I bought my 2001 Pathfinder 2WD a month ago for my wife. Yesterday, I was driving it and I noticed an out of control feeling between 60-70 mph. I was passing a Semi and the Pathfinder began rocking left and right. It started out small and progressively got worse. I slowed down and it leveled out. It doesn't always happen when I'm traveling at that speed. Sometimes I feel it in a much smaller way when going over some bumps or dips in the road. It feels very much like a boat rocking back and forth, left and right, left and right. It is very disturbing because it feels like I'm out of control. It feels like it's originating from the rear. It reminds me of telephone wires on a windy day. It's like once they get into that groove they really have that resonance action.

I plan on taking the truck to a mechanic but I wanted to ask the forum first to see if anyone else has experienced this.

My initial guess would be one of the following may have something to do with it:wheel alignmentwheel balancebad shock/struts/springsbad part having to do with the suspension

The truck does not pull and the steering wheel does not vibrate and the tires are evenly worn.

If anyone can relate, please advise!

how many miles? its probably the lower control arm bushings, but i thought they took care of that in the later r50s.

I had the same exact problem in my 02 Pathfinder SE 2wd. I had about 75,000 miles at the time. It turned out to be the bushings and other suspension stuffs. Cost me about $1000 through the dealership. It was not covered with the extended warranty. Drives great now that it is fixed.

Mine has 66K miles. So, you had this same problem? You said it was a bushing or maybe a control arm. $1000 isn't too encouraging! Thanks for the tip!!!

On mine, we switched to the 4wd front springs - Changed the whole ride, it handled like a sports car.

the bushings inside the control arm wear out over time. i just bought 2 new control arms because i bent one of mine in moab. i spent like 180 on 2 new control arms w/ bushings and bolts at the dealer.

When inspecting a suspect control arm or bushing, what do you look for and how tell if it needs replacing?

.....or is it just you know by how the vehicle handles???

pretty much how the vehicle handles. it would be cheaper to just buy the entire control arm and replace it. its a pita to replace just the bushing. its not that hard either. the bolts on the axle side might be rusted and you'll have to cut them off. it took me like 30 minutes to change mine out.

bojohnson2 wrote:When inspecting a suspect control arm or bushing, what do you look for and how tell if it needs replacing?

Check the lower link on the rear suspension by twisting it. If it twists very easily, you need new bushings. You can either buy just new bushings and have a shop press them in, or you can just buy new lower links. (The links are the metal bars attached to the axle and to a large bolt on the frame about 1 foot in front of the rear tire. The parking brake cables run along them.) The lower control links (#9) are 2 of the links that locate the rear axle. There are 5 links: two lower links (attached to the frame immediately in front of the wheel well) and two upper links (#7), and the panhard rod (#4).

The stabilizer links that you supposedly can get from AC are short vertical rods that connect the rear antisway bar to the frame (#13).

According to the diagram, you should be able to get the bushings by themselves.

Try this vendor:http://www.aaanissanparts.com

When this Pathy's a rockin', don't come a knockin'

Welcome to NICO Brian