dmag23

You could be on to something. The rear diff does/did have alot of play. The rear end, in my opinion, was pretty much worn out so I took it in for a rebuild. Maybe when it comes back the trans issue will be fixed also. The new trans did come with the old fill hole location, but I did get 5qts of fluid in there. By slapping around I mean that it feels like the gear set inside the case is loose and sliding (slamming) back and forth on the main shaft. Given that the original trans did the same thing I'm hoping the culprit is the rear diff. I'll find out soon enough. Thanks to both of you for the feedback.

My '87 5-spd Pathfinder felt like the transmission had just about reached the end of its life, I thought. When driving down the road, I'd rest my hand on the shifter and I could feel the gears slapping around through the shifter when I go over bumps, etc. Like there was excessive play in all the gears. Not a problem, with 235,000 miles, I figured it was just worn out. So I purchased a factory new transmission. Got it installed and filled with Royal Purple synthetic 75W-90. Now, it does shift through the gears much better, but I still feel things slapping around through the gear shifter just like it did before. It's like there is excessive end play in all the gears. Is this just the way the manual trans is? Or do I have a faulty brand new transmission?

MWS - The stock manifold on the driver side has two screw in connections. One leads to the EGR valve and the other one leads to the air tube that ends up feeding the catalytic converter. Does the Thorley 464-1 come with both those fittings? Can the 464-1's be installed without lifting the motor up off the mounts? Is the long tube header (464-1) better for low end torque than the short tube header (464-2)? Trying to make a decision if I should go with the long tube or short tube header for my '87, 5-spd Pathfinder.

Not sure if this upload will work with a PowerPoint slide, but if it does, here's a diagram of the stock dimensions from my '87 Pathfinder Center Link. Another thing that looks out of place with your pic's (showing wheels turned full left and full right) is that the inner wheel's camber appears off in both cases. It looks like the top edge of the inner wheel is leening inward under full turn. That is, on full left turn, the top edge of the Driver's wheel looks like it leans in, and on full right turn, the top edge of the Passenger's wheel looks like it leans in The photo of your Pitman Arm pic shows that you have aftermarket Upper Control Arms. But I don't see any spacers behind the UCA pivot shaft. When the wheels are straight, do the wheels lean in? If you have a bubble level, place it vertically against the outside edge of the tire from bottom center to top center. Remember that the tire bulges more at the bottom from the weight of the vehicle. With that in mind, does it show near level, taking into consideration that the tire bulges out more below the rim than above? If the camber is way off then it will throw things off under full turn. Another thing to take into consideration is the steering knuckle adjustment. Each wheel has a stop adjustment for full left and full right turn. I think that was commented on in a previous reply. You can make slight adjustments there to limit the inner wheel's turning angle as opposed to the outer wheel's turning angle. Just remember that when one wheel hits its stop under full turn (full left and full right), the opposing wheel should have hit its stop also. If camber isn't a problem then I'd go back to looking at the center link to see if it is centered correctly between the frame rails when the wheels are straight. jj big shoe, let me know if the PowerPoint diagram doesn't show up. I can email it to you directly.

Try the link below. It may answer your questions. http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread/233955

I appreciate the offer but I took it to a shop to have the rear diff rebuilt. The front axle is good so I figured it would be less effort to have them just deal with the rear end.

Here's a suggestion on checking the alignment of the L&P CL. With the wheels lined up straight ahead, (this is important, make sure they are straight) check to see that the CL is equally aligned between the left and right frame rails. Use the outer edge of the frame rails (just above the Pitman Arm and Idler Arm) as your reference points. The driver's side and passenger side tie rod end pivot points (on the CL) should have the same amount of offset relative to the outside edges of the driver and passenger side frame rails. If the wheels are pointing straight ahead and the CL is offset more toward the driver side or passenger side, then you'll see the wheels do funny things while turning because the geometry will now be different between left turn and right turn. If you installed the L&P CL without re-indexing the Pitman Arm, then I'd suspect the situation described above is part of your problem. To correct the problem described above begin with the wheels pointing straight ahead. Make note of the steering wheel orientation. If you just had an alignment done, the steering wheel should be pretty much straight when the wheels are pointing straight ahead. 1) Pop the Pitman Arm off the steering shaft and re-index so that the CL is properly ligned up between the frame rails. Now that you've re-indexed the Pitmand Arm, the wheels will have changed direction slightly (or more depending on how far off center the CL was) and the steering wheel will have changed orientation. 2) Pop off the steering wheel and re-index so that it is now back to being straight. 3) Re-adjust the tie rod adjusters to bring both front wheels back into the straight ahead and parallel pointing direction. If everything is right, the steering wheel will be aligned straight, the wheels will be aligned straight, and the CL will be centered between the frame rails. You'll need to get to an alignment shop afterwords to fine tune the adjustments. Just make sure when they do their work, the CL is centered as the wheels are pointing straight ahead. If the steering wheel still isn't lined up correctly, tell them you'll pull it off and re-index it to make it straight.

I need to replace the rear differential on my '87 Pathfinder. The original diff is held to the axle housing with 9 bolts. I found a rear diff from a '98 Frontier. This diff uses 11 studs to hold it to its axle housing. Will the 11 stud diff mate up to my 9 bolt axle housing? In other words, do 9 of the 11 holes in the Frontier's diff line up with my axle housing's 9 bolt holes?