and everything measures the same as both the parts truck and my dads d21. I just can't physically wrong. One thing I was pondering was, is it possible that improper caster is causing an issue? I don't think it is as my tires are wearing pretty evenly and the pathfinder drives fairly straight and it doesn't pull towards the left except when the roads are just really bad. What else can I do to find this problem? I'm at a loss finally

Ok guys, I'm going to measure my frame again today just to double check myself. I really need to find what's going on with this thing, its driving me crazy and I don't want it to cause damage down the road. its an out there question but what if the bracket is actually further forward? what would I do to fix that? I was thinking maybe shorten the collar along with the short bushing on the front side and a standard bushing on the back and when its tightened down everything will be correct but still allow for movement. but that's only if the bracket is forward and not correctly welded to the frame.

And yes the races are the same size. Same part number stamped on the back lip and I measured them just to be doubly sure because I didn't buy them both at the same time. I did one side and decided to go ahead and do both sides while everything was apart.

There's no body damage except for the hole under the rear seat and a little by the doors near the bottom but that's it. There's no frame damage that I can find measuring. RedPath88 I pulled up the pages you told me about and everything to the best of my ability is correct. This rig drives straight and smooth besides the wandering steering as you know is already being taken care of. It now has new shocks and here soon I will be doing the sway bar bushings up front. I have a question to ask you though, what's the probability of a torsion bar being bent pulling on the front spline cup and in turn tweaking the angle of the lower control arm? Let me know if that doesn't make sense

I've taken a straight edge to the front cross member and its straight. The bushings are all nice and tight and there's no missing bolts. I'm anal about missing pieces lol

I've got a parts truck that I can use for measurements with things such as the control arms and suspension specs AMD things. My dad also has a 93 hardbody that I've looked at. I haven't abused it but I'm not 100% sure of its past life being that at least the first 4 years of its life were spent in Panama (I still havee the rear registration sticker on the rear window). When I did the bushings I inspected everything since it was already mostly apart. I'm racking my brain trying to figure this out. From the service manual section for checking the frame and suspension and everything is how its supposed to be. I highly doubt bad shocks could do it but could it? They're worn and have a slow reaction time. This bushing has lasted longer than the previous one but I haven't taken it off road yet. I'm waiting for the correct outer tie rod ends to come in. The company I got the kit from sent me ones from a bad batch. Other than that everything under the front dealing with steering has been replaced (just waiting to install it). Its going to be sitting for a few days so I'm going to be doing my rear sway bar end links.

I forgot to add that all the bushings upper and lower have been replaced in the control arms with the red energy suspension ones. Those were fun putting in lol

My frame shows no signs of damage anywhere on it. There's not even a spec of rust inside or out. When I lay underneath it and look at the bracket compared to the position of the front differential crossmemeber the driver side is further forward compared to the passenger. I'll take a picture here in a few minutes after I run to get my new shocks. The control arm isn't bent that I can see. I've measure several x patterns all through my frame and they're square. I know I seem like a hassle but I want to get to the bottom of this issue before my trip to Ohio here in a few weeks. And I plan on offroading when I get there.

Guys I think I just found my entire problem! Where the bracket is welded to the frame, the driver side is about an 1/8 of an inch further forward compared to the passenger side. The only thing I can think of to solve this is to install a modified bushing (trimmed down a little bit) to compensate for the smaller space

I was also thinking about take one of the old bushings that are still good and shortening them a little bit in the side that comes in contact with the cupped washer and see if that will do anything. Nothing has changed besides me installing poly bushings for the control arms leveling the ride height with the rear and getting all the grit and grime off of everything. I even ground down the bearing races to about half their thickness to give more room to pivot.

When I welded on the bearing races I ground the surface smooth for a clean weld. And I had this problem before I fixed the holes. I was lucky enough to find washers that were the same thickness as the frame bracket when two were stacked on top of each other. I did the same thing to both sides and only the driver side is doing this. Could my lower control arm be bent even though my measurements are the same because the strut rod is helping hold it in place? The strut rods are sitting very close to level with the torsion bars. When I took these pics with the new bushings I was on a road bit it leaned slightly to the passenger side because of the angle of the road

Both races are the same size. The part number for them is L68111. The difference in the pictures is just from the angle I took them at. But on the driver side can you see how squished out the bushing is? The only thing I can think of would be a bent torsion bar but if it were bent wouldn't that side react differently from the passenger side?

Passenger side that sits perfectly in the collar

Driver side that's being mushroomed out