theksmith 5,778 Posted March 2, 2025 (edited) 44 minutes ago, jgaz said: Is it safe to assume that the hub bearings were ok when checked? they didn't tear down the hubs to check them. they were certain that they had done the "lift each end of the axle and fill" procedure and that they just hadn't checked it again after driving to "top it off". so they just spun them by hand to "make sure they felt ok". i'm disappointed in AZ Differential Specialists and do not recommend them at all. if i have a problem in the near future, at least i've documented all this. Edited March 2, 2025 by theksmith 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted March 6, 2025 (edited) Gadget got a playmate! decided it was past time to get a daily driver so that Gadget can be just for adventures - i.e. put less wear and tear on her and hopefully she won't break as often! we got a barely used 2024 Nissan Frontier SL 4x4. Edited March 11, 2025 by theksmith 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgaz 750 Posted March 6, 2025 Nice! Two questions: Plans for it? And who will hit you up first to haul or move stuff for them? BTW: I thought it was classy of you to not bring up your possible bearing problems until I asked. You could have lead with that issue as soon as you picked the truck up. I think it’s good you let people know but you weren’t an ass about it 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted March 6, 2025 (edited) 2 hours ago, jgaz said: Nice! Two questions: Plans for it? And who will hit you up first to haul or move stuff for them? BTW: I thought it was classy of you to not bring up your possible bearing problems until I asked. You could have lead with that issue as soon as you picked the truck up. I think it’s good you let people know but you weren’t an ass about it thanks! lol, it can't haul anything, the bed is just for looks! since it's a daily driver i'm not going to be making any huge changes, at least not anytime soon! i would like to eventually get some real all-terrains - probably a size larger, which would require a leveling kit at least. will likely get different wheels when i do tires. it needs a better subwoofer soon! it came with a slightly smooshed rear bumper on the passenger side. i got underneath before buying and it didn't seem to even bend the mounting bracket for the bumper, much less any frame damage. of course i made a huge deal out of it at the dealership to try and get the biggest discount i could! i just have to get a new end cap and paint match it. then will need to bend the hidden inner metal part of the bumper back outward on that end just slightly. so i'll be working on that soon. otherwise seems pristine. it was a single owner lease return from California with just 10k miles. only mods so far are taking off the dealer sticker and the "SL" emblem - currently working on the "4x4". removing the Nissan emblem on the rear would leave 2 holes, so i guess that stays. i looked up how to disable the auto-start/stop feature without having to press the button every time. so the next mod is to remove a couple interior panels and jumper a connector for that. oh and i ordered clear front side reflectors to get rid of those yellow ones! Edited March 6, 2025 by theksmith 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jgaz 750 Posted March 6, 2025 “lol, it can't haul anything, the bed is just for looks!” You might be surprised Kris. I had a 2001 Dakota 4 door truck for almost 15 years. The Dakota could haul 1/2 yard off top soil at a time. I was less than 10 minutes from the landscape yard in Michigan so buying 3 or more yards at a time allowed me to make a bunch of trips cheaper than the delivery fee plus I didn’t have to schedule a delivery when it worked for the yard . Also, the Dakota had notches in the bed that accepted a 2x6. I had three 2x6 crosspieces with a removable center leg that when combined with 3 longitudinal 2x4s allowed me to haul 4x8 sheets of plywood or drywall with ease. The long 2x4s had a leg that rested on the end of the tailgate. When I was finishing my basement in Michigan I hauled a few 12 foot sheets and several 10 foot sheets of 1/2” drywall the same way except the long 2x4s were 12 footers instead of 8ft. I was a bit concerned about the weight rating for the tailgate cables when I hauled the longer sheets so I temporally replaced the cables with a couple lengths of angle iron that I cut the necessary keyhole slots into. Improvise, adapt, and overcome (and I know you’re good at that) 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted April 12, 2025 (edited) happy to have solved a rear clunk that had been annoying me by replacing all 4 rear shock bushings today. the old ones were brittle and cracking a little, but they had also compacted to the point that the bar-pins were floppin around all loosey-goosey. Edited April 12, 2025 by theksmith 6 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted May 1, 2025 (edited) this week i got to really tear into the "new" engine, yay! it all started with a rattle... that i couldn't for the life of me identify exactly where was coming from. it kind of sounded like a really loose bearing on a pulley, but not quite. it was only on a cold start and then went away within about 15 to 20 minutes. using a mechanic's stethoscope, it seemed to come from the front lower passenger side of the engine - mostly, i think! but i was far from sure about that. so i took it to Joe at On Point for him and Vince to diagnose. he found that i had a lot of misfires on #5 and a fair amount on #2, and coupled with the rattle (that he also couldn't pin down the location of), he felt like i had the early stages of the common rockers-gone-bad issue. boo! i only have about 19k miles on this engine. i went ahead and bought 24 Mopar rockers and lifters and prepared to open both valve covers (yet again, i'd just done valve cover seals recently). i also planned to remove the timing cover while i was in there to address a minor oil seep on one side. i pulled the wheels and dropped the front to the ground to avoid having to use a stool the whole time - work smart not hard! as far as the rockers, every one of them seemed perfectly fine - no detectable looseness in the bearings, no unexpected dull areas on them or the cams. i went ahead and put the brand new ones in since i already bought them and since i didn't know if the ones from the reman place were Mopar or what. i also replaced the phaser on the passenger exhaust cam... remember those cam sensor DTCs i used to get but eliminated by using heavier weight oil? my hunch is the cause was a weak spring on that phaser. so next oil change i'll put normal weight oil back in and see if those codes return or not with this new exhaust phaser. i did double checked all the oil galley plugs too, and they were fine. so with the rockers looking good the question became, what was the actual rattle from? and why the misfires? i think i found the cause of the rattle. apparently when i put the reman engine in, i missed putting RTV on this one flat spot inside the timing cover that sits right up against one of the chain tensioners (the lower passenger side one). i think the tensioner was vibrating against the cover without the RTV in place, until all the metal warmed up and expanded enough to close the tiny air gap. anyway, that's my hypothesis which matches the symptoms. i made sure not to forget that bit of RTV when re-assembling this time, and the rattle is gone (for now)! with regard to the misfires - i replaced the plugs on those 2 cylinders that Joe saw misfires on (the old ones looked fine though). i also swapped the coil packs on #1 & #2 and #3 & #5 to see if the problem follows the coil pack. i still have to figure out if my scan tool or OBDJscan can show a misfire count or if i need to get on Joe's schedule for more diagnostic time. so in summary, i spent a couple days and hopefully fixed a minor leak, probably fixed a rattle, moved slightly forward with diagnosing some misfires, and slightly forward with diagnosing and/or fixing those old cam sensor codes. oh, and i accidentally broke one of the timing guides while prying a cam phaser off. it was only $40, but that delayed finishing everything by a bit. also, for the record, i really, really, hate cleaning up old RTV! Edited May 1, 2025 by theksmith 3 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lichen 215 Posted May 3, 2025 Is this the engine you bought from Temu? 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theksmith 5,778 Posted May 4, 2025 16 hours ago, Lichen said: Is this the engine you bought from Temu? no that one was made completely out of cardboard! this one is an authentic pot-metal engine. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Project510 24 Posted May 16, 2025 (edited) Wow Kris, quite the journey with this. I love the JK. Looks great. I completed similar work on my daily. My father in law passed down his old Nissan Hardbody to me and my son because we LOVE the truck. It was in desperate need of the timing guide and chain replacement. When I reassembled I forgot sealant on one small area that made me essentially have to remove it all to correct it. I also had to remove a TON of orange RTV from a previous repair by some heavy handed mechanic haha. Edited May 16, 2025 by Project510 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
