railman87 Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I bought a well used 1993 Pathy this summer. I replaced all ball joints, wheel bearings, and switched to manual hubs. While I had the Pathfinder on the jack stands, I locked the hubs in and turned the front wheels to verify that everything was connected. axle shafts rotated and the front driveline to the transfer case rotated, so I thought everything was good. Last night, we had our first snow and decided to lock in the hubs and give everything a good workout. Instead, I ended up getting stuck and had to be pulled out. When I got the Pathfinder in the garage, I put it up on all 4 jack stands and started to investigate. Front driveline to the front differential was turning, but the front axles did not move. With the hubs locked in and the vehicle in neutral, when I rotate the wheels by hand, everything rotates (front axles, and front driveline). Is there something else that I need to do to engage the 4X4, other than moving the floor lever to 4-HI or 4-LO? I had a late 80's model jeep that had a vacuum actuator that engaged the front differential. Is there something similar on the Pathfinder that I am not aware of? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Railman87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I am not really an expert, but if the front driveshaft is rotating and the CV joints are not, well, that sounds bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railman87 Posted November 17, 2010 Author Share Posted November 17, 2010 Yeah, that is what I am thinking. Unfortunately, the drive train is quiet. I was expecting gears grinding or missing teeth on the ring gear type of sounds, but nothing. I still think I am missing something on the diagnosis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I'm not a expect on diffs or anything but why not pull the drain on the front and look inside? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Yeah, that is what I am thinking. Unfortunately, the drive train is quiet. I was expecting gears grinding or missing teeth on the ring gear type of sounds, but nothing. I still think I am missing something on the diagnosis. Wait?Manuel or auto hubs?Could it be that the hubs,if auto are not ingaging? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Wait?Manuel or auto hubs?Could it be that the hubs,if auto are not ingaging? The hubs lock the wheels to the CV joints. So if they are engaged, then the wheels will turn with the CVs and if not, they won't. But that doesn't change the fact that the CVs should rotate when the driveshaft rotates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 The hubs lock the wheels to the CV joints. So if they are engaged, then the wheels will turn with the CVs and if not, they won't. But that doesn't change the fact that the CVs should rotate when the driveshaft rotates. Yes,but what if there poping out when power is applied to them?He stated in neutral turning by hand everything moved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railman87 Posted November 17, 2010 Author Share Posted November 17, 2010 Switched to manual locking hubs, and they do engage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 Ok, I read the OP again. It seems quite weird to me to have the axles move with the driveshaft sometimes and not other times. You're saying that by hand everything spins together, but when you use the engine only the driveshaft moves? As far as I know the differential should be a pretty simple standard differential. Of course, only one axle needs to move, that's the point of the differential right... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I think cv or hub issue but thats just me or you could of not pulled the lever back far enough on the t-case. But I dont know for sure with out having you pull the front diff drain,it could be completly gone in side. The reason behind why I think its a cv or hub issue is this,these trucks,all or them are open front ends.So if a hub or cv is not engaging you will have no power to the front end at all.Which is caused by the power taking the path of least resistence,the side thats not engaging.So,not trying to be a dick or anything about it but you could have installed a hub wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 I think cv or hub issue but thats just me or you could of not pulled the lever back far enough on the t-case. But I dont know for sure with out having you pull the front diff drain,it could be completly gone in side. The reason behind why I think its a cv or hub issue is this,these trucks,all or them are open front ends.So if a hub or cv is not engaging you will have no power to the front end at all.Which is caused by the power taking the path of least resistence,the side thats not engaging.So,not trying to be a dick or anything about it but you could have installed a hub wrong. If the hub was installed wrong, then the axle would spin but the wheel would not, right? Railman, can you confirm that NEITHER axle turns when you spin the driveshaft? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted November 17, 2010 Share Posted November 17, 2010 If the hub was installed wrong, then the axle would spin but the wheel would not, right? Railman, can you confirm that NEITHER axle turns when you spin the driveshaft? Only one would spin I believe,even open diffs,when your moving them by hand will both spin,but in opersite directions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBlue Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 I had a similar situation with my 95. Everything seemed to engage, and after jacking it up I could see the inner axels turn etc. Thanks to some good advice from here; before I started messing with the diff I cleaned and checked my hubs. I saw my inner CV boots were damaged so ended up changing the drive axels as well. Anyway the outcome is the 4X is now running great. PS Once I disconnected the inner drive axels from the diff, I double checked that the two sides of the diff were actually rotating in the opposite directions when I manually turned them (they did). This seemed to take the diff out of the running as the immediate problem (whew!). I hope your fix is as simple! Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railman87 Posted November 21, 2010 Author Share Posted November 21, 2010 looked everything over and decided to pull the drain plug. All sorts of metal teeth and parts laying in the differential. I guess I will be going to the junkyard to find a used one. Thanks for all the advice. Railman87 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewebster Posted November 21, 2010 Share Posted November 21, 2010 Sorry to hear that Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OlBlue Posted November 22, 2010 Share Posted November 22, 2010 looked everything over and decided to pull the drain plug. All sorts of metal teeth and parts laying in the differential. I guess I will be going to the junkyard to find a used one. Thanks for all the advice. Railman87 Yikes sorry to hear that, but as far as a diagnosis goes,that sounds solid. I guess you read already but there are two gear ratios available make sure to check yours before you head to the bone yard. I read something about a tag on the pax side wheel well...but I had to turn mine to check. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nismothunder Posted November 22, 2010 Share Posted November 22, 2010 Yep,theres a tag on the fender,HG43 is the 4.3x gear ratio and HG46 is the 4.6x gear ration.Best of luck with gettingyou truck back in shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railman87 Posted December 3, 2010 Author Share Posted December 3, 2010 Spiders and pinion gear were gone. Found a used one at the junk yard and now things are pretty good. More work than I expected installing the front differential. Thanks for all the reply's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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