Tie rod bushings??? Sounds like something that Goodyear would try to sell you - there is no such thing on a Patrol. Tie rod ends, possibly, but they are no longer available. And frankly, I don't know of many Patrols that have had an issue with them. The ties rod ends on these things are HUGE!

 

Keep in mind that there is only one alignment adjustment on a Patrol - it's either castor or camber, I don't remember which right now. You can find information on how to do it yourself, rather than trusting it to someone that has never even seen a Patrol, let alone worked on one.

 

10 MPG highway is about the best you're going to get with the P engine. The Patrol was never intended to be a highway vehicle.

Thanks. That helps. It seems like it's easy to get a lot of wrong information.

 

Any insight into lifting it????  I like the idea of putting the axle at the bottom of the springs....but don't know if that will work because it looks like on the front axle, the passenger side bolts nearest the diff bolt right into the diff case.....

 

Somebody said something about an aftermarket lift that makes it ride and handle better...that would be great as well.

 

 

You can get springs made at alcan in CO. They can make them with a 2" lift for you. You'll find that a 2" lift is plenty good enough for what you want the Patrol to do, and it doesn't comprimise the rise quality. Consider that your existing springs are 40 years old and pretty flat. A 2" inch lift will actually raise your truck 3 to 4 inches! And it will definitely ride better than it does now on those old springs.

 

Unless you are planning on doing some major re-engineering and modification to your suspension, I wouldn't recommend going the SOA way. The ride and control will be much worse.

The RHD or LHD tie rods are the same thread, until 1978, when Nissan made the change to metric all around (in fact, they're the same, with only the grease fiiting changing side). With that in mind, fairly new stock will be as you said, metric, and will not fit. The great thing about the Patrol tie rods, is that they can be adjusted to compensate the little wear that they develop over time. If you look at the bottom of the tie rod, there's a cap with a big slot. The cap is threaded and can be rotated to adjust the wear. First, you will have to get rid of the indentations that are done on the side, to prevent rotation of this cap. A grinding wheel is all that it takes. I've done this. While you're at it, it will be wise to clean everything inside as well.

------

Greetings and happy repairing,

A lot of good points and discussion here, so my two cents worth:

Instead of adding or changing springs, get your springs rebent. I live outside of columbus, Ga, and there is a metal working shop that did just that for me. $100 and it raised the old 69 4" and it rode pretty good with new shocks.

On the carb just rebuild what you have and everything will work just fine. remember this was the biggest most powerful engine used in a four wheel drive until the 1990s. It beat toyota fj-40, land rover series II and jeep in 1965 for HP and torque. So there are some trade offs.

Must say I like mine stock, but the new technology will help a lot either way you go.

sincerely,

feldmarshal