I’m sure you read my previous post about the differences in older and newer Gen 3 Econoline crossmembers? I thought about it for a while, and I’m starting to think that I might need to just cut the crossmember based on the location of the diff housing, and not use the Pathfinder diagrams anymore.
I hoisted up the van as high as possible, and this allowed me to roll my rebuilt axle under the frame.
I’m thoroughly confused, because all the Pathfinder frames don’t look like this, and they are separated from the diff housing. My axle slides under the cavity between the crossmember flanges, but it’s a few inches too far to the driver’s side.
If I cut the front flange of the crossmember, it’ll clear the differential. However, I think it’ll still hit the crossmember at its highest point.
Look at it from the front.
I can cut a notch out of the driver’s side crossmember flange, which should get me very close to the 2-3 inches I need to shift the center-line of the axle to the passenger side. But I’m 99% sure that it’ll hit the top of the crossmember.
I have the axle on axis (front-to-back) on the frame, with the coil mount, bump stop, and axle center-line all aligned. I verified this by dry-fitting my radius arm on the passenger side, and it lined up perfectly.
The next problem is figuring out where to situate the track bar mount on the crossmember, so I can’t just cut the notch out for the differential, without making sure that the mount has enough steel.
The only wildcard with my alignment is the vertical distance (coil height). I might still be off on where to cut the crossmember, because there COULD BE more height between the crossmember and axle. That would be amazing if true, because it won’t look so precarious. When I tried to fit the coil in just to see how it looks, it wouldn’t fit by a measure of 3-4 inches, so that’s promising. Let’s say the resting height of the coil under load shrinks it by 2 inches, then I have 1-2 inches to work with that could be all the difference.
Looking for some help. If you have a 1988 Pathfinder or Quadravan, send me some pictures of your crossmember in the comments below. How is mine so different than the diagrams from the company? And, how is your track bar mount welded to the crossmember? I need to know the front-to-back distance.
