Found a cool "NISSAN" logo on a wrecked WD21 Pathfinder nestled in the grille. Pulled it and fit it to mine.

Brake modifications: Wired in ABS cancellation circuit, tested at Uwharrie on 5/13/06. Installed PowerSlot front brake rotors with Bendix Ceramic brake pads in early June.

Started doing the pre-wiring for the ABS-cancel circuit I will be installing in the truck. I am installing a switch in a factory knockout and an indicator LED below it. One push of a button and all the hazards of wheelin' with ABS will be eliminated. The cancelling circuit will only work when the truck is in 4wd, so the minute I shift back to 2wd the ABS will work as Nissan designed it. Hope to have this completed in a couple of days.

Writeup and pictures for the Detroit locker installation is now available in the MODS section.

After a VERY long afternoon and evening spent working on it, there is now a 31-spline Detroit with matching axleshafts and seals installed in the rear of the truck. The assemblies were complete enough and clean enough to utilize in their entirety after removing the tone rings from the axleshafts. First drive with it was very short but making tight turns does chirp the tires a bit. I will supply pictures in a few days.

The carrier is HERE! The carrier is HERE! No time to mess with it right now!

The axleshafts showed up today. A little dirtier than I had hoped, but the bearings are still clean. 33-spline shafts may be beefy, but these look so in their own right. Mike called Friday and told me the carrier would be delayed. So this is not going to happen before the run this weekend.

Project "Can't Be Locked" has begun. I found a set of 31-spline axleshafts in Spokane, WA this morning and bought them. When I made it to work I found a shiny new 31-spline Detroit waiting for me. The local dealer had axle housing shaft seals in stock! Now I am waiting on those shafts and an open carrier from Mike in Florida. Hoping to be locked for Barnwell on the 30^th!

Ryan (Monakey) and I modified my MadFab skidplate today. Added four braces to stiffen up the plate between the crossmembers and also welded on some bolts to allow the skid to be pulled up against the transmission crossmember. No more sag, and it is hella stiff now.

My first official TNT run at Barnwell this weekend. Truck performed worse than I expected. The front LSD needs work and the rear one is useless. I broke the driver's side engine mount near the top of the hill on X-Way on my second time up it.

Installed a bracket to mount a 10lb Kiddie A/B/C fire extinguisher to the jump-seat cover behind the driver's seat. Also installed a through-the-glass antenna and mount for the Radioshack Mini-Mobile CB I purchased. The antenna wire is hidden under the interior trim and carpet and exits under the passenger side of the center console.

I picked up a used AC Steering Stabilizer with Rancho shock from Fil on the AC board a couple weeks ago. Between yesterday and today I was able to install it. I needed to "tweak" the mount for the damper due to my Calmini steering kit but otherwise the install went pretty smooth. The damper seems to take care of the twitchy steering when driving on rough terrain.

Today I changed the transfer-case output seal and put the limited slip additive into my front diff. Taking those skids off to do maintenance is a royal pain.

The truck came home pretty dirty today. First official offroading since the alignment yesterday. It didn't take long! She climbs hills like a mountain goat and fords water like a champ. I am very pleased.

FINALLY! I sure use that word a lot. The springs arrived from Alcan on Wednesday and I went straight to installing them. Front eyes went in okay. Check. Centerpins fit and wheelbase looks good. Check. Rear eyes are too wide and are too short to meet shackles. HUH? Spent the day fabricating new lower sections for my Revolvers. The shackles hangers will need to be moved forward about 3" to restore proper shackle angles...

Finally got off my lazy butt and dressed the truck up a little bit. I bought a mid-70's Jeep Cherokee 4Wheel-Drive logo back in December. I drilled out the mounting holes on the tailgate, painted them to prevent rust, and applied the badge. So now the truck is not quite posing as a 2wd anymore. While I had the touch-up paint in hand I took care of more than a few rock chips all over the truck (Thanks HOUSTON! Argh!).

New tires installed today. Four LT265/75R16 Dunlop Radial Rover R/Ts. Part mud-tire, part all-terrain. All badass! I also installed a customized set of splashguards that have a mudflaps riveted to their bottoms to further protect the body of the truck.

After a long ordeal with a FedEx screwup on my hitch, I finally have my Draw-Tite #75109 installed on the truck. I also installed a Hoppy "TAP" four-wire harness so I can actually tow with the thing if the need arises.

The manual hubs arrived and were installed in a matter of minutes this evening. They will later be removed, disassembled, cleaned, and the outer housings will be refinished.

After a little more driving around with the suspension settled, I have realized that the alignment is still off. I guess it has been my imagination telling me it was all right before. Yesterday I started buying a few things I needed to get a rear recovery point on the truck. I picked up a receiver-mount D-ring and a recovery strap; I will order the receiver hitch this week. I drove the truck up to Shrockworks and tried on an Xterra bumper. The fit needs a bit of work but it was interesting to see the truck with a different look...

I have been looking for a set of factory manual hubs for a while. Wannafront is selling his truck and agreed to trade my autos for his manual hubs. The wrenches did not stay in the toolbox for very long.

I jumped on my road bike and did the 40 mile trek to the shop where my truck has been hiding for the last two months. She drove home just fine, heard a noise or two that will need to be investigated. Alignment still feels good.

I spent Christmas evening playing with the alignment on the truck. After three tries I managed to reign in the toe and chamber. It really only took one try to get the numbers right, but minor adjustments were needed after road testing due to the truck pulling to one side or the other.

The truck should make it out of the shop by New Year's Day.

First drive impressions: The handling is soggy with the Ranchos. The steering is heavier and quicker. The truck "feels" slower. My "eyeball" alignment needs some professional help. 4wd engages on the fly at 50mph no sweat. The hubs unlock like they should, and low-range simply "crawls". I am impressed that the truck did not fall apart on its maiden 10 mile drive as a 4x4. Sweet!

The ABS sensor wires are newly secured after drilling out and retapping the knuckles (the factory bolts were apparently snapped off long ago). The Revolvers went back on the truck, supplemented with Rancho 5112s I traded the 9116s out for a while back. The truck has an ever-so-slight rake to the front now.

The front wheels were mounted back on the truck, if only for the night. The steering setup was adjusted and an "eyeball" alignment was done after the ride-height for the front was set. She looks funny with her nose up in the air now...

The calipers are plumbed and bled, and the Calmini steering kit is installed, but not aligned yet. The final touch for the night was to spin on the new leather t-case knob...

I found that M12x1.25 bolts were what was needed to mount the calipers. I found some extra-long bolts at Pep Boys with shoulders and had them cut down on a lathe. The calipers are mounted, SS lines installed, and the front driveshaft is up in the truck. It is truly a 4x4 now.

Another find on XOC: I purchased a leather-wrapped transfer-case shifter knob to dress up the interior a little bit more!

I spent 3 long evenings this week wrenching on the truck. It turned out that the price for the new console was worth it, the interior looks "right" from every angle! The front knuckles have been swapped, AC lift arms installed, and the CVs and hubs are also in place. One snag, I need new bolts to mount the calipers, the originals from my truck do not fit.

I decided that the Xterra console I picked up will not work (fitment was wrong and the color, although gray, was way off), so I went to the dealer and ordered the pieces at new prices. Ouch.

Installed new crank position sensor, cleared codes and lights (the dash light up like a christmas tree last weekend!). Modified and mounted the old support bracketry for the exhaust. Installed new breather lines for trans and t-case and ran them up high on the firewall. Ordered a custom one-piece driveshaft (3.5" with Spicer Life Series u-joints), as it turned out that balancing the old one would cost nearly as much. Should be done on Monday.

Very long weekend staring up at the undercarriage of the truck. 4x4 transmission, transfercase, rear driveshaft, etc, has been installed. I crushed my Crankshaft Position Sensor removing old transmission, new one is ordered through Autozone. Rear driveshaft is vibrating something bad, it will need a balance or a custom one-piece replacement.

Finally took a couple pictures of the axle installation from last week and new breather line that I installed this afternoon. Those shiny parts tucked up under there will not stay clean for long...

The front axle was disassembled, setup, and torqued to specs. The front crossmember was dropped, as well as the antisway bar, and the front differential was lifted into place. After some slight modification to the SLR drop bushings all the powdercoated axle supports and antisway bar were installed. Sorry no pics, I was too busy getting my hands dirty!

The Shrockworks sliders are now painted and mounted on the truck! I found a DupliColor paint that met my liking and painted the sliders after a good cleaning and priming. The new look is closer to completion, and now I do not have to worry about rocks gouging out my rocker panels whenever this thing actually makes it off road.

A big visual change to the truck today. I met up with an XOC member and swapped wheels. I got a set of 2003 SE Xterra rims with 255/70R16 Goodyear Wrangler RT/S in exchange for my rims and Dunlops. Not a bad trade! Jim Shrake of Shrockworks did the final fitting on the sliders today and completed their fabrication. I have S/N 0001.

A couple weeks ago I ran across a wrecked Tacoma while scouring the yards for Nissan parts. It was an Auto- equipped Prerunner with the ECT transmission power switch on the dash. I picked up the switch and wired it in parallel with the clutch interlock; now I can start the truck in gear if the need arises.

Spent the afternoon fabricating relocation brackets for the rear driveshaft carrier bearing. Nissan shifts this part back 5.50" on the 4x4s due to having a shorter driveshaft. Almost ready to swap the transmission.

Finally took a wrench to the truck today. After picking up a real jack I went to work on getting the rear of the truck in order. The SS brake line, Revolvers, and Rancho 9116s now reside under the truck. No major issues, but the spring-eye bushing did have to be shaved for the Revolvers to fit. Thus far I am not impressed with the Ranchos, but I will try tweaking their settings a bit.

June 19^th, 2003

Drove up to Lewisville, TX (North of Dallas) and picked up a 28,000mile used 5 speed and transfercase out of an Xterra. The jewel of the find is the Calmini Rockcrawler gearset already installed in the 'case.

This past week I started going powdercoat crazy. Front skid, t-case skid, UCAs, Diff mounts, and assorted hardware have thus far been coated. Calmini steering kit arrived, as well as the last of Mike's parts (brake calipers and rear shocks). Transmission and new t-case has been located and will be picked up within the week.

Powdercoat arrived today, it's Eastwood's "Almost Chrome". I have enough to coat half the underside of the truck. Skidplate, UCAs, diff mounts, and front crossmember are first on the list. Eastside is selling me his silver Calmini steering kit, and Devinchi is selling me a pair of driveshafts off his '94 SE-V6 King Cab.

May 16^th, 2003

SLR drop bushings arrived, as well as new bushings for my AC lift arms. I bead blasted some of the parts while they are off the truck. Instead of painting, I will powdercoat the parts. Black is the most likely color candidate, but I am also considering a color that closely matches my paint. Eastwood Company stocks a ton of different powders.

Tore into that crate, FINALLY! Completely dismantled the drivetrain and suspension in a matter of a few hours. Cleaned and disassembled the axle and installed the 300ZX LSD after pressing in the through-bolt retainer plate. No issues whatsoever, this has to be the easiest and cheapest solution for the front diff.

Today I ordered the differential drop kit from SLR and reordered the SS brake lines from AC (I sold the last set to Jeb). I am finally starting to get the show on the road...

Well the big crate with Mike's old frontend arrived this afternoon, so I ran over to the Forward Air terminal and picked up all 526 pounds of it! Now it sits at work, waiting and hoping...

UTJMAC over on XOC is selling me his unused Teraflex Revolver shackles for cheap! I will get them installed and post a pic as soon as possible!

February 19^th, 2003

Called Forward Air to price shipping for Mike's parts and it looks to be nearly $150 cheaper than through Roadway. SWEET. Called Mike and found that his truck will not be going into the shop until the beginning of the week at the earliest. Not too bad of a delay...

New site uploaded! Enjoy!

January 17^th, 2003

I won Three Doors Down tickets tonight! Listened to 94.5 The Buzz and was caller 10! Yee Haw!

January 14^th, 2003

Received e-mail from Mike, he's planning on tearing his truck down this coming weekend. I may have my 4x4 frontend by the end of the month!