Nissan Off Road & 4x4 Forum

When it rain it pours.

 I got laid off on Thanksgiving and have not found a job yet. I towed my Pathfinder home to my mom's place to work on it this Christmas break. The plan was to drop my new motor in and fire it up to see how it runs. Well I couldn't get the damn thing to close up with the bell housing. I find out that the torque converter isn't seated all the way for some reason. So I yank out the TC to see if something is in the way and out comes the input shaft attached to the torque converter. I tried everything I could to separate the shaft but couldn't. Attempted to see if I can still set the input shaft and TC back into the transmission. No-Go. Something is stopping it from aligning up with the oil pump drive for the transmission. So I drop the transmission and pull it out.

I look inside the transmission shaft tunnel and see something inside. I get my magnetic pick-up tool and attempt to pull the thing out. It's far inside the transmission and it doesn't help that the tunnel is narrow and steel. My luck, the damn magnetic end unscrews and is stuck inside the shaft. Luckily, I had another magnetic pick-up and managed to pull the out magnetic end out. When I pulled it out, I managed to get the thing I had seen. Pull it up and it's a piece of one of the clutches.  :hit: :wtf:

Since the transmission is out now, I figure I go ahead and install the new motor. I get the frame side brackets in and lower the motor attaching the passenger side first. I go to the driver side and it's roughly an inch off from the mounting hole. :wtf:

I had an accident back in about 2003 clipping a Cadillac on the passenger side to avoid getting hit from someone swerving into me. I only had liability and the guy who swerved into me didn't have insurance and his license suspended. Paid out of pocket and fixed the Pathfinder myself.

So depressing :'(

(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/cuongnutz/VG33/d049359f.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/cuongnutz/VG33/bea435de.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/cuongnutz/VG33/03d72e67.jpg)
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/cuongnutz/VG33/f5f237c4.jpg)

All I can think of is say regular prayers - works for me

Really sorry to hear that Cuong.  Hope things get better.

It could always be worse.   Try getting a bottle jack between the frame the engine to push it over.  Or, get a hold of a porta power. 

     

wow! really sorry to hear about all the trouble! what exactly is bent that's keeping the motor mounts from lining up?
depending on what it is, it might be better to try to straighten out the bent stuff rather than forcing the motor into place  :cents:

I want to say the frame is bent. I have no other reason to think otherwise. I'll probably tear apart the transmission and do a rebuild sometime in the future. I also need to tear apart the transfer case since it's leaking again.

I wonder if I can use my hi lift jack and "straighten" out the frame....

I watched my brother straighten the frame on my Hardbody on a frame machine.  It was amazing to see just how much power it took to make any changes.  It looked like the truck was being torn apart.  The frame was about 1.5" to high in the drive rear corner.  We suspect it was rear ended there.  I don't think a highlift will have enough power to make any permanent changes.      

zombie thread revival.

Do you remember when you converted the Xterra 2wd transmission to 4wd if you needed anything extra? I'm trying to open up some options to replacing my beat up automatic transmission. I can't seem to find that thread for years ago here.