An open forum for all enthusiasts of the classic 60 series Nissan Datsun Patrol to gather and share information and gain knowledge. Members share off-road stories, restoration advice, modification ideas in an atmosphere free of a single controller. The fo
It looks pretty good on the outside, but a quick look underneath reveals a couple of issues.
#1. the rear shocks aren't attached correctly. In order to mount, they extended and put an elbow in them in order to attach to the plates underneath the leaf springs. looks like the original shock mount on the axle was cut away to accomodate.
In the front, the front axle was cut-away in order to accomodate a spring u-bolt.
I've got an appointment with my 4x4 specialty shop to go over some alternatives.
RiverPatrol wrote:That's some ingenuity right there.
That's a word for it. I don't know that it's the first word that comes to my mind. The car is pretty solid - almost no rust, except for around the battery box. For that, I am thankful. But there's a bunch of these half measures that have been performed on this vehicle that I need to take care of. This is also what happens when you buy a car off craigslist sight unseen. Still, I'm really happy with this car and excited to get it on the road.
Hi everyone,
so, we finally tried to put the Minion Missile in 4WD this weekend. The transfer case worked well, however the front axle didn't engage. The drive shaft was turning, but the front wheels didn't engage. So, we put the front up on jack stands to see if the wheels would turn. I was thinking that while the 4wd was engaged that the front wheels should not turn - but they did. next step was to take off one of the hubs and see if the gears were stripped, or if there was anything else obvious that we could see. I thought a quick video would be better than me trying to explain what we found.
I'm really suspicious of this axle and many of the things on the Minion. given the mods that had to be done to accommodate the ubolt for attaching to the springs, I'm not even sure this is the original axle. Should I consider swapping this out if i can find one that i know to be original?
The front axle is indeed the correct axle. It's just that there isn't supposed to be a U-bolt there. There should be stud on the bottom of the axle the go through the spring mount plate.
To engage the front wheels, you need to turn/lock the hub. That's the piece in your hand in the video. That is a freewheeling or manually locking hub, so you have to turn it to lock the hubs when you put in to 4wd. You turn the center of it, where the handle or - is. Then unlock the hubs when you take it out of 4wd.
It's yellow and I have lots of minions. Here are the two smallest ones:
Some more background into our line of thinking. The front axle wasn't turning even once we locked the hubs in 4WD. We jacked up the front-end and while it was in gear and in 4WD with the hubs locked in 4WD the front wheels still rotated freely by hand. I was thinking that if 4WD was really engaged that this would not be possible. We suspected this was a hub problem. We took off one of the hubs, but it appeared to lock in both 2WD and again in 4WD. That's not to say that there might be missing parts or other items in the hub that are causing the issue. When we took the hub off, the spindle had a lot of play side-to-side and in-and-out. Not sure if this is normal or not - I would have thought it would have been relatively stationary. The front driveshaft spins, so I know the transmission/transfer case works. The issue is somewhere in the differential, axle or hubs. I was just trying to narrow down where to look without tearing it all down. Thanks for the clarification on the axle. If it's factory, that makes me feel a whole lot better. The rear axle had the brackets for the shocks removed, so if there are studs that are missing, it would be at least consistent with what's going on in the rear. Seems like I need to remove the front axle and have those studs welded back on.
I saw that in the video. I don't have an opinion on that because I have never dismantled the front hubs myself, so I don't know if that is normal behavior or not.
I agree with the thought that when the hubs are locked, if the driveshaft is turning you would expect the wheels to turn also. But again, I haven't tried that myself. Esteban might have some insight on that.
I've been away from home this week, and just now I'm able to see the video.
The play of the axle is normal, since it's kept in place by the hub. I agree with RiverPatrol that the wheels should turn when the hubs are locked. These hubs are not prone to give any problem, but it's possible that one of them might be not engaging.
I will raise one wheel, and leave the other in the ground. With both hubs locked, move by hand the raised wheel and see if the arbor is turning. You can leave the 4WD lever in 2WD for this. What we want to see is if the hubs are working or not.
