Dbot

I finally said screw it, let's fix the rust issue. I've got rock sliders in a box, replacement body panels, and a tire carrier sitting around, but I couldn't see myself attaching these all just mere inches from the crusty metal cancer that's been slowly growing over the last 5 years I've owned it. Upon starting the project I had rust holes in the rocker panels that I wish to protect with rock sliders. Lots of crumbly rust around the rear fender flares and a small rust hole in the uniframe in the rear driver wheel well. There was some surface rust and some flakey bits underneath by the spare tire carrier. So I ordered some slip on quarter panels and rocker panels from Nor/Am body parts. First things first, let's attack structural rust so I began by removing the gas tank, fuel filler assembly, evap system, hitch, spare tire carrier assembly, bumper and part of the upper control arm mounting bracket. Next I began opening the hole in the uniframe. Working my way forward... which is downhill, things got better and cleaner so I stopped. Working my way rearward, things stayed crusty. I ended up opening a large section of the uniframe to look inside. It was rusted internally all the way back. That didn't seem to make much sense because you'd figure that the rust problem would be worse in the lower portion of the frame toward the front. Also the exterior of this uniframe rail was in much better shape than inside. Examining the frame rail, I saw the evap system vents into the frame rail. I know for sure that something has always been funky with the evap system because I could smell fresh gas from time to time from the rear of the vehicle despite never having anything be wet or have codes on the dash. I'm assuming the part called a water separator was fouled causing moisture vapor to vent into the frame rail. Ok, so this is gonna be an ordeal to fix. I decide to hit the brakes on that rail and moved to a cross beam that the tire carrier mounts to. I began cutting out the rust to find a fair amount of rust inside this. I stopped cutting when the crusty rust transitioned to mere surface rust. Next the panhard mount on the chassis had some flakey rust so the 'ol hammer test confirms that it's also toast. After releasing the panhard bar I began cutting the lower portion to see how bad it is inside. I lucked out and found that just the lower portion was crusty. This mounting protrustion is connected to a structural cross beam in which, as you guessed, had some crusties. After cutting this open, I find rust at more or less the far ends of this beam where it joins the main frame rails . I'd rather not lop off the entire panhard mounting point, I so I began removing brake lines and fuel lines to clear a path to where I can cut an access hole at the upper most portion of the mounting point. That's more or less where we ended up this week. It's definitely not an exciting project to write about and there's a million other things I'd rather do right now but I figured I'd sort of roll out some updates on this until we get to the finish line. Every time I regretfully walk into the garage, I gotta remind myself my ultimate plan for the vehicle is to keep it forever and keep it in better shape than I originally bought it. The blessings I have working for me right now is the valve covers have always leaked and oil kept most of the rust away from the front as far as I know. Mid section seems ok too. So what's next? More rust cutting, more bracket removing, and possibly divorcing the axle from the body. The axle has a solid amount of rust scale everywhere that would eventually eat the suspension mounting points so that's gonna need some love too. I plant to get to a point where every structural beam is opened up and all crusty sections are cut out with a die grinder or sawzall. After that, everything is getting either the grinder, flap wheel, bore polisher or sandblasted to bare metal. Inevitably there will be trace amounts of rust that would be addressed with phosphoric acid. Apparently this converts Iron Oxide to Iron Phosphate which halts rust progression and becomes a paintable surface. Next step replacement sections of steel will be welded back in. Any female threads that had bolts snap off will be drilled out and re-tapped. Any male studs that broke off in a nut, will be welded back in. After welding and sanding, I'll figure out what rust inhibiting primer to use and apply that. I plan to apply this internally in the rails with a special spray I have. Most likely would finish off the axle and underside with bed liner of some sort. After that, new plastic clips, new extended brake hoses from Taylor, and rubber hoses. Then we can resume with quarter panels, rocker panels and learning how to paint a vehicle. Until next time, peace!

As Chris mentioned, it could be the trans cooler hard lines or It could also be the rubber portion of the line which is the best case scenario... Just go to the auto parts store and ask for transmission line hose of the same diameter and you're good to go. It could also be the radiator. The radiator has aluminum barbs for the trans cooler lines that can snap. I've snapped mine off on the trail before. Once you find the point of exit for the fluid and fix it, a simple refill should get you mobile again. I'm guessing 4 quarts should get the thing rolling. May need a 5th quart to get where you need to be on the dipstick. Driver side cooler line is hot fluid exiting the trans. Passenger side is cooler fluid returning to the trans.

I'm running Jeg's 16x8 steelies. It has a bit more offset though. Part number 555-681034 (Less than $80 right now) JEGS 555-681034 D Window Wheel [Size: 16" x 8"] Black - JEGS Size: 16" x 8" Bolt Pattern: 6 x 5.50" Back Spacing: 4.00" Offset: -12 mm Center Bore: 4.25 I ran 265 65r16 tires on them. Without a lift, they stick out and they won't tuck in the fenders during flexing and if you bottom out, the tire rubs in the back. If you're lifted, then they tuck in the fenders when flexing.

Can metal ones be found? Yes. Junkyard 2001 R50s have aluminum valve covers. You'd want to replace the spark plug tube seals and you'll need to change your #1 coil for a 2001 R50 #1 coil. It's longer than the other 5. Also, I suspect that G35/350Z valve covers should fit the heads and somebody could get creative with the rubber hose and wire harness locations. 350z/G35 variant of the vq35de use the same part number for the contoured valve cover gaskets. Below is a comparison between G35/350z aluminum valve covers (red) and aftermarket pathfinder valve covers (black).

I ain't proud to say it, but I've had cracks on my fan ever since I bought the rig in 2019

Had some front end sloppiness that I tracked down to being a control arm bushing so I did the deed and switched to polyurethane. I wanted to switch to polyurethane because, from what I've read, it resists oil better than rubber (I have leaky valve covers) and last longer than rubber in general. Secondly, I was under the impression that I wouldn't need a press to install the bushings. Presently I couldn't source any bare control arms for polyurethane bushings to pop into so I headed off to the place that has the cheapest control arms: The salvage yard. Removing the control arms in salvage was extremely easy, but removing the rubber bushings was a 2 hour job involving big hammers, chisel punches and a sawzall. I cleaned up the scars from the bushing extraction and coated them with the some converter for cosmetic purposes. I wanted to try using grease zerks because some people say that poly bushings can be squeaky. There's not really any A+ location to put a grease zerk on the control arm but here's where I put it. https://phx02pap004files.storage.live.com/y4mCsBnRSxIAaQql9jtePmOGF76hCX6b2E1lucWNL-WBvwec_G-4cds7LfuoGyIxzkB4az2k3n340mGrNzQhnQX4lfFHSVxt4wXDh8l9R24E-5Z6KBFnZYxSDYbRi7xAnFuFrEu1hCdumPlTyDiwM_PlcFxJOSPykNyaBhBHRpeOEn3FcUeFs5oDzDqSz51ueNL?width=660&height=495&cropmode=none So the bushings I went with were from 4x4parts.com. There's two purchases required need to have both types of front control arm bushings. The website shows grease packets, but I didn't get any for some reason. 4x4 Parts - Pathfinder Front Lower Control Arm Front Bushings SPPE3R5099 - Your #1 Source for Nissan Aftermarket Parts! 4x4 Parts - Pathfinder Front Lower Control Arm Rear Bushings SPPER50559 - Your #1 Source for Nissan Aftermarket Parts! So about that grease zerk; I didn't center the hole perfectly, so I had to dremel out a notch in the bushing to make room for the threaded part of the zerk. Also, I was wrong about bushings not needed to be pressed in. A couple years ago when I installed the rear trailing arm bushings from 4x4 parts.com, they popped in by hand and didn't have a metal portion. The front bushings do have metal and require some coercion to fit. I had to bust out the dynafile and ever so lightly chamfer the control arm inner diameter and chamfer the metal on the bushing in order to drive the bushing in with a mallet. https://phx02pap004files.storage.live.com/y4mRzLIK_Gl6MXmKLZRCVLJC5oRKuF4wkzyyKjii1btt1kddA1i5bDt8E7FY0tV0mGQvzTYHCzaKsMvjp2rvR8WP14DXJjForyi0494Eh45TaVTxKEO3McJR3qpTNgvcqF_C82hMHkt2LViLTYwe4KcQL5zBoawfwRLk5ZOlpcjQa0li2LPwIoRvCDcwvpU4Wh2?width=660&height=495&cropmode=none The other bushing type goes on the rear portion of the control arms and it's an easy fit if you grease it all up beforehand. I drilled a hole through to the center for a grease passageway. After drilling through, the bushing material closed up the hole behind the removed drill bit like some sort of sphincter, but grease can pass through it though. The grease I used is a silicone grease that ace carries. I've read somewhere that silicone grease is best to use with poly bushings. https://phx02pap004files.storage.live.com/y4mYdkisbPP6QPEO02nVK2riVNQFQE74ATk7z8VBGzSTLKByWVIRRSARxSR35btyAUawKvXItVVEd2WU8m9W37FtISbp0V8iOobIeK3tdV3eabI73MIqWs8Os-6aECaYq_V4aJXBAEb0lCIfBsnkIqSywds8QdPfiM4d4Ptkzlu364nGgF4mwklEt8n7JltYZUR?width=660&height=495&cropmode=none https://phx02pap004files.storage.live.com/y4m4KuWN8K8aM8LuLes2G6btbky2hr6D170crIXTTawheoD-KSaybTiVwQNvEYt9wMLW2wJtyonIjZ-pHCShXYutKAjoOKTKfSl8uv3mYMDdZPbht3o9gdmffb3uUj-S5mEcgb4fEruaq-7ge2W1GQyp1_eDEcxobZPECv8L2iI5R7uEgzstShmbponBrJCH5Bz?width=660&height=495&cropmode=none When I pulled salvage control arms, I nabbed the brackets. I drilled and tapped the brackets for grease. https://phx02pap004files.storage.live.com/y4m3-0brWzz6yoz7EWzPA7_0DTpfIk4T9CWyB57vZ3v7Iah499KjZGHQy1gSNomBijM8W0otqg7j7AoFMG5045x4v26aGkp5NLK-JPc3xBLQvIGfm0JEAa7YBEWQF4V1xBbL5xLi1y1kLUDJum6mEHkQvjPLJMCLtRJkDlFFe030y_T4RNedTZq4ZdDKMxtGryW?width=660&height=495&cropmode=none After prepping the new arms, I removed the old arms. Definitely split and cracked rubber bushings in those. Installation of the new arms was straight forward. I just made sure to add a step where articulate the arm downward to have a good connection to the grease zerk. I then grease it with the grease gun then tilt the arm upward (tucking away the zerk) to connect to the ball joint. I hooked up all the hardware and tighted the ball joint nuts to spec but left the bolts the secure the arms to the subframe loose. FSM says to install bushings this way. Not sure if it's really needed for poly bushings, but better safe than sorry. https://phx02pap004files.storage.live.com/y4mswUGMccd01SuqaAk_WqQZ6883jOkiqbV2ph6bmIAdcVWIQvr24CDNe7_pg0sTziKYn1BTGYGs7ahA4D_a2zvAGQUQRmSzNjQM4b6eXuTF2njHoaO3kKwyqPk0Ly2I5kY75R1X7wnlWzASFXgdoZCiS-DQzKLTgnd_yO0XB5em6fAIzCHX5d93_WWtWstPy5_?width=660&height=495&cropmode=none https://phx02pap004files.storage.live.com/y4mV2kzpthVsitI6QAojThbgVi_zC_66GZ07L_0jUISoEXCQWTNg4MDZxuoNVBriCS7xB6QRfbdVeiDNJjN5WohpbHibFI_3zQhp6TMKcHsERknNuXBr0JYofHdac9ZkLbEG3h7dP9wjoIg7_hh0o2U3GXnilOuHh6SC_9me-IvirHSj1a_uH-peBJzT7p2HF4N?width=660&height=495&cropmode=none After that, we set the vehicle down under it's own weight and torque the bolts to spec. Then we give the rearmost bushings another charge of grease. https://phx02pap004files.storage.live.com/y4mV2kzpthVsitI6QAojThbgVi_zC_66GZ07L_0jUISoEXCQWTNg4MDZxuoNVBriCS7xB6QRfbdVeiDNJjN5WohpbHibFI_3zQhp6TMKcHsERknNuXBr0JYofHdac9ZkLbEG3h7dP9wjoIg7_hh0o2U3GXnilOuHh6SC_9me-IvirHSj1a_uH-peBJzT7p2HF4N?width=660&height=495&cropmode=none https://youtu.be/ECBZiT2BjGc I've driven the vehicle around for a couple weeks and wheeled it on rocks, mud and creek water today. Everything feels tight and quiet. No squeaks or pops yet. The ride doesn't feel any harsher, but with 33" tires, I may have never felt a difference anyway.

I had a less severe, but similar issue with mine. Park was mechanically park (wouldn't start electronically unless forward pressure was put on shifter) Reverse was mechanically reverse Neutral was mechanically neutral *Mechanical drive was between neutral and drive Drive was mechanically 2 2 was mechanically 2 1 was mechanically 1 Got in there and adjusted the nuts on the turn buckle. The factory service manual has a great step by step guide who to align and calibrate it in your driveway. If that doesn't fix it, you might have transmission issues.

Try putting some forward pressure on the shifter (still in park) when starting and try pulling back on the shifter (in park) to test your parking safety switch. I bought mine with a slight misalignment in the shifter and would sometimes apply pressure to the shifter to start it until, I took it apart and fixed it properly.

Just a heads up, Bilstein 5100 bushings aren't sized for our rigs. Not the end of the world but you're gonna have to make a choice for the upper shock mount. 1) Mount it on the original mount bolt with some slop 2) order some bushings/sleeves to fill in the gap 3) Drill out the bolt holes on chassis with a 1/2" bit and mount a 1/2" bolt through the upper shock mount. I used option 3 and it's worked great for over 2 years so far.

Sure do! Link to wheels: JEGS 681034: D Window Wheel | Size: 16" x 8" | Bolt Pattern: 6 x 5.50" - JEGS High Performance The 32" (265 70r 16) rub a bit behind front tires when turning the wheel a half turn from full lock. Back tucks in at full flex. The 33" (285 75r 16) rub alot (half turn of steering wheel is all you get) until trimmed. Rears tuck in the upper quarter panel but the tire lugs pull at the plastic mud flaps and fender flare brackets at full flex

It's only a matter of time before 1st goes out next. I lost reverse intermittently on mine. Fluid flushes and trans coolers couldn't save her. Intermittent reverse issue became more frequent so I swapped it out before it left me stranded

Vq35 timing chain guides are typically pretty long lasting, but to answer your original post, yeah the guides can be replaced inside the engine bay. Ive done it myself and it took forever so I'd expect over 1k in cost to have a shop do it.

Update Pt2 Way back in April 2021 I ordered a Lokka and finally received it in December. Due to work killing us slowly with overtime, I just started working with in in June. I wanted to go the route that @PathyDude17went by getting a front 4.636 diff and a rear 4.636 lsd diff to pair with the Lokka. Rear diff I did some homework on NPORA and FSM about choosing and removing the diff, so I set out to the junkyard with tools and found a 2001 Xterra with the orange "LSD oil only" sticker. Door jam said HG46 so I started wrenching. Never bothered checking backlash or runout on the ring gear, but I couldn't see or feel any issues with it. Install went pretty smooth. I of course used a new gasket, and lsd additive. One thing i noticed is that there doesn't seem to be any torque spec for the brake line where it attaches to the drum, so I just went by feel on that. Front diff I found a 2000 QX4 that had the HG46 indicated on the firewall plate so I grabbed it from salvage. Removal is pretty easy if you know how to crack loose the driveshaft nuts and remove cv axles. The front diff, I verified runout and backlash before I started getting too far into the lokka install. Installing the lokka wasn't too awful, it was just time consuming and the printed instructions aren't worded very well. Thankfully Tyler has his install video on YouTube to show us how it's done in normal english with good visuals. I went ahead and ordered the associated items from the links on his YouTube channel and found the punches very handy. I ended up not using most of the oil seals from the parts order because I didn't see any evidence of oil leakage on the donor vehicle and removing the seals was going to be a time consuming pain. I stupidly put my house up for sale on the market while I had my pathfinder on jack stands, oil on the driveway and diff parts on my work bench, so I really had to kick things in gear and get this put back together before people started showing up to check out the home. From what I remember, there were some diff parts that were particularly tough to separate that Tyler didn't have trouble with and a part or two that came off really easy where Tyler had to get creative to remove. I suppose no two diffs are the exact same. I did have to shim mine to get it into tolerance. My gap was too large so I cut up some .005" shim stock with scissors to make some spacers to get the unit in spec. The hardest part about the diff was installing into the subframe, that was definitely a two person job without using a trans jack. With the Lokka in the diff and the diff in the Pathfinder, the unit seemed to perform as expected by turning wheels and driveshaft by hand in the various scenarios. With the humble house being turned into a public showroom, I would have to wait to test it on the trails for a couple weeks while I waited for life to settle for a bit. Results: The HG46 diff set made a noticeable difference in acceleration. Acceleration wise, it felt like i went back to my 31.6" tires from my 32.87" tires When I was rushing to get the Pathfinder put together and moved for house selling, I did notice the LSD stiffness was about 50-60 ft lbs by feel. How I figure that is by having the rear axle on jack stands, tires on, torque wrench set to 100 ftlbs (lug nut specs), I could get about halfway (my super calibrated arms) to 100 ftlbs on the lugnut before the lsd would give in and let the wheel slip. Obviously, i'm measuring a couple inches out by pulling on the lug nuts and not the center of the axle, and the torque wrench angle plays a factor and my arms aren't a measuring device but a weak speculative data point is still a data point. It has only rained once since I swapped diffs so I don't have much wet street experience, but I did take it around the neighborhood when it did rain. wheel slippage didn't occur on gentle driving. I did intentionally stomp the gas for a turn and both tires lit up to my delight. Offroad, the lsd has exceeded my expections. I usually don't dare driving 2wd on Ozarks river rock because I sunk my tacoma pretty good doing that before, but I figured I'd see what the lsd would do. I could feel the rear tires slightly slipping and digging. All it takes is one tire to become the one wheel wonder for a single rotation and you're sunk. The back tires worked in unison and we kept chugging forward. Further on the trail, I kept it in 2wd and cleared some familiar spots that are prone to back wheel spin, but none of that happened. With the star of the project being the Lokka, I drove deeper into the trail to find the tricky stuff. There's a spot where you flex out and 3 wheel it that requires momentum if you're working from bottom to top of trail. Lokka crawled at the slowest possible speeds without issue. I made efforts to climb to rock steps. I had mixed success with that. Video shows the lokka working, but the driver needs more IQ/effort and the tires need less air pressure. Descending trails with lokka is normal unless you stab the throttle while turning, then the lokka lets you know it's there by resisting the steering wheel inputs. Climbing trails with lokka is different because there's times it tells you it's in charge depending on the terrain, steering angle and throttle input. Turning radius can be increase at times with the Lokka. I found that using 2wd is more rewarding with the LSD because it has easy steering, However, the Lokka will let you get the highlight moments of wheeling that you're going to remember the rest of the year. Hopefully after some real estate transactions, I can go back to the trails with 20 psi in the tires and more time to get a better feel. Also, I have tons of detailed photos of the Lokka install, included shim installation. If there isn't one already, anyone want a post with tons of photos for a Lokka install walkthrough?

Build update! Man, it takes forever to get upgrades on this thing. The 31.6" General Grabber AT2 tires were about 8 years old, getting close to the wear bars, cracked, chunked and starting to leak. While I recommend Grabber all terrains, I wanted to change things up so I went with the Milestar Patagonia MT. Went up a size 33"x11.5" (285 75r 16) Front tire fitment Driving home from the tire shop required a 7 point turn to get out to the street and then I had to route home using left turns so I could swing wider due to severe rubbing. It did successfully clear the strut with my 4.0 backspacing wheels. I had to cut over an inch of the front bumper and up to an inch on the fender to get it to become driveable. It still rubs, so there's more trimming to be done. With this particular setup, the passenger tire rubs the sheet metal shield that protects the brake lines in the passenger wheel well at full lock. I'm going to have to keep and eye on the guard and be prepared to step in with some new ideas if it starts to let go. Rear tire fitment: Rear tires fit great for city driving. They will even tuck during some urban flex testing, but the trail fitment is another story. First wheeling trip started snapping fender flare clips after some immediate unavoidable hard rubbing. It appears to rub and pull the flare from in from of the tire... or maybe it's on the back side by the mudflap? It's not hitting the upper portion though. It ultimately caused me to lose a flare on the trail. So I'm debating either going flareless or finding some black flares from salvage since finding bronzed gray colored pathfinders is impossible. Tire performance The Patagonia MT's have a center strip of tight knight lugs that provide a smooth quiet contact patch. Since the tires are rated for a stupid amount of air pressure, I filled them up to 40 psi (checked a couple months later and found 45 psi?) and sure enough, they are no louder than the bald all terrains that I just tossed out. You can hear the side lugs contacting asphalt with their typical MT growl if you corner or brake hard enough to squish the side walls, but typical cruising is silent. One thing I noticed is that at high psi, the agility for quick turns or swerves is very poor. Feels like you're trying to corner with marshmallow tires. At lower psi, it's slightly improved, but more noise is present as your contact patch includes more side lugs. Wet weather performance is good. Trail performance is good thus far, however I haven't tested these at low pressure yet. At 40+ psi, I did a few miles on rocks, dirt and mud and had no issues finding traction, likely due to new/deep tread and expections set to the previous tire set's performance. Second trail run, I had them at 30 psi and found that 30 psi wasn't quite wanting to grab and hold the rock ledges that I wanted to climb, but other than that, they performed as expected. One thing to note is that every other lug will pick up gravel about every stinkin' tire rotation so keep that in mind if you have cars with expensive windshields driving behind you.

I say YAY. A mesh grill would make the front end pop some more for less effort but your design would be unique and look just as good if not better if you don't mind the work. A guy did this grill design to his Xterra and it turned out great. Blacked out edges of headlights look great also.