Argh, parts frustration! <semi restrained rant>
So my Paj needs two rear ujoints. 150k kms, no biggie. Generally I walk into my local, ask for ___ for 94 (NA MY plus one) Montero parts. One or two days later I get my parts, all is well.
Not this time. First set of ujoints they brought in were wrong. Their mistake, my fault for not having a number in my head before I went in. Reordered what my research told me was the right ones. Went back yesterday to pickup, with calipers in hand. Nope. Not the right ones. Monteros and Pajeros from 90 to 2000 ALL take the SAME ujoint. All of them, according to the catalogs. But nobody told my truck. Nope, not big enough. These things are a full 3 inches across, compared to the pansy 2.2 something inch ones that NAPA got me.
Spent yesterday and most of today running searches, numbers etc. It "seems" that for one year (guess which one) Mitsu changed to this large yoke spread, large ujoint set up. Then changed BACK. WTF? Who does that? So, number in hand, I march back to my friendly NAPA to order them up but... wait. Doesn't show in their system. Argghhhh. They're gonna check Monday, but it looks unlikely they can source em. Sigh. Back to research. Factory part number might be useful for the dealer? Maybe?
In case your Pajero ever gives you grief, precision ujoint number 450 should do the rear driveshaft in most cases in the 90s, unless you have the lucky 93-94 with the "special" extra heavy duty ujoint, in which case you need a precision 412, which is so special that no one seems to think it exists...
If you've read this far, and are interested. I'll keep you posted...
Current: 1997 Pajero Evolution no.581, 2013 Lancer Sportback, 2003 Montero
Not forgotten: 93 Pajero, 91 Pajero, 96 Evo4, 91 Galant AWD, 89 Montero, 89 Raider, 88 Raider...