The Nissan Path

So, I just got an '05 Pathfinder and took it on a 1200 mile road trip to West Palm for a week. While I was driving the highways I noticed that it starts to rumble a bit once you hit 80mph or more. It's like a subtle vibration or harmonic build up in the frame. If you've ever had mud tires on a car it feels almost like that. It starts to get pretty intense towards 90. Around there it starts to rattle some of the interior trim. Not sure what causes it and was just curious to see if that's common the Pathfinder or if I should start looking for what's wrong.

SimulatedZero wrote:So, I just got an '05 Pathfinder and took it on a 1200 mile road trip to West Palm for a week. While I was driving the highways I noticed that it starts to rumble a bit once you hit 80mph or more. It's like a subtle vibration or harmonic build up in the frame. If you've ever had mud tires on a car it feels almost like that. It starts to get pretty intense towards 90. Around there it starts to rattle some of the interior trim. Not sure what causes it and was just curious to see if that's common the Pathfinder or if I should start looking for what's wrong.

U-joints and/or bent driveshaft. Usually the front for both...

What's a good way to check the U-joints to see if they are good or bad? Unfortunately I don't have the funds to start replacing every part until it's fixed.

SimulatedZero wrote:What's a good way to check the U-joints to see if they are good or bad? Unfortunately I don't have the funds to start replacing every part until it's fixed.

The quick test is to grab the shaft near the U-joint and try to shake it laterally and check for play. When I started getting the 60-80 mph rumble the U-joint was gone far enough that it was easily felt.

But the best way to check the U-joints is to remove the drive shaft and check for play in the U-joints. Easier to do on a lift but it can be done with the truck on the ground. I could probably pull mine without jacking the truck up at all.

It's important to bolt the driveshaft back in the way it came out though. I used a paint pen to mark the flanges to line up the holes the same way last time I checked mine.

For the drive shaft, the service manual answer is to check for run out or straightness while it's out of the vehicle. But if you don't have the tools to do that I'd bet on it being just the U-joint and seeing if that fixes it.

I think only a couple people here beside myself have had a bent drive shaft in addition to the bad U-joint, so odds are that you're safe. If you're comfortable doing this yourself (it's pretty easy, search the forum for instructions) the U-joint itself is $15-$25.

That sounds simple enough to do. I will give it a check this morning when I get off of work.

I keep getting suggestions that the tires are most likely out of balance. I haven't had tires be perfectly in balance at low speeds and then out of balance at higher speeds. Is that a possible factor here?

SimulatedZero wrote:That sounds simple enough to do. I will give it a check this morning when I get off of work.

I keep getting suggestions that the tires are most likely out of balance. I haven't had tires be perfectly in balance at low speeds and then out of balance at higher speeds. Is that a possible factor here?

I started with that - it wasn't it. The rumbling at 60-80 feels nothing like an imbalanced tire. I've had that on the truck too and it's more of a nuisance than the horrendous, frame-shaking business of a bad U-joint.

I only got a few minutes this morning to check things out and discovered that the U-joint for the forward drive shaft near the transfer case has some play in it. Not sure if that was enough to cause the vibration I was feeling, though it has to replaced anyways. I will check the ball joints next after work again to see if they might have any issues.

ShipFixer wrote:

SimulatedZero wrote:What's a good way to check the U-joints to see if they are good or bad? Unfortunately I don't have the funds to start replacing every part until it's fixed.

The quick test is to grab the shaft near the U-joint and try to shake it laterally and check for play. When I started getting the 60-80 mph rumble the U-joint was gone far enough that it was easily felt.

But the best way to check the U-joints is to remove the drive shaft and check for play in the U-joints. Easier to do on a lift but it can be done with the truck on the ground. I could probably pull mine without jacking the truck up at all.

It's important to bolt the driveshaft back in the way it came out though. I used a paint pen to mark the flanges to line up the holes the same way last time I checked mine.

For the drive shaft, the service manual answer is to check for run out or straightness while it's out of the vehicle. But if you don't have the tools to do that I'd bet on it being just the U-joint and seeing if that fixes it.

I think only a couple people here beside myself have had a bent drive shaft in addition to the bad U-joint, so odds are that you're safe. If you're comfortable doing this yourself (it's pretty easy, search the forum for instructions) the U-joint itself is $15-$25.

Ship

if you can find that link on the instructions, please send it to me.

Thanks

Check page PR-4 in the service manual posted in the forum. Runout limit is 0.6mm or 0.024 inches. Also the manual says to check it on the vehicle...

SimulatedZero wrote:I only got a few minutes this morning to check things out and discovered that the U-joint for the forward drive shaft near the transfer case has some play in it. Not sure if that was enough to cause the vibration I was feeling, though it has to replaced anyways. I will check the ball joints next after work again to see if they might have any issues.

That's the usual one I think...it's the one I had go bad. There is a *tiny* amount of play at the transfer case if you really shift it carefully, but if there's clearly bearing play it's the U-joint.

Just checked, the journal bearing play limit is 0.02mm...or really tiny.

I would say that this was much closer to a couple of millimeters than it was to 0.02 millimeters. It wasn't a huge amount of play, but there was a definite click click when shifting it along one of the axes of the joint.

SimulatedZero wrote:I would say that this was much closer to a couple of millimeters than it was to 0.02 millimeters. It wasn't a huge amount of play, but there was a definite click click when shifting it along one of the axes of the joint.

Yeah...U-joint disease...

ShipFixer wrote:Check page PR-4 in the service manual posted in the forum. Runout limit is 0.6mm or 0.024 inches. Also the manual says to check it on the ve

hicle...

I cannot find the service manual posted in the forum ?

Correction..I did find it thanks!