dkpath96

If your Import Auto is the same as the one I shop at, they will get you arms only, usually from a junkyard or used parts warehouse. They found me a rare harmonic balancer and shipped it from FL in a day (I'm in PA).

Yea my cousin and I just put in the poly bushings from AC. We had a hell of a time - had to cut two bolts and air hammer a third one out. Plus all the brake cable bracket bolts sheared off. And pressing out the old ones was a chore but it went ok only thanks to a 20-ton press. The 'finder rides like a new vehicle now and is nice and quiet, though - no more 'bucket of bolts' rattling over bumps, and the handling improved a lot too. Definitely worth the PITA 3 hour replacement job.

As a future parent, and a high school teacher, I am also shocked at some things our country does or allows - and I am sometimes downright scared about raising kids in today's society. My wife and I rarely ever watch movies anymore (or TV for that matter, except Man vs. Wild and Dirty Jobs!) because everything is about crime, war, death and destruction, sex, drugs, murder, you name it. I grew up with the Dukes of Hazard and The Cosby Show - kids today are growing up with CSI, The Sopranos, Desperate Housewives, etc. The media surely does not care about social impact - they are after the all important dollar, because this stuff sells. But they are so going down the wrong path. Has anyone ever read the book "Running Man"? It's about a society that takes reality to extremes - killing for entertainment, just like the days of the gladiators. So far, our media are paralleling this trend all too closely. All of this violence in our culture, whether it be TV, movies, music, or games, DOES have an impact. And what is being done about it? As far as I can tell, absolutely nothing. Sure, it is entertaining to some; and yes, I play Ghost Recon and Battlefield2, and do enjoy a good action flick here and there - but that's only because I know they are fictional. There's so much of it out there that I wonder if some kids don't know what is fictional and what is reality. My point is - I was raised by real, caring, and responsible adult parents. My children will be raised the same way. If this were the case for everyone (and being a teacher I know it is FAR from it), we would be a much more peaceful, respectable, and democratic society rather than the war-mongering, fear-mongering, crime-ridden one we are today. And now we are stuck with very few options and poor voter turnout as ways of changing the way our country is run. As to how this relates to gun control... it's all about respect. Respect for the gun, respect for the law, and respect for one another. This has to be learned at an early age, and drilled into the youth of America, so we can stop violence. If you respect guns, you shouldn't have to take them away.

Point taken, mzxtreme. However, your point applies to wannabe's comments on which country's rights system is better, too. Unless, of course, wannabe has lived in America.

Is it bad that my fuel filter is mounted with plastic zip-ties now? And if so, can a fuel filter bracket be bought or fabbed? If someone has a picture of one I'd appreciate it.

I couldn't disagree more. I'm enjoying my freedom here in the USA to its fullest extent. I can do whatever I want, within reason and law, just as you can. And I can fire my centerfired, semiautomatic assault rifle in my back yard... only because I live in the country and have a big back yard, mind you. And don't watch CNN or FOX news for equal rights information... just visit NYC or Boston or wherever, and you will see that no matter your ethnicity, you have your freedoms. But let us not digress into THAT topic.

Here's a great link: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/f...aw/beararms.htm Basically, is the 2nd Amendment outdated, does it apply only to militias, or does it apply to individuals? That's open to debate in the article above. And here's another one, that proposes a new amendment: http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_2nd.html Anyhow, I drove through Virginia a month ago, and stopped at a Wendy's for lunch. This older fellow walked in, stood in line, and ordered lunch too - all while openly wearing a sidearm. Not a single person visibly reacted or flinched or gave funny looks to the man - I was watching for any reactions in the crowd. I've never seen this before, so I was asking myself how I felt about this. To be honest, I cannot yet answer that. Did I feel safer? No. Did I feel endangered? No. How would anyone else feel about this happening at their local burger joint? The thing is, no one knows who the next psycho will be or where they will come from, or when they will strike again. For all anyone knows, that man could have been him... or could have been the deterrent to a shooting. There is no way guns will ever be removed from American society. Knowing this, and reflecting on what I just typed, I'd rather have a dude with an open sidearm sitting by me than no one at all to defend the innocent. Yes, it sounds like the Wild West, but why take guns from law-abiding citizens when everyone knows that criminals or psychos will find a way to obtain one no matter what, even if guns were banned.

Hmmm... so I took out that airbox/snorkel-esque looking contraption (can't come up with it's name at the moment) that attaches to the air filter box in the driver's side front wheel well a while ago to get more airflow (a 'custom' intake). It did give a slight increase in performance, but... That was probably a dumb thing to do, reading these posts and watching these videos, and given my liking of big water holes and splashes. I thinks I will re-install the thing very soon...

The thing that worries me is that I had an alignment done the day the new 31s were installed (the first week of June). I looked up the warranty - any issues within 6 months or 6000 miles on alignment and I can have another done for 'free' (nothing is ever free...) so that'll be my next step. While they align I'll have them look for any other problems with the steering. So it is normal for the camber angle to increase as one steers, right? I can visually see positive camber when I park with the wheels turned. "Another reason for negative camber is that a rubber tire tends to roll on itself while cornering. If the tire had zero camber, the inside edge of the contact patch would begin to lift off of the ground, thereby reducing the contact patch. By applying negative camber, this effect is reduced, thereby maximizing the contact patch." -Wiki Thus positive camber makes the contact patch worse?? This doesn't make sense then, if SUVs and trucks have positive cambers - would this not reduce traction? OR is steering ease more important?

My old high school history teacher loved his guns. His best quote was, when asked about how he felt about gun control was: "Gun control? Seven rounds in a three-inch circle at 100 yards. That's gun control." Anyways, I personally own a Bushmaster Firearms DCM-XR competition rifle. Why? For fun - target shooting is one of my favorite pastimes. Have you ever hit a rotten grapefruit with a .223 hollowpoint?? My brother owns a really nice 9mm Baretta. Why? Target shooting. We all own a shotgun or two in my family. Why? Guess. Everyone I know owns a gun of some sort, and each of us enjoys their uses as either recreational or for hunting. My point is, there are tens of millions of harmless, innocent, enjoyment-seeking gun owners out there in the USA. There are only a handful of psychos. Maybe if our justice system/enforcement officials were more rapid, efficient, and decisive, some of these people would not become mass murderers. I think an acceptible form of gun control would not be to take away all the guns, but to have a much more thorough evaluation period for someone attempting to purchase one. And to have to pass a safety course in order to purchase one. One thing I do not want to see are firearms registrations - that is just another way to take money away from us that we don't need to put up with (why do I need to spend $15 a year to register my canoe of all things???).

Yea, I did a pretty good search but was unable to come up with much, but that's because it's hard to choose a keyword to describe this issue - although 'mishandling issues' may work! Ok, yesterday I took the pathfinder for a spin and tried to duplicate the problem. Every time, all I got was tire rub at full lock, and nothing strange. It seems to only happen at the intersection to my drive, which has a bit of slope away from the center of the road which may be causing or amplifying the issue. I went under the front last night and did not notice anything unusual or loose, so I guess I'll have to wait and see with this - and do some more research. Hopefully nothing major breaks on the trails!

I put on 31's a month ago and have noticed something different about how the pathy turns when making sharp turns out of my driveway on pavement. It's hard to describe but when I make a hard left turn (haven't really tried a hard right turn because this worries me), it feels like the steering wheel wants to continue to rotate counterclockwise, which seems impossible. I have to really fight it to bring it back to center. It almost feels like the right-hand tire is going to fold in or something strange like that. I've felt this before but on a riding mower, when the wheels would turn completely backwards during a really sharp turn (it would end up taking off a front tire). Is this just something to be cautious of with the bigger tires? I know they have quite the positive camber and are most likely trying to roll on the outer edges... Or, do I have something broken? The tie-rods seem fine to me, but what might I look for?

I have the stock 15x7 chrome wheels. The 31's are just inside the wheel wells (almost flush). Here's a pic...

Your new MAF should last a long time. As for patience and asking questions, this forum is the absolute gem for troubleshooting and saving lots of $$ by fixing things the right way.

Well if it makes you feel any better, the first time my MAF went, I had no idea what it was, and the local garage charged me over $400 to replace it with a crappy replacement MAF. No idea where they got it but it lasted less than a year. When it conked out, I finally figured it out and did it RIGHT myself and got the remanufactured MAF from rockauto. In the long run, yours was less expensive!

If your MAF ever pukes out again, try to find a remanufactured one at rockauto.com - they are MUCH cheaper and you can send your old one in for a refund. All in all mine cost me like $175 to replace and it has run great. Wish I would have seen your topic sooner, sorry.

Also make sure you have 15x7 stock wheels (have them measured) and not 15x6.5's. I don't think you can put 31's on 15x6.5 wheels safely but since you aren't off-roading it might not be a big deal. I have a '96 with 15x7's and have minor rubbing at full lock both directions, forward and reverse, even with the OME coil springs. Makes tight parallel parking a bit noisy but who cares, the tires look much better. It might be possible to heat the inner wheel wells at the rub spots and bend them away from the tire instead of trimming - I saw that on here somewhere but am not sure it was for R50's... Good call on the gas mileage, xPLORx4. When I first calculated mine after new tires I was a bit disappointed, but never considered the effect on the odometer - only the speedo. duh.

Here's some of my '96...

Thanks, guys! Got it for $135 ASAP ($53 overnight shipping). Had it installed yesterday and so far so good!

Is this what I need? http://www2.partstrain.com/products/Engine...AT-4WD-004.html

I recharged my AC this afternoon and while I was inspecting the compressor I noticed that my crankshaft pulley was wobbling. Not just a little wobble, either - I'd say it wobbles 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in and out. I've read that the vibration dampener is part of (or is) this pulley, so is it compensating or is something going terribly wrong?? I've never seen it do this before...

Sounded like more than using just a press, so I thought I'd ask...

I just got my poly bushings in the mail this week and plan on installing them on the lower arms. I have access to a press so hopefully getting them on won't be the problem... Any reccommendations as to removing the old ones quickly and easily? Band saw, grinder, torch, etc??

Thanks for the link, Acey. If I were to determine whether my current wheels were truly only 15x6.5's, what would the measurement across the wheel be from the outer wheel edge to the inner wheel edge? Would it be about 7"? I know 6.5" would be the inside width but the guys at the shop said I'd have to take the tire off to find out for sure and I can't exactly do that easily...

Welcome to the forums! Go to the 96-2004 R50 Pathfinders page and look at the pinned links at the top. They will tell you all you want to know and then some. Good luck!