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Touchy Brakes & Rear End Shifting w/ Accel Decel


jpfrogger
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Hoping to find some info on why my Pathfinder's brakes are so touchy and causes them to slide easily on slick roads. It's a 98 with close to 1/4 million miles and in great shape except for a couple of small issues. I replaced the front brakes recently but the problem is the same. Any ideas on why they would lock so easily with minimum pedal effort? Other issue is the rear end tends to shift to the left or right at highway speed with acceleration and deceleration, would this be do to the panhard(track) bar maybe being loose or worn bushings in it or could it be an issue with one of the rear control arms? Thanks for any and all input in advance, Tom

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If you can afford it I would go with the polyurethane ones because they last much longer.

 

Also I am pretty sure the upper and lowers use the same bushings...Someone will correct me.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I replaced the lower control link bushings and that cured the side to side sway of the back end of the Pathfinder. It was not an easy job as 2 of the 4 bolts were seized into the bushing sleeves and had to cut the bolt/bushing with a cut off wheel on a 4 inch grinder...then had to cut out the center of the rubber with a hole saw and then cut the old metal sleeve of the bushing with a sawzall to allow the old bushing sleeve to be pressed out...what a bear of a job that is. The easy part was pressing the new sleeve into the control link as they went in without too much effort as long as you have a shop press. I think if I replace the uppers I'll just buy new links for the $240 for the pair as it's alot less work. I have replaced the brakes all around and still have a issue with the touchy brakes and fronts locking easily on slick roads and wondering if it's due to that rear load sensing proportioning valve, anyone have experience with this valve and it's function? I noticed in the factory manual that the 2wd models did not come with one and might be better to do away with it all together.

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ABS would not necessarily be that helpful. I have a 98 as well,but I have a "working" ABS system. I say "working" because the ABS is so overly sensitive that It actually takes me longer to stop in slick roads than without. We've had a ton of snow recently which has given me the opportunity to check it out both ways. The Abs kicks in even at ultra low speed >10mph , so that its actully worse than locking up the wheels because it takes sooo long to stop. I try to stick to the rule if I'm in town (low speeds), I pull the fuse for the ABS and I can stop just fine by applying the brakes like I have for the last 18 years I've been driving. If I'm going on the highway I'll put the fuse back in. I am convinced that I am more likely to slide into the vehicle in front of me with the ABS on because it is so sensitive that it takes all control away from me the driver. I'm not against ABS in general, because I have driven other vehicles in which it worked fine. I don't know if the system in this vehicle is really unsophisticated or if my ABS is not working properly.

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ABS can be downright dangerous on snow/ice, especially when it cuts off 100% of the power to the brakes. When Washington had it's realy bad snow/ice storm last year, I almost ended up in my neighbor's yard across the street because of my step mom's '06 Kia Sportage completely cutting off the brakes. I could back down our driveway in my non-ABS pathfinder just fine by modulating the brakes. But when you can push on that brake pedal with all your might and there's absolutely no braking action happening, that's not a good thing. My step mom was scared ........less to drive her car because she had no braking control whatsoever.

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ABS can be downright dangerous on snow/ice, especially when it cuts off 100% of the power to the brakes. When Washington had it's realy bad snow/ice storm last year, I almost ended up in my neighbor's yard across the street because of my step mom's '06 Kia Sportage completely cutting off the brakes. I could back down our driveway in my non-ABS pathfinder just fine by modulating the brakes. But when you can push on that brake pedal with all your might and there's absolutely no braking action happening, that's not a good thing. My step mom was scared ........less to drive her car because she had no braking control whatsoever.

 

fuses, find them, pull them, problem solved? put them back in the summertime.

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