Defeated?

[Dowser]

Well hey all.... Been awhile. Looks like a couple new problems have arised... yup I know what your thinking.... is that possible? Seems so.

 

Well I'm being an ass, playing in the snow in 2wd after a job interview. Wearing my fancy dancy jb interview clothes with the shiny shoes and what not. Spinning all over the place doing doughnuts and generally tearing up the neighbourhood. It's -23 that day and as luck would have it I find myself ended up in a ditch off the side of the road. Classic in all respects as I'm alone, with nothing warm to wear, no shovel, toe strap, winch, or even a cell phone. BUT, I did however happen to bring alone my book of obsenities which I used rather extensively. So the Snows about 2 and a half feet or so and it's not looking good for your Narrator. I pop it into 4wd high, of course after im stuck, not before, cause who does that? I jump out, start trying to clear the rear wheels so I can attemp to move the vehicle enough to engage the 4wd. Now, in case your not familiar with ditches let me explain some minor details as I'm the leading expert in my family. 1) whenever attepting to drive out of a snowy ditch while driving the length of it, you manage only to only increase your distance from the road and further into the ditch. 2) turning the wheel in any other direction other then the one that sends you further into the ditch actually sends you into the ditch further and lead you to point number 3. 3) No matter how many obsenities you shout out while attempting the self rescue, it only further increases your distance from the road.

 

Now that we have that covered, heres the problem. I get the vehicle moving... I'm slowly making progress. I've driven about say 50 yards on a 45 degree angle along side the length of the road. I've had to get out about 20 times to clear the tires so i can reverse as far ans I can so I can gain the forward momentum to get up out of the ditch. This is when i start hearing it... A clunk from the front end and my momentum keeps stopping. So i open the door, put it in reverse and back it up. I watch the next time to see if I can locate the source of my troubles and sure enough, my 4wd seems to be disengaging on its own when under strain. The clunk is the noice I hear right before the wheels give on me. Well hell I say.... no wonder i cant get the hell out of this hole, i dont even have 4wd. So, I'm thinking it has something to do with the automatic hubs. Is this right? Also I'd like to mention that if I'm in 4wd and transfer back to 2wd, if I do not go in reverse for a little to disengage it, i hear some dreadful noises when i hit about 3rd gear. Again, I believe that to be part of a auto locking hub problem. Now thats not it I'm afraid... ohhhh no... thats just a teaser. Since then, I've developed a new more noisy problem.

 

I'm hearing some SERIOUS creaking now on take off and slow down. I can even feel it under my feet. I'm preety sure it has something to do with my steering system as I never did come up with the cash to upgrade it after I put the 3" suspension in. This creaking I'm talking about is LOUD.... I mean LOUD... I find its most loud when transfering from a reverse direction, to a foward direction and vice versa, travelling at slower speeds(first and second). and of course when turning. There must be some serious slack or something in my system. I'm assuming that this is rather dangerous for me to drive like this, but in all honesty, it has to be done for a while longer regardless. If this is something not steering related, like something to do with CV joints or something, please chime in, cause I haven't been able to isolate the creaking as of yet. At any rate, feel free to leave your thoughts. even if its to say "ha ha you sucker, your screwed you dumb ass." And on a final thought, heres a pic of the pig in my driveway here in Dirty Alberta. What a champ.

 

 

Dowser

[deej]

U-joints? Grab your front driveshaft (and the rear for that matter) and give them a good reefing side to side and up and down, there should be no "play".

[Pezzy]

I just wanted to complain about the lack of colour in this post and mention it's nice to hear from you - unfortunately only for bad news...

[Slick]

dowser! bravo. only YOU could be playing in 2wd THEN use 4wd once stuck... lol.... you da man! hehehee... sounds like you had fun tho.

as for your wretched noise... no clue. did you get any type of crap stuck up in any part of your brakes/suspension? has the feel of your steering changed at all? or the way they pathy handles?

 

BTW: like the way you did your fenders..... mm... *eyes up the sawzall* sly

[Dowser]

Well crawled under the Pig today and started reefing on stuff. U-joints seem pretty solid. the Rear didn't move at all no matter what did and the front moved no more then half a millameter so I'm thinking it's fine. I was playing around with the tie Rods to see how bad the bushings were worn and I need to ask even if it sounds stupid. If your facing the grill, you should be able to grab the tie rod like a dirt bike throttle handle and move it like you would the throttle right? (Yes, I know thats a retarded way of asking but what can I say, its all I could come up with. ) Thats the motion its supposed to have isn't it? My passenger side one has up and down movement as well cause it looks like the boot attached to the Idler arm is sliced bad. But that alone could not possibley be making the creaking I'm refering to. At any rate, still clueless on the problem. I've been looking into finding another Pathfinder here in Alberta but it's not looking so great. Everybody here drives a freaking BIG truck. I'm serious. The truck trader had all of 2 pre 94 Pathies and both were not my taste. oh well... I'll keep lookin, taking suggestions, and driving it till, I'm it's dead or I am.

 

Pez, good to see ya. Sorry I couldn't add much color but It was like 2:30 am and well, I didn't feel like it. *grin* Hope you and Boy Wonder are doing well.

 

Slick, thanks for the compliment on the Sawing job. I wasn't sure I liked it after I did it. I was looking at 88's as a stensile but it never turned ut the same. heh, I'll post a close up of it for you with a day shot. Also, I didn't cut the rear part of the Front fenders Plastic far enough up. I used a lower bolt hole but noticedlater there was one higher up. Oh well, until I get a dremel it stays.

 

Dowser

[Slick]

sweetness. thx for the pic. here's my half assed disaster so far.. did this last summer..... never did finish the job.... lol

i actually trimmed most of the "mud flap" off the back (door side) but when i had the wider tires on wanted to retain some cover...