A bunch of questions.... LSD, Safari Basket, etc.

[Guest jingram]

OK, here is the deal. I am picking up a 95 Pathy XE tomorrow. I can't pass the deal up. I have owned Nissan Hardbody PUs before and loved them, but have since moved on to other things. I'm aware of the manifold issues and will eventually go the header route.

 

This thing has the spare in the rear and no roof rack or fog lights so I am assuming it is minus LSD. I had just come from work and wasn't able to crawl underneath it and check the diff. I also didn't check to see if it had rear discs, which would have been another indicator as to whether it had the LSD, since they typically came in the same package right?

 

I would really like to have a locker or limited slip in the rear, but am not going ARB anytime soon. I know that the factory LSD is a clutch pack type and that most of you guys don't care for them. I've ran clutch pack, viscous and helical gear based LSDs before and prefer the helical based ones. So my question to you guys, being the Pathy experts... is anybody running a Quaife unit in a pathy, either in the front or the rear? Looking at their application list it should be doable in the front, but not sure about the rear. What about adding a factory unit. Does anybody sell them? Has anybody done this swap? Costs associated with the swap? What needs to dealt with, etc.

 

I am posing the same thing with the roof rack and the rear tire carrier. I noticed that somebody posted a link to the complete mount kit for the rear tire carrier HEREalthough I couldn't find the swing gate on their site. Is the rear tire carrier worth it or a royal pain in the A$$? Does anybody make replacement rear bumpers like Schrockworks that handle the spare, etc for the pathy?

 

The safari rack I am looking for is something like what Bearclaw has on his pathy. I really want something almost full length of the roof. Of course the rig doesn't have anything at the moment. Here is a pic of what I am looking for. Anybody using a yakima or thule and rigged something up like this?

 

Finally, looking for a set of chrome early OEM 15" rims like what you saw in the image above in the Portland OR area. Look forward to hearing what you guys have to say and thanks!

 

Jack

Edited October 1, 2006 by jingram

[RedPath88]

First thing... Welcome to the boards (perhaps you could do an offical intro in the "New People Start here" section )

 

Ok a little advice about Pathfinders, trim levels and options... do not assume that it has or does not have anything, merely based on trim level or option present on it ...Nissan did not have any well defined lines for trim levels. There are XE's that have more options than some SE's. And not all SE's were created equally either

 

Not sure if all trucks with rear disks had LSD's but there are many LSD equipped Pathys that do not have rear disks

 

The questions of whether the rear carrier is worth it is a matter of opinion.. some like them some do not... what's your opinion?

A solid mount roof rack could be added with a little work... I added one to my truck (it's not even a Nissan rack)

 

Well depending one when you want the wheels, I could probably give up the set I currently have on my truck. (I live in Yelm, WA - Near Olympia) I just need to get the replacements prepped.

[SC88Pathy]

Welcome to the forums!

 

As Red said don't assume anything. The only way to for sure know whether or not your pathy has a working LSD is to jack up the rear so both tires are off the groud and spin one tire. If you don't know how this test works it's like so: If the other tire spins the same direction you have an LSD, if the other tire spins the opposite direction you have an open diff.

The orange LSD sticker is also a good indicator.

 

Personally I like my LSD, and if you add clutch packs the stock LSD can mimick a locker for a lot cheaper (obviously it's not as good as a locker but it's close). Also the Pathy LSD isn't anything to sneeze at: the breakaway torque is fairly high stock (I don't know the exact numbers off hand). There is also a clutch type LSD that will fit in the front differential that can be pulled from early 300ZX's (assuming you can find one, they are VERY popular with the Tuner crowd) or purchased (for an exuberant amount of cash of course) from Calmini.

 

Oh and we have a fairly large contingent of members in the Pacific Northwest, so if Red can't get you those wheels I'm sure someone else might be able to!

 

~Edit for stupid "you're" "your" mistake.

Edited October 1, 2006 by SC88Pathy

[Guest jingram]

Thanks for the replies guys. Yeah, I know about jacking up the rear end and testing that way and of course the sticker. Like I said, won't know for sure until tomorrow. If it doesn't though, I'm still curious if anybody has swapped one in. It's probably just as cheap to dig up a new rear axle with the discs, lsd, etc and swap that in as it is to just get the LSD. Anyway, hopefully somebody will pipe in with some comments on this.

 

I'm sort of town on the rear tire carrier bit. I keep reading that they are a real pain in the A$$, but it would be very nice to get that tire out of the rear. I like the schrock setup on the Xterras because he has mounts for everythingand I don't have this huge weight hanging off the sheet metal, rather its all attached to the frame. Might have to just get some angle iron and find the time to weld something up.

 

The rack is the big one for me. Right now I have an older 86 Isuzu Trooper. I love the old girl because its like safari rig, totally spartan. I'll be the first to admit that I am not a rock crawler, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate a functional rig that gets me 97% of the places I want to go.

 

I'll post more tomorrow and let you know what I find out.

[88pathoffroad]

As far as I know, Quaife doesn't make a LSD for either axle on a Pathfinder. I bet it'd be REAL spendy if they do make something, though.

[Kn0xville]

personaly, i wish my pathy didnt have the LSD so i could install a locker. The tire carrier, just find one at a JY, not a hard install, samething with the roof basket, buy one at target or something and put it on.