Converting '91 King Cab to 4WD

[Eukie78]

So the frame on my '92 Pathy has finally rusted away enough as to be unsafe. Drove down to Georgia and bough a beautiful, rust-free '91 2WD automatic V6 King Cab SE. Before winter hits Michigan, I would like to have the truck converted to 4WD. I was a mechanic for eight years (10 years ago) and am not sweating the project, but would love to pick your brains and try and be properly prepared.
I just purchased a 4WD automatic transmission out of a '94 King Cab and am planning on using that along with the front suspension, diff, halfshafts, and rear axle out of my 92 Pathfinder. I realize that I need to go back to the scrap yard and buy the the rear driveshaft as well. Should these parts all mesh together well? Any help is appreciated as I have been trying to research this for a week or so and have found only limited results.

[whomadewho]

Anything is possible. Hate to sound negative - What about the cross members. If you have children you might consider buying a season ticket for the movies or a membership at the pool. Before you're finished you will be on a first name bases with God and not in a positive way. There is a lot of 2wd & 4 wd parts that will not interchange. The electronics and emissions will also be a challenge.

[Desert Rat]

it's not gonna work without major fabrication. 2wd and 4wd frames are different. stuff won't just bolt in.

you're much better off finding another 4wd truck unless you want to do a Solid axle swap or similar.

[Eukie78]

Truck is in too beautiful shape to not do it (gotta be 4x4 for our winters). This is the kind of info I'm looking for because I was thinking it would be a reasonably easily bolt in. Not afraid of heavy fabrication. With frame mods, should I be cool using front/rear diffs from Pathfinder with this 94 king cab 4x4 trans? Probably gonna swap the trans, and only the rear diff, then troubleshoot. Then, on to the front.

[whomadewho]

Whatever decision you make is going to require a lot of time & patience. The drawback with fabrication is the vehicle is going to be less sellable. The way the the frame was designed (closed) this is going to make fabrication far more difficult. . I totally agree with Desert Rat . A 4x4 donor will also give you access to the extra wiring electronics & sensors needed to make this possible. Watch the difs. Ratios. This could result in a inaccurate speedometer.

[Desert Rat]

Yes, the diff ratios will be significantly off between a 2wd and 4wd, and the 2wd truck uses a much smaller rear end than the 4wd truck does.

On that old a truck, there's not much electronics to worry about. But if you were wanting to swap over a 2wd truck to 4wd, I'd just scrap all the IFS stuff and do a basic solid axle swap.

Nissan4wheelers.com has gobs of tech articles on solid axle swaps in the skidplate alley forum. Might be a good place to start doing some reading to get ideas. Lots of different suspension configurations to choose from.