I've got a 89 nissan pickup coming into my shop with a 4wd that won't engage. My first thought was that the hubs were shot. I guess the hubs have been replaced with parts from a reputable wrecking yard. 4wd still won't engage.

I suspect the replacement hubs are bad. Anybody have any other ideas?
Thanks for your help and time.

It's got the stock auto hubs, right? When you shift to 4hi, it needs to roll a little before the hubs lock in. And you usually have to go back to 2 and then reverse a couple feet to unlock them. But you probably know this.

Normally they don't just fail to work, unless somebody took them apart and didn't re-assemble them correctly.

Wouldn't hurt to pull them off and have a look.

just get a set of mile marker manual hubs n call it a day

Do the shafts spin in the front? If they do, it's the hubs. If they don't, it's transfer case/front diff. You can check the hubs easily enough, just spin the CV axle by hand, they'll click and lock. If they don't, they're shot.

just get a set of mile marker manual hubs n call it a day

terrible idea mile marker hubs are junk, OEM locking hardbody hubs are the best

my mile markers after the 4th usage
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae172/xterror04/DSC_0033.jpg

Ouch... I have always wondered how tough the factory hubs were compared to aftermarket units

Stock ones suck too! I broke a warn, just to replace it with a stock hub, then break that!

Could very well be a blown CV. As someone else said, see what turns with it in 4wd and in the air.

I run stock Hardbody manual hubs on my Pathy with 33s. They seem to be the strongest option... other than changing up to 28 spline and running the drive plates from a caR50 that is.

I agree with the above posts saying to keep it Nissan!

I run stock Hardbody manual hubs on my Pathy with 33s.
I need to do this also! What year Hardbody hubs and what year is your Pathfinder?

I need to do this also! What year Hardbody hubs and what year is your Pathfinder?

My Pathy is an '88 so it's 27 spline. They switched to 28 spline for the '94 model year on Pathfinders. Note that you cannot just swap out the CV shafts to change your spline count as the output flanges on the diff also changed. To make it even more fun the diff itself was changed and the output shafts do not interchange. It may be possible to combine parts from two sets of CV shafts but I have not pursued this option. The issue is that 28 spline factory Nissan manual hubs are rarer than hen's teeth! For a trail-only rig the ticket would be to run the 28 spline drive plates that came on all R50 Pathfinders so the CVs are locked to the hubs all the time. No locking junk to break!


Here's the spline count listing from Warn's site:

Pickup '84-86.5 --- 26 spline
Pickup, Pathfinder '86.5-89 --- 27 spline
Pickup, 4 cylinder '90-93 --- 27 spline
Pickup (incl. Frontier), 4 cyl '94-01 --- 28 spline
Pickup (incl. Frontier), Pathfinder, 6 cyl '90-01 --- 28 spline
Xterra '00 --- 28 spine


If the OP needs a set of good 27 spline Nissan factory manual Hardbody hubs my wheeling buddy has a set for sale in the Seattle area.


Way, way off topic: I presume you have an Unimog, unimogken? Shoot me a PM if you want to talk Mogs, I have four. :)