GrandpaX

I haven't seen Tyler in years... He parted it out then finished his degree.

Back From the dead...

This rig is going to get pounded out this summer.. There are many ideas for it! However may be somewhat simplified in order to get it back on the road.

You going to make it back to GoneMoab with the new ride?

Some had a sleeve with no spring..

This is the unit that ended up on top of our Xterra. Looking back I am glad we made the cross bars 1 1/8. It is the size Yakima uses, thus all their attachments will work... The middle cross bars fit in the dimple died holes along the side and can be moved back and forth as needed (The very top of the Xterra type slots are also dimple died for the tubes). Trying to be as low profile as possible, the holes are the correct height that the cross members (with an attachment clamped on) just miss the arch of the roof as they go across. My 87 will have something similar.. the bottom profile will be made more for our Pathy roof lines.. The hooks on a normal ratchet strap are kinda small and have problems fitting around a tube. The more anchor points made to work with these type straps the better. Maybe it will give you a few more ideas... I like the unit you have thought up! Works well with the light bar. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the original "Calmini" rack that was on top. The lights and rack sucked 2-3 MPG out of the rig. The Rack was from Alpine Spirit's rig.. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The new rack on the rig... Back to 17-18 mpg... that is change from $215 to $170 per thousand miles at 3 bucks a gallon. I liked the lights.. but not that much.

I just droped 5600 into my tow rig... it may be a bit before I get back to the Pathy now.

33x10.50's Got them on Ebay... hard to beat the free shipping price. http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-NEW-LT33X10-50-15-BF-GOODRICH-BFG-MUD-TERRAIN-T-A-KM2-1050R-R15-TIRES-LR-C-/310820392341?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Tires&hash=item485e56cd95&vxp=mtr

Still picking at them...

Nope... the only thing left after a solid axle conversion is the steering box, and many folks use something different there too..

I think this is what Trent is getting at... Sure the axle you are talking about is more workable.. however the cast units are cheaper and all over the place. The WAH also lets the Ford arms move freely.. thus making it flex well with the shorter OEM arms. The WAH can not be used on the pre-78 HP units. The WAH costs a little extra cash.. but so does a wristed radius arm or even extending the Ford arms. The wristed setup also puts all the axle rotating stress on one arm.. where the WAH cuts that stress in half by distributing it to both..

You could use that axle Trent.. the only problem being it needs to be narrowed down. The only easy way to do this is a WAH... http://www.bcbroncos.com/frontsusp1.html

Rodeo Dana 44 Rear end.. not all had a 44 and must be from 90-97. I cut 233's out as fast as I buy them.. I think they are a good axle.. The 44 just has more support and the parts are everywhere. If I bust a ring and pinion in Moab.. a new one is in town. A disk brake axle with the correct bolt pattern and can be built a 100 different ways.. Heck Nissan even runs Dana axles now in the newer stuff. The H233B is a Hitachi. It is just the brand of axle Nissan chose to use at the time. So for the faithful "Nissan" folks.. it is about as Nissan as a Toyota axle. Lockers are not cheap... and one would like to maybe sell them when done with a rig. A Dana 44 locker sells one heck of a lot faster than an axle Nissan quit using 8 years ago.

Harder than one would think. It is always easier making something that fits rather than forcing something to fit...

There was.. the pic host shut down years ago.

My first build was ...

My idea on that we be to make the brackets and have a link to a build that used them. Plans on how to make the crossmembers..etc. The less welding I do on my end the more reasonable the package would be. There is a market out there for the DIY type fella that just wants to get rid of CV axle boots and the worn out ifs/ifs steering.. It is also hard to justify spending 5K on a 2K truck... I would think the target would be to keep the whole front axle conversion under 2k (not counting locker/chromo shafts).

These are going to go through a rigorous testing on a couple rigs this year. This Pathy is going to be a tow rig for a small buggy. So it will see around 9K stopping on the highway. There is another Pathy that is getting built as a rock crawler (not mine)... long arm front and Double Tri 4 link rear. Not sure if they will be available as parts for now. May end up being full service only setup. The parts will work on both Pathfinders and Xterras... we have four Xterra rigs in line waiting for a full service setup (They drop it off and come pick it up when done.) We did this with a Frontier last year... it worked out well for both parties. I have some cheaper options in mind that could be done on a build to order basis. Maybe a write-up with a bracket kit so parts can be DIY. One idea would use Ford axle/arms/springs/shocks. It would be somewhat easy to build with a proven design (40 years). Go to a JY and pull all the Ford stuff for a reasonable price. Here are the fabricated brackets needed to make this build work.. so to speak. It would not be the "Web Wheeler perfect build", but the price would be! I have one guy interested in doing such a setup... he is on here even. It has come to a point where I have to be careful how much is shown to folks. Too many cannibals out there trying to make a dime off someone else's back...

This is looking at the bottom.. the mounts are for the arms going to the front axle.

Ok, on the more serious side! I have worked with a couple owners from a Jeep parts manufacture in the past. We worked an Xterra to see how hard it would be to adapt their Jeep parts to work on a Nissan.Xterra. In the long run the idea lost interest and went to the wayside. However I learned quite of bit of what you see in my shop from them. The belly pan project you see above is an extension of what we worked on. I hope nobody see's this as a copy job as much as a continuation of the work that was started. This is how the belly pan above will work "kinda"... The above skid is more of a mock-up than the finished product.

WIth some patience... I will go through all the time consuming R&D..... and in my opinion... 4x4parts.com (Automotive Copiers) will replicate the idea down the road.