PathyDude17

I’m one of the few/only other active members from Idaho, I spend a lot of time in the owyhees with my R50, what part of the state are you in?

Yup, this popped up on Facebook two days ago I think. a Russian member is installing that unit- it just came out and apparently has a few kinks (although some of the information gets lost in translation, it was hard to understand what he was getting at.) the company (IZH-Techno) looks pretty legit. They have a great website, nice Instagram page and even a well recurved youtube channel. This is supposed to be made precisely for our rears- 2 pinion open diffs with 33 spline axle shafts. 2 US owners (one whose on here + Dan) have purchased it so far

Perfect. ya, I’ve had it in for about 8 months now. It’s a good unit, I’d definitely pick it over an open rear. Snow/ice driving in 2WD can be a little squirrelly with both wheels pushing forward all the time. The few times I’ve been able to get Offroad since, I try and add some left foot brake and sometimes I can keep both wheels pulling in the rear. It’s nice to have. But here’s the thing: it doesn’t hold a candle to my front lokka. Having the front unit pull and always doing 50% or more of the workload is awesome, especially in rutty uphill situations where the front is most likely to break free (IFS, weight leaning back, etc). With the front maintaining traction like that, it makes it easier to keep the rear from breaking loose, which might actually make the LSD unit look like it’s over performing for me. Obviously, a super packed LSD would be better than what I have, but I’d still put the lokka ahead of any other gear/locker mod available to me.

Jeep coils are an outdated option that used to be used in the rear (with an adapter) to complement a subframe drop. Not worth your time compared to LR coils or other options. There are about 6 spring options for the front suspension: Dobinson, Ironman 4x4, OME, AC, TJM, and King springs. All the research that I've amassed on those coils can be found here with links in the description as well (AC lifts the highest): Living in Florida would be nice. Shipping to Idaho was about 70-80 dollars USD, which is insane. From what I remember, they really screw people over on shipping to Canada. I think Dobinsons can be found in Canada - They for sure won't lift as high and will (probably) sag more under weight compared to AC. But, its worth noting that the spring rate and ride quality of AC coils keeps a fair amount of people away from them, making OME an equally popular front spring. From what I can tell, the Ironman 4x4 and Dobinson springs will probably perform similar to OME. I would generally opt for a land rover option in the rear (lots of info readily available on those). If you go with a land rover spring option, the vehicle will have a rake of 1-2" depending on your specific spring choices. More info on Land rover springs (rear R50 application only):

Bummer on the front- I had mine out and working on snowy/slushy/wet highways and surface streets today and was fairly happy. Ya, I remember discussing this with you...... wonder if that shop is still burned to the ground. It really seems like their company structure is outdated. Replying to few to none customer enquiries (I'm one for two on getting replies) is a bad idea. Having a policy of only emailing you when your order ships (but not updating on lead times etc) is also bad. Roaming Facebook groups, there are people who go 2-3 months from order to arrival. In march, I got in on a big batch of new orders, and received mine the week I ordered it, and that same week other people who had been waiting for two months finally got theirs. To be fair (and a little anecdotal), most of the complaints I come across are based around lead times, as opposed to anything that's wrong with the product. I definitely agree they should work on their customer service. Ya, would be a real bummer if they put it out for "4 pinion" open 33 spline rears...... @ lowrangeoffroad / Powertrax

Hey guys, just thought I’d post this for those interested in keeping tabs on this situation. I was perusing Lokka’s website and noticed that they now list a rear Lokka for the R50 generation, see the screen grab below or check it out for yourself at lokka.com Notice: there’s no price listed, and if you click on “buy now” it’s a broken link. It used to be that Lokka would simply state they don’t make a rear application Lokka. This, to me, indicates a rear option is coming to market. Additionally, the exact same is true if you look for 00-01 frontiers and 00-02 Xterra’s (the only other Nissans that direct fit our 33 spline rear end). No price listed, and the “buy now” button is a broken link. If I’m understanding the prior research of differentials as laid out by @hawairish, this means we will soon have a multitude of options for drop in direct fitment rear mechanical lockers on 33 spline axle shafts. This is entirely new, and has not existed for R50’s at any point in the past. Even if you have an LSD, you just need an open diff from one of three different Nissans. This is all subjective to any more information or fitment requirements that Lokka supplies in the future, or anything that I may have mispoke about in this post of course. The other great deal is price- lokka’s are generally much cheaper than any of our other rear locker options, although with some performance setbacks. But if there’s any of you who are a few beers and a Friday night away from welding your rear diff, I figured you might want to know about this I suspect this is in part a response to the insane demand that we have put on lokka for their front units. By March, they had mentioned to me in an email that they had already gone through a supply that would usually last them two years. They have been behind all year and continue to have slow lead times even now (likely due to demand). Good job us! feel free to correct this information or add to it

Little trip recap: went camping with @micahfelker and a pretty nice taco. About a 180 mile round trip, with some extra miles put on in order to link up with Micah. Had to use my 3 gallon spare fuel to make it (211 miles total). Super cool canyon with a hot springs nestled along the river. Day and a half of just hanging out in the area and a total of two nights camping. The only tricky part was the road out of the canyon- going up it in the snow, I was happy to have the lokka + LSD combo. A little left foot brake kept all 4 tires in traction and made for a safe ascent. heres the video for those interested:

Camping trip with @micahfelker and a really nice taco (tube bumpers f/r, sliders, 33 M/T’s & factory rear locker)

Thank you so much! I have been putting more effort into production lately! It has been growing, it’s been a lot of fun! you the man! Thanks

For those of you who want to see the lockers in action:

Likewise! ya, after driving a double locked pathy, it definitely had me jealous of the extra height and the rear locker... that would be super nice!

I’m gonna say no, unless the lighting is somehow massively changing how your blue shows up in photo. This blue was pretty flat toned unlike a lot of the “sparkly” colors offered on R50’s.

I know he has pics on here somewhere. he has the part time manual shift t case, so he rigged an all mode switch on his center column (near / exactly where it would go on yours). When turned to “AWD” it initiates the compressor so that the lockers are ready to go, then 4H turns on the rear locker, and 4L turns on the front locker (while keeping the rear locker on). Forgive me if I’m butchering the description @hawairish

Well, more R50 fun this break! I took a family trip to the phoenix area, and of course had to hit up a few of the locals..... It was great having @hawairish and @R50JR show me some Arizona trails Views from the top Patrick was very kind to let me take his beast up some of the obstacles. His special "All mode" locker switch is awesome, and this thing absolutely walks anything you point it at. R50JR had no trouble keeping up (minus a few high clearance obstacles ) with his Lokka / super LSD combo either. We got some video as well, so we'll see how that turns out!

That alone would be enough to make me weary of the lokka- trying to explain the combination of manual hubs, lokka function, etc etc to the unacquainted would not be fun. on the topic of uphill climbs- that logic goes both ways if you know what I mean...... if there’s more weight in the rear, the rear is less likely to break traction, and the front is more likely to break traction and need a locker in order to help out the rear end. I like lokka’s FAQ, even though it’s pretty clear you should go the other route, it is informative. https://www.lokka.com/faq luckily for the R50 communities, it seems like the only people busting axles are the ones who don’t have front lockers.

I had one person message me and claimed it was a factory color. Either way, a very nice color. Such a pleasant blue.

Yup, or lokka! I noticed when I read through and researched the lokka, 4WD Systems recommends locking the front end of the vehicle first, especially if its IFS (limited articulation). To each their own- I've seen lots, (probably more often than not) of opinions that trend the other way.

So many more fun pictures. The green Xterra comes to mind. Still not sure how dumb you have to be to suspend the rear of a vehicle by the nut on the leaf spring hanger. Here it is after I stacked 20 more tires/wheels under the frame. What a death trap, I loosened almost every nut and bolt at arms length with my head in the wheel well, and then finished it off with a crow bar. The aforementioned OSHA approved weight supporting wheel. And the beautiful blue lifted R50 whose hubs I pulled. Still has Bilsteins, rear lift springs, and what appeared to be poly rear links.

No, this has been pretty thoroughly delved into by @hawairish - no mechanical lockers fit our rear axles. That one is mislabled. Note that we don't have 4 pinion open diff rears, but rather 2 pinion. Read this:

There aren’t any drop in lock rite’s or such for the rear unless you do an axle shaft swap

Hey guys, just thought I'd show you a little of the R50 related stuff that's going on right now. I've received plenty of parts orders over the holiday break, including two Xterra Third Members, a full 4.6 Swap, a transfer case skid plate, and a honeycomb grill. A few other odds and ends to round it out, but those are the goodies. I also had a really great find in a particular blue R50- the was contact info of the last owner was on some service records in the vehicle, and I was able to get in touch with him and ask him about the vehicle. It was in really good shape, and is next in line for any 4.6 Swap parts requests. It had a lift kit, among other upgrades, and that's where the manual hubs in this photo are from! I'm looking to restore those Warns and slap them on my own R50, it makes sense when the upgrade is essentially free. The pathfinder's in decent shape. My subwoofer shelf is in disrepair after some rocky trails, and needs revisiting. An SES light that needs to be diagnosed, and then maybe paying some attention to finishing some lights and wiring organization projects. But first, gotta box up all these sweet parts and get them shipped! It should be really fun to see these parts get second life with some owners.

its good to be back in Idaho for the holidays!

Post history shows you’ve already started a thread on this exact question in April and got great answers......

So far, I’ve only seen forums as legitimate platforms for real technical discussions- the archiving function of forums is far superior to any other medium, especially things like *cough* Facebook *cough* groups

Many/some VQ’s burn oil...... there’s a good portion of them that do, know that if you buy one, or test drive it for long enough to find out.