Citron

Thanks for the info. I used to work at a dealership and have repaired lots of vehicles back to New, but this is my first foray into modifying.

It sounds like you could use a vg33 out of an Xterra or frontier and possibly keep all of the accessories on the engine with a little work. I think it may only be the vg33 out of the r50 that needs the accessories swapped. Avoid the pulley issue.

I would start looking at the splice job. Is everything landed in the right place? No wires making contact with something it shouldn't, like bare spots on a neighboring wire.

That hose looks like part of the PCV system. Looks like it is coming off of the valve cover? It would not cause a lean condition. On a side note, your tranny dipstick is not bolted to the back of the head. Careful when checking tranny fluid, they are usually pretty easy to pull out when unbolted. I think it is just an oring holding it in now, if it's like other vehicles. There should be a procedure in the FSM for checking the O2 sensor. If it fails the test, then you know it is bad. Just takes a multimeter. Injector not firing would cause lean condition on only one side, but you should get a code for that.

Anything causing the belt to slip causes squeal, so looseness, glazing, hardness due to age. Check these first. If there is an idler pulley on that belt, check it too. Bad bearings on the idler can also squeal.

That should be close enough.

So only longer shocks for the rear? The kit from 4x4parts is a 3".

Thanks guys. Somehow I missed the kit from 4x4parts. I saw the deluxe kit but missed the standard. Deluxe is too much money right now. I am looking at the standard kit from 4x4parts with a panhard drop, with some calmini shocks since they are half the price of shocks offered on 4x4parts. Now to get the steering sorted out in my other post.

Is the front skid plate one piece with the bumper? Any info on metal used, pics showing fab and mounting? I am really interested in how you fabbed the mounts.

Right now I want to keep things pretty mild. I would like to avoid UCA if possible. I am planning steering upgrades in a different post, so no need to mention the need for them here, unless my thoughts are totally screwy. Start with the front.I read a post, I believe from Nefarious, that was saying you could crank the torsion bars to a max of two inches of lift without a need for UCA. So that is my plan for the front, crank torsion bars to two inches. I shouldn't need longer shocks, brake lines, etc for that, right? Sway away bars needed or just a nicety? Rear. Two options. I was looking at the ome .75 lift MD coils with a fluerys 1 inch space. Total lift 1.75. Or keep the old saggy rear coils and do a fluerys 2 inch spacer. Both options pretty cheap. How about panhard and rear links, does anything need to be done for two inches of lift? Thoughts on this lift, or any other options. Anything I missed? Thanks.

Thanks for the info guys. Steve, if you have that link for the HB handy, I would like it. If not, I can search. Adam, I hear ya. I was thinking the steering this month, suspension next month, and tires sometime this summer. Idler arm, good thing I posted, forgot about that. Besides grassroots and HB, any other options for center link? Is replacing the steering box and pitman unnecessary? I see neither of you mentioned that and I only saw it on one post at the other forum. I will post my lift plans now, if you guys wouldn't mind taking a look.

For those that don't remember, I have a 92 4wd. I took it out wheeling this last weekend and on the way home I had some significant back and forth movement in the steering wheel starting around 20 mph. Not looseness, when I let my hands off of the wheel it would move back and forth from about 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock. I don't remember this before, but I only drive it when off-road, probably a few times a month, so maybe I didn't notice before. I feel like this is a good excuse to do a steering upgrade. I have been reading a few forums and have some ideas, but would like clarification. It looks like the center link needs to be upgraded no matter what? I saw that 5523 used one from a green something company, and someone named hoohaa made one. How do I find these products, and are there any other options? I also saw that the two options for the pitman are to keep the stock box and install a pitman bracket, I think basically some kind of gusset. I think I saw one on rugged rocks. The other being to get a used manual steering box from a hardbody, and a pitman arm from a power box on a hardbody. I saw a how to on nissan4wheelers. Supposed to be the strongest, but harder to source. Any other options? Third, install a steering stabilizer. Sounds like there was one available from the factory. Is it good, or any other options? I have read that the tie rod ends can go either way, some say upgrade, others say factory are good enough except for extreme wheeling. Thoughts? Eventually, I would like to do 2-3 inches of lift and 33x10.5r15 tires. And I would like to keep everything as cheap as possible. All upgrades need to be doable in a long weekend as I currently do not have a shop and need to use the one at work. Comments on steering please, lift questions will come in a different post at a later date. Thanks.

I like the switch. Where did you get it. I live in Sasquatch country,they actually filmed some of that finding Sasquatch show around here.

Yes, 2wd does not have front axles.

That would be awesome if this is the case. I will have to look at mine and see if it is like that.

Check the CV by driving slowly and turning sharply. But I agree, by your description I don't think it is the CV axle. Should tighten the wheel bearings anyway, easy thing to rule out. Ball joints are more of a clunk, but it is when going over bumps. Can you put a jack under the lower A arm and jack it up to simulate the suspension being compressed and then digging around to see if you can find anything loose?

The problem was the id of the seal kept rolling over and bulging out. I had lubed the id of the seal but it didn't help. It was a different brand of seal from OEM so the inner lip didn't look quite the same. I drove the seal in with a 3/4 drive deep well socket.

Copper anti-sieze is high temp.

Where is this pic?

Diffs need extended breathers. I think arb makes some, I haven't tried any on the pathfinders.

I have done lots in the last few days. Timing belt, water pump, valve cover gaskets, all new coolant hoses, all but one vaccum hose, cam and crank oil seals, cleaned throttle body... I think that is about it. Nope, new accessory belts. Oh, and sealed the leak on the windshield...

All of the wear is on the crank. The new key I used is oversized, I filed it to fit so it is nice and tight. Good to hear others have had similar issues, hopefully they didn't have problems in the long run.

He means the whole axle assembly, including housing. You could replace the seals if they are leaking, or you want to.

I was having a heck of a time putting the crank seal in. I couldn't get the lip of the seal to go on the shaft without bulging out. After messing with it for awhile I found an easy way to do this. I cut a peice of .05 shim stock and rolled it inside of the seal. Then I slid the back end of the shim over the shaft, and slid the seal down the shim. Once the seal was seated, I pulled the shim out. Very easy and I will definitely do this next time. Now for the question. When I pulled the timing gear on the crank off, the woodruff key was nearly broken and the slot it seats in was wallowed out. This explains the timing issues I have been having. I took an SAE woodruff key and filed it down to fit pretty tight, but there is still very slight rotational movement of the gear. Is there any movement on a gear without damage? Has anyone had this problem, and is there an easy fix?

I was able to do #6 with a 6" extension without a wobbly. I never could get the compression tester to thread in though.