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02 build by Dbot


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7 hours ago, RainGoat said:


Interesting note on the Warn hubs - did you do that? If so, pictures please.

I think you’ll find the running boards useful over time, especially with kids, women or a roof rack. They are fairly stout & provide some measure of protection. Personally, while I don’t care for the “nerf bar” look of the tubular ones, I think those low profile ones give the truck a more finished look than when they’re off. They were well styled to fit the trucks aesthetics.

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The chrome could use some spit shine but I haven't gotten that far yet. I've been soaking them in degreaser since my earliest post on this build so the grit is kinda settling on the metal. 

As for the hi-lift jack, sadly I didn't get any pictures of it on the trail as I was in business mode trying to prevent further damage. I used it to winch me up muddy hill with the rocks my tires were caught on and one more time winched from my 10:00 to pivot the front of the rig to the left on mud. The trail went downhill on mud and hooked left but gravity and mud wanted me to go straight down toward trees so the hi-lift fixed corrected my course of action. I had 2x5' sections of tow chain, 1x10' section of tow chain, 1 tow strap with hooks and 2 recovery straps to get creative. The kicker is that this was a harbor freight jack and we had no idea that would hold up.

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On 5/27/2020 at 9:34 PM, Dbot said:

I couldn't find your write up on bushings. Is it on another site?

I guess so, I found it and added it on here, albeit too late to help you. I didn't need the use of ratchet straps, everything stayed lined up.

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“Something I've noticed is that at highway speeds, I can hear a noise from what I think is the transfer case when the hubs are unlocked. The noise is similar to a worn out bearing or something. It's very faint and can't be heard unless passengers are quiet and the music is low/off. I can't hear it below 55 mph though. No 4x4 warning lights yet.”
 

 

You've just described the exact issue I’ve been having since I did my own lift last year. What struck me most is that your build is almost identical in terms of relevant variables. The lift is the same, the warn hubs are the same, and your truck is an LE with the same AUTO transfer case as mine. I wrote about it in my thread and explained how I’ve tried to solve it so far. I’ve since given up because it doesn’t seem to be doing any damage or getting worse. Maybe this is a good opportunity to reopen the investigation if you are going to try looking into it?

Edited by PathyGig12
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I took advise here to order my OME springs from Desert Rat, they were out as well but were expected a shipment this week, and only allotted 3 pairs, 1of which is mine!  I'm still waiting on damn poly panhard bushings :(

When I installed my manual hubs I didn't have any noise for a couple of weeks, then every few miles it sounded like the passenger side was riding on the rumble strip on the side of the road, it would last a few hundred yards and quit. I locked them back and it stopped??

Since then, I unlocked them to check, and the noise was pretty much constant so I locked them back in. I'm thinking/hoping wheel bearing or axle, which I have new to install once my last parts come. You're looking good! I'm excited, trying to be patient waiting on parts.

 

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13 minutes ago, PathyGig12 said:

“Something I've noticed is that at highway speeds, I can hear a noise from what I think is the transfer case when the hubs are unlocked. The noise is similar to a worn out bearing or something. It's very faint and can't be heard unless passengers are quiet and the music is low/off. I can't hear it below 55 mph though. No 4x4 warning lights yet.”
 

 

You've just described the exact issue I’ve been having since I did my own lift last year. What struck me most is that your build is almost identical in terms of relevant variables. The lift is the same, the warn hubs are the same, and your truck is an LE with the same AUTO transfer case as mine. I wrote about it in my thread and explained how I’ve tried to solve it so far. I’ve since given up because it doesn’t seem to be doing any damage or getting worse. Maybe this is a good opportunity to reopen the investigation if you are going to try looking into it?

Mine's the Qx4 with auto T-case, but I used cheap ebay manual hubs. Waiting on the rest of my parts to lift & rehab the suspension/steering. Since my noise goes away when I lock them, I was thinking bearings or axle/CV, which I already have. If that doesn't fix my issue I was thinking I'd pony up for the Warns, but now maybe not so much, lol.

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19 hours ago, BamaQX402 said:

I took advise here to order my OME springs from Desert Rat, they were out as well but were expected a shipment this week, and only allotted 3 pairs, 1of which is mine!  I'm still waiting on damn poly panhard bushings :(

When I installed my manual hubs I didn't have any noise for a couple of weeks, then every few miles it sounded like the passenger side was riding on the rumble strip on the side of the road, it would last a few hundred yards and quit. I locked them back and it stopped??

Since then, I unlocked them to check, and the noise was pretty much constant so I locked them back in. I'm thinking/hoping wheel bearing or axle, which I have new to install once my last parts come. You're looking good! I'm excited, trying to be patient waiting on parts.

 

I feel ya on the coils. Sounds like you’re one of the lucky few that can get them before July. As for your vibration goes, I hope it’s an easy fix. Sounds like it could be that cv bearing that sits in your spindle. I had a trailblazer that did the rumble strip thing intermittently and it was a bearing that supported one of the cv axle ends. Is your cv axle snap ring still in place? Also, there is a thrust washer sandwiched between your cv axle and the backside of the spindle. It rides right next to that bearing I mentioned. Make sure you don’t lose that whenever you do any cv axle swapping. I almost lost mine once when I didn’t know it existed.

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The weird thing is when my hubs are locked there is no noise. Thinking maybe the free wheeling allows something to overclock. When I get done with everything, worse case scenario I put my original auto hubs back on.

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When I tried out these wheels and tires on stock suspension, the tires would rub in the back if the suspension was compressed. At stock height, it looked as if just flexing would cause it to rub but it looks like with the lift, this must change the geometry to where I can tuck the rear tire at flex now.

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  • 4 months later...

I did my first transmission swap and knocked out a couple experimental projects along with that. I learned some things from both mistakes and unexpected differences. I thought I’d share the projects and note some differences I discovered along the way. 

Going back before my transmission had issues, I had pulled a salvage transmission in march intended for my 01 r50 assuming that the 01 trans would be dead by now. I pulled it from a 2004 SE 4x4. It had all the dealership paperwork and insurance paperwork showing that it sold from a Chevrolet dealership at 142,xxx miles and was wrecked with 144,xxx miles. I pulled the pan off the trans to observe normal looking and smelling ATF residue was present. This was my first time ever pulling a trans off anything, but after 11 total hours, I got it home with the torque converter. I would go back out weeks later a nab the engine and flexplate for a “maybe someday” project. Fast forward to July, the 2001 transmission is still quirky but it hasn’t gotten any worse. I wheel my newly lifted 02 about every other weekend. One particular weekend, I was in the local offroad park doing a very long, steep uphill climb on loose rock. Upon reaching the very top of the hill where a flat clearing is, I smell hot atf. I roll forward about 30 feet and stop. A minute later, I put it in D to find I don’t creep forward. (or backward in R). I hop out to look. A dense, wide path of ATF soaked the rocks and dirt from current location to about 30 feet back. Trans case and pan were fine, but the aluminum barb on the lower radiator was bent over sideways with a visible crack at the bend. This was the source of the ATF spray. Really wish I had at bought a plastic dust cover to put there beforehand. I hitched a ride to the parts store and bought a Hayden 679 cooler and some new ATF. Fixed it up and filled it up and drove it home with the stock cooler bypassed. Everything felt and smelled fine. At home, I topped it off with another pint and called it good. So I may have hammered some nails in that coffin, it just wasn’t the very last nail. That came a month later when after driving around all day, I tried to back into the driveway. It never engaged reverse. I sat there a few seconds puzzled before it finally engaged itself and let me back up. I went through the gears in my parking spot and everything seemed normal until the next day. During pizza deliveries, it would randomly decide to delay giving me reverse. Eventually, it would sometimes never grab reverse without me retrying or blipping the throttle. There were no dash lights, smells, noises, slipping or slamming. ATF level was always proper and cherry red. I replaced the radiator and used it with the Hayden cooler and replaced the trans fluid. Not a single difference. So I started researching the project and schedule some PTO to make a 5 day weekend for this.  

I removed it in about a day and a half, taking my time to avoid making errors. When I got it out, I compared it to the donor trans. This is where I would get hyper-obsessed with year to year differences. Despite the despite the resounding “It’s the same trans, just send it” the internet told me, I would find that no, these are not identical transmissions. The tailshaft housing is different. I think the length is the same and I know the transfer case bolt pattern is the same, but the side is different. There is one variant casting that is milled, drilled and tapped for the ATX14a transfer case linkage and the other casting variant is milled, drilled and tapped for the TX10 transfer case linkage.  

 

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 I assume bolting an atx14a to this could yield a functioning 2wd pathy if somebody wanted to do that. Using both VINs on nissanpartsdeal.com, I cross referenced the parts in the diagram to see that the tailshaft housing and some internal clutches were different between the two years. Thankfully the parking pawl junk inside the tailshaft housing was the same so other than a new gasket, I didn’t have to buy anything to swap tailshaft housings. The particular gasket is not reusable so I had to dig up a replacement. There are no more OEM gaskets left nor does Amazon/ebay/rockauto/auto stores carry them. I had to have a local trans rebuild shop get me in touch with their supplier to order it. It took about two days to get it so I decided, I would make a template. 

 

https://1drv.ms/b/s!AsTQm6L1QIoAhOFF-OsSBL5-AZszew

 

For the two particular years I was working with, part “gasket-extension 31338-41x02” is a paper type gasket. The original OEM paper gaskets were blue but the aftermarket was gray. I found this gray material at autozone here:

https://www.autozone.com/sealants-glues-adhesives-and-tape/gasket-material/cometic-gasket-fiber-gasket-material/105373_0_0

( Cometic Fiber Material Sheet product number C15385. )

Now whoever stumbles upon this from a web search can make their own. Also, there aren’t any good videos online regarding RE4R01A teardowns for the pathfinder except that one that’s in 360p. So I did an overly thorough tailshaft swap video in 1080p.

 

 So with the tailshaft swapped, I focused next, on my own screwup.  

Months back in the salvage yard, I had just minutes to finish pulling the trans before they closed so I got sloppy and cut the trans wire harness instead of removing a couple layers of heat shielding below the plugs. I assumed that the harness would detach from the trans case like how engine wire harnesses do with engines. The revolution sensors come out of the case easy enough, but one group of wires does not. I think they control the solenoids or valves. Those can only be removed by pulling the valve body. I’m debating a rebuild attempt on my original trans so I didn’t want to steal it’s harness, so I went back to salvage and retrieved the other half the harness and I cut one from a 2003. I compared the plugs and wires on all 3 years and can confirm they are all the same. I used the 2003 harness since I cut it about 3 inches longer. I stripped, cleaned, soldered, shrink wrapped and heat shielded 23 wires. There are repeating wire colors in the harness, but each of the 4 sub groups of wire don’t have any repeating colors which made things easy. 

 

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I had also observed that the 2004 flexplate and flexplate washer have a locating hole to line up with a locating dowel pin on the crankshaft. The 2002, flexpalate washer had a locating hole and the crank had the hole for the dowel pin but the flexplate did not. There also was no dowel pin. The 2004 flexplate had a different ring for the engine timing. The notches were less abundant and spaced farther apart than the 2002 flexplate. The sensors that pick up the notches were different too. The 2002 had small sensor with a  chisel tip and smaller electrical plug. It was also held in place by a rubber gasket that slides in the bell housing cutout. The 2004 sensor was bigger and looked a camshaft position sensor with a slightly bigger plug. It filled up the bell housing cut out so the gasket wasn’t needed. The gasket can be swapped between bell housings though.  

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So before I started the project, I ordered new pan bolts, input shaft o ring, a filter/gasket kit and crush washers for the trans coolers and a new rear main seal kit. With the trans out, I skimmed through the Haynes manual to find it essentially tells you to pull trans, remove the 3 RMS bolts, pry off the old seal, carefully install the new one and torque down three bolts. Nothing was mentioned about removing upper oil pan. So I pried off the old leaky RMS and began finessing the new one on. I worked every angle I could think of and used every non-sharp tool that I had before gradually upping the force to ultimately total brute force. After 45 minutes, I had broken the tension spring inside the lip seal. Defeated, I check the FSM to find out about the formerly unmentioned rtv needed on the seal corners and the upper oil pan removal and the two days of work required to do that. Two days I didn’t have. I bought a new seal and began practicing installation methods with the broken one. I found that If you sand down the black seal pan gasket, you can wedge it in there. It felt snug but I could see a hairline air gap in a low spot that I sanded. I spent about 20 minutes slowly sanding the new gasket. I sanded some slight tapers on the leading edges to help it enter the groove it sits in. Since I removed less material, It was way harder to install, but using every bit of finger strength I had, I got it in. I put on some rtv around the outside since, well why not? Anyway, video for the hack job here. By the way, the rms is leaking again, but at least I have it installed.

I installed a $16 oem input shaft o ring on the shaft and installed the trans. I noted the 2004 pan is missing the two forward facing tabs that support the trans cooler lines but this doesn’t seem critical, but did explain the extra 2 10mm bolts I had laying around. I can also confirm a 2004 torque converter fits on a 2002 flexplate and uses the same bolts. Once installed, I dropped the pan, replaced the strainer, cleaned the pan and magnet. The Duralast kit from Autozone had a rubber pan gasket that didn’t match the pan. Maybe this was because I bought this for the 2001 months earlier? Maybe Duralast screwed up?. I bought a fel-pro paper gasket and installed it with new pan bolts.  

I dumped a gallon of dexron 3 down the tube and performed the checklist in the FSM for transmission testing. Ended up putting over 6 quarts in. I smelled burning odors off and on for a while. Could have been any of the following. Degreaser residue on back of block, degreaser residue in trans pan, brake cleaner on back of block, Paint marker on torque converter and trans case, pepsi cans used as temp exhuast clamps or greasy hand prints on exhaust tubing. Trans drove fine with no hiccups. I went 20 miles, came back and dumped the trans fluid. I refilled with 5 quarts and got the level pretty much spot on. I’ve done pizza delivery, highway crusing, backroad cruising, hard launches and some super light wheeling. At this point, I’m confident the trans is a keeper.  

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More post bombardement: I have been religiously checking part outs and salvage yards for black leather seats. I have never found one that’s not ripped. As far as other materials and colors go, I can probably count on 1 hand the number of times I’ve seen other driver seats in good condition. After seeing a dozen or so good condition passenger seats I began to wonder if I could swap the material over to the driver’s side. So I bought a black leather passenger seat for this experiement. I stripped the seat down and removed the leather from the cushion using snap ring pliers to pry apart the hog rings. I looked it over to find its about 95% symmetrical on the inside. I did a trial reinstallation with new hog rings to verify I’m handy enough to put it back together. I stripped down the ghetto driver seat and swapped over the passenger seat material. All hog rings line and up and all clips connect together. Some clips are slightly offset and there are a couple millimeters of foam showing at the edge. Also, I had to cut a hole for seat controls and make a patch to cover the old seat control holes but it really wasn’t too hard. I would definitely recommend this if you need to replace a driver cushion but can’t any good ones. I hear some salvage yards sell just the cushions so this could be a very economical fix in the right circumstances.  

Pt 1 video: 

 

pt2 video

 

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Wireless charging experiment:

For whatever reason, my 02 LE doesn't come with that third cupholder the 03 models have. The flat spot has always just been the instinctive place I toss my phone. Its within reach, visible and it doesn't slide or bounce out of that spot. I've always wanted to give wireless charging a shot, so here's what I did.

Picked up a tri coil Qi wireless charger from amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07176HT5T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bought a 104F thermal cut off switch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PK6892Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Generic 12v USB phone charger

Generic wire harness plug

Auto/Cancel power seat switch from salvaged LE R50

 

Wireless coil attached to plastic insert by jb weld

Wireless coil fed by modified micro USB wire with thermal cut off switch spliced in.

Modified micro USB wire connected to generic wire harness plug

 

The other side of the wire harness plug is tapped into the 12v power socket on the dash in a parallel fashion.

Blank plate on the dash has been swapped with the Auto/Cancel power seat switch. (acetone removed some of the seat graphic)

Auto/cancel breaks the circuit.

 

My experience with it has been decent so far. I'm using an iPhone Se 2020 edition with a silicone case and the phone is still able to charge. The phone has never had a chance to overheat since the thermal cutoff switch steps in really early. I had apparently made a miscalculation from Celsius for Fahrenheit. I thought initially, it would kill the circuit around 130F. Dry days with temps in the 30 (f) the charger seems to continuously charge unless I'm parked and idling a bunch. It will continuously charge in the 40s (F) on rainy days. It appears the heat is more from the engine/drivetrain and exhaust than from the wireless charging circuit. I can run maps continuously on the phone and the charger seems to be able to keep up with that. Being that winter is coming upon us, I'll leave the thermal cutoff switch in for now, and think about getting a different in the spring. 

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

Well since the host of the site had a failure a few days ago, I'll go ahead and toss in a recap to the build from May 2021 to present since some of my build posts are gone. 

 

2001 SE Grille: Kind of a rare find since the Bronzed Gray paint only existed in 2001 and 2002. Found it listed in a local part out. Sadly the part out had worse paint on the hood and fenders than mine but I digress.

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Powerstop z36 front brake kit.

Local guy had a wrecked R50 that I was buying parts from. He had these new in box and wanted me to take/buy them. I didn't need brakes so I was like "uh, I can do $20" and he handed them over.

For daily driving and wheeling they don't feel any different than my stock discs and pads but whatevs.

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Poly steering rack bushings form 4x4parts.com

I rebuilt the front end with new cv axles, inner+outer tie rods, ball joints, inner+outer bearings, and rack bushings trying to find a popping noise that ended up being a control arm bushing.

They don't appear to drive or feel  special but I think polyurethane is supposed to be more resilient to oil than rubber so that's comforting to know while I procrastinate on replacing leaky valve covers.

 

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Missing link

Made this from 1.5" x 1.5" 1/8" steel square tubing. 23 7/8" long. Ends chopped at 45 degrees.

Couldn't feel any difference driving or wheeling. This later got modified for a skid plate a few months later.

 

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Skidplate. Had some trails at the offroad park that couldn't be finished because I lacked armor. After getting scammed on cheap rock sliders and Lokka taking 9 months to ship my part, my wife was very leery about me spending big bucks on car parts so I took matters into my own inexperienced hands to make my own skidplates. 3/16 thick 24x48 steel was "only" $96 so I started. 

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I first modified the missing link by adding a 1" spacer from square tubing so the plate steel would clear the front diff. 

 

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I measured and cut out the mid skid and made notches for the rear control arm bolts.

 

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I turned a lot of drill bits into smoke so drilling this took forever. I cut the front skid and notched it with an angle grinder. Apparently the plate steel had a wave to it and made it difficult to notch with the angle grinder without puncturing through the back side. 

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Welded the creases and cleaned up the mill scale and welds after several hours

 

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Painted it with flat black rust converter for easy touch ups. Found some bolts at the hardware store. Got some washers for rocks to deflect off. Mounted it up.

 

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Just enough clearance between plate and diff

 

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Took it to the offroad park and hit the trails I had to turn around on last time.

Got some scars to test it out. I think it's a winner. Whenever time allows, I'll see about making a rear skid.

 

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So that's a wrap on the build as it sits now. 

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  • 5 months later...

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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Looks great! 

 

I somehow get trail rub in the rear that caused me to break some of the fender flare clips with 31X10.5 tires, 3.75" backspacing, and 33-185552 Bilstien 2" extended shocks...

 

I'll be interested in seeing what solution you come up with. 

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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. 

 

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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. 

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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. 

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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. 

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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?

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This setup should serve you well! Cool to see you got it all put together. Props to lokka on the 5 month shipping... lol. I think another lokka writeup would be great to have - there's so many details and moving parts, especially if you're coming into this as a novice mechanic. 

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  • 11 months later...

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. 

 

 

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  • 8 months later...

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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This mounting protrustion is connected to a structural cross beam in which, as you guessed, had some crusties.

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After cutting this open, I find rust at more or less the far ends of this beam where it joins the main frame rails

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. 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!

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