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So I had to so a double take when I saw this album cover and it is definitely a pathfinder. Probably got a little too excited when I noticed this but thought it was sweet.

9448’s in back, ac’s up front. 32” tires Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not sure what would be involved in a 4wd conversion (biggest issue would be electronics in my opinion), but if you choose to do so you may want to look into if it's possible to do a Titan swap (popular with 2nd gen Xterra's) to get things beefed up and upgraded at the same time. As far as suspension, I'd recommend going with a small spacer lift from sfcreations.com or getting an Old Man Emu kit. 4x4parts.com may have more options too. Since you're only 2wd with limited suspension travel, I'd highly recommend a CB or other radio for communication with your buddies on the trail (since you NEVER want to go alone), solid tow points front and rear, and then look into other things. Good offroad tires will make a massive difference too. Don't think there's a rear bumper or fender guard options commercially available, but if you like tube it shouldn't be terribly expensive to get a local 4x4 fabrication shop to knock them out for you. There may be others, but I think ARB is the only choice for a front bumper, so you may want to consider tube for that too, and sticking a winch on it. How much into wheeling do you intend to get? If you think this is something you'll really like and will want to take it to the next level without doing big fabrications, I'm sorry to say this but I'd suggest looking for at least a 4x4 R51, if not something with a solid axle out back. You'd be surprised where you can go with a smart line and good tires though. Welcome to NPORA!

Fleurys makes a lift kit for the R51. Not sure if the 2wd suspension is different enough that it wouldn't fit, or what would it would take to 4x swap it. About the only thing I know about the R51 is that you want to bypass the trans cooler in the rad ASAP because they fail and dump coolant into the transmission (search for SMOD, strawberry milkshake of death, if you're not familiar with this already). A 2WD vehicle with traction control you can't turn off isn't the greatest starting point, but if you're married to it, a locker (if one's available for that rear end) is probably a good place to start. My friend's Astro van is 2WD, but it's got a factory locker, and that thing does better off-road than it has any right to.

Friggin 33...

Hello long time reader first time poster. Finally got got my registration to work. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Agree gears matter, but I think the engine matters more. The earlier rigs with the vg33 are effected a lot more than the vq35 powered trucks. I’m not saying my truck will win any drag races, but with the vq, heavy 33” mud terrains, and the 4.36 gears I can still break the rear tires loose at a stop light and easily hold a steady cruise of 75-80 on the highway. It’s amazing how much of a difference the extra 60-70 hp between the two engines can make.

Yeah I saw after I posted that you had blown a head gasket and we’re doing a rebuild. If you’re already that far deep I agree with going big on the cooking system while you’re already in there. It certainly can’t hurt. I use a Bluetooth obd2 dongle with the obdfusion app on my phone. Along with being a great diagnostic tool, you can also monitor direct info from the ecu instead of relying on the dummy gauges.

Between it being 2WD and having fully independent suspension, I’d give up now and find something else. A decent R50 is in the 3-7k range. Seems like throwing off-road gear in a 2WD with minivan suspension would be a poor investment

Hey everybody! Just bought my second pathfinder (an 03’ SE), I previously had a 97’ SE but kept it stock so I never chose to actually make an account and introduce myself here. I however am more active on the pathfinder Facebook pages. I look forward to actually doing some slight modifications to this one as it’s still my daily driver and we usually take our Jeep off-roading. Thanks!

There is actually a lot of information about this topic here on the forum, just gotta poke around a bit. The long and short of it is, you're not gonna get more lift than that without an SFD, and even that is kind of pushing it depending on how you set it up; if you do that much lift with spacers expect CV damage if you actually go offroading. Since these vehicles are unibody, body lift is not an option. The "Land Rover Lift Springs" thread in this subforum is a great resource for information about an excellent lift option combos.

The big question for us pathfinder owners. What are your aftermarket parts wish list. Been some conversation in another forum, about getting some good parts available for us to use to make the pathfinder builds using a larger selection of parts. I myself would like to have some kind of front bumper attachment kit so we could use bumpers that fit other vehicles without having to fabricate the brackets/braces. Another option would be a tube style with winch plate for light weight and options for lighting. A coil over or struts to replace the torsion bar setups while retaining the IFS would be interesting A new center console design that's a direct bolt in and has good cup holders for the front and back seats. A better choice for bolt in headlight replacement. More up to date technology. Same with tail lights. Lets just get some thoughts going and maybe we can get a couple new parts for our breed of trucks