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Got my first Pathfinder


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Hey guys I bought a 91 SE Pathfinder for my first car(Turning 16 next month) and was wondering what mods I should do to make it preform well off-road. I have looked around for lift kits and the only one i have found is from 4x4parts. What other options do i have for lifting it? Are there springs that i could get off another vehicle to lift it and what options are there for lifting the front? Is there any options for "lunchbox lockers" as the air lockers i have seen are quite expensive. Will I have enough power to run bigger tires with the stock 3.0 L V6? Is there any major mechanical issues I should watch out for? Thanks in advance for the advice.

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You picked the wrong truck for bolt-on's kid.

 

 

Edit: Just for some useful information, sorry.

 

You need to look out for rust, as I'm sure you know. Rust is everywhere. It's especially bad under the rear seats.

 

Not many lifting options other than longer springs in the rear and long shocks, can't do much (nothing) with the front end because it's IFS. But it's highly recommended that you get strong steering components if you're going to be doing much wheelin. An Idler brace at the bare minimum.

 

The stock three liter is a gutless POS. Especially with big tires. But honestly, the two Pathfinder's I've had were just fine with their 3.0 on 31's. The 3.3 is a godsend for 33's, 10/10 do recommend.

Edited by silverton
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You picked the wrong truck for bolt-on's kid.

 

 

Edit: Just for some useful information, sorry.

 

You need to look out for rust, as I'm sure you know. Rust is everywhere. It's especially bad under the rear seats.

 

Not many lifting options other than longer springs in the rear and long shocks, can't do much (nothing) with the front end because it's IFS. But it's highly recommended that you get strong steering components if you're going to be doing much wheelin. An Idler brace at the bare minimum.

 

The stock three liter is a gutless POS. Especially with big tires. But honestly, the two Pathfinder's I've had were just fine with their 3.0 on 31's. The 3.3 is a godsend for 33's, 10/10 do recommend.

If a truck has a lot of bolt ons available then its not a very unique truck, I wanted something a little different then all of the 95 Chevy 1500s around here. Ya there is some rust on it but nothing that cant be fixed. I would have been very lucky to find one without any rust. I have heard that Jeep grand cherokee front springs will give you 2-3 inches of lift, do you have any advice on that or other springs that work well? Is there really no options for lifting the front a bit, I am only looking for enough lift to fit some bigger tires. If lifting the IFS isnt an option is there any good swaps I might be able to do such as a jeep cherokee front axle? The 3.3L if out of a second gen pathfinder correct? How hard is it to swap in one of those and what kind of power does that give you?

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They will give you 2" of lift at the most (the jeep springs). Don't waste your time if you're looking for more than a hair above stock height. You can lift the front by adjusting the torsion bars, and replacing the upper control arms with some aftermarket ones from 4x4parts or rugged rocks. I recommend the superlift ones as they correct the ball joint angle, and are just better built all around. After having one of these trucks for a long time, yes there is the cheap way to do things (jeep springs, ball joint spacers, cheap headers), you are better off to spend on quality parts, otherwise you will be doing it all over again every couple years, if not earlier.

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So would the new control arms lift the truck by thenselves or just make it easier on the truck when you crank the torsion bars? What would you recomend for rear springs if Jeep grand cherokee springs arnt that great. I notice 4x4parts has 3" lift springs. Or should I get lift springs for a jeep grand cherokee?

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Aftermarket upper control arms won't lift the truck by themselves, they are just to correct ball joint angle from raising the ride height, so aftermarket control arms without a lift isn't good either! The front can only go up an inch or three, but you run out of travel and the ride sucks. Think of it like this, totally theoretical but lets say the front has six inches of travel total. From the factory it sits at a static 0 right? three inches to go up, and three inches to go down with normal suspension travel, bumps and stuff yeah? When you lift the front of this truck you change that static number to.. lets say 3 for 3" of lift. You've now changed the suspension travel from 0" of upward travel, and 6" of downward travel. Bumps suck, that's why I didn't lift my second WD21. Mind you, this was with Rancho control arms and Sway Away torsion bars, not cheap @!*%! I'm going to agree with Adam in that you should buy NEW parts. Used parts always cause a headache. And sometimes don't even come with that one piece of hardware that would have been the install a 30 minute ordeal, instead of a three hour problem. BTDT! Springs seem simple, but how old are they? What abuse have they been through? "But I read they'd lift the truck!" They might be old tired and saggy just like your current springs.

 

Seeing a picture of your truck, I highly recommend removing those fender flares and tackling that rust right now, I see some peeking out of that front one.

 

Neat truck though, what trim is it? SE options that I see are the seats and sunroof, but it has the XE wheels.

Edited by silverton
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Defiantly going to be handling that rust ASAP. So I understand how to torsion bars with aftermarket control arms work now. So if I lift the front its is going to be a very stiff ride, is there any way to get around this? Is there aftermarket parts that allow the bars more travel? It is an SE trim it has the leather seats,sunroof,and tire carrier on the back. It does not have the roof rack unfortunately.

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The IFS is limited by design. No amount of aftermarket parts will fix that. You'll need to do a solid axle swap if that's what you want, and even then. Not worth it.

 

Really, what are you trying to accomplish by lifting the truck? Even with aftermarket parts it causes extra strain on other components and therefore they wear out faster. It's just not worth it! 33x10.50's fit without a lift and minor massaging of the quarter panels and fenders. If you want 12.50 wide you need to do the "3+3 lift" which involves the 3" suspension lift, and the 3" body lift and then I think you still need to beat the passenger side footwell in with a sledgehammer for steering clearance. Bear in mind, while you add more lift and more tire, you lose MPG, and they already get paltry numbers to begin with. My truck gets 13mpg mixed.

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If I had to do it again, I would only do a 3" lift and 33x10.5x15 tires. If you plan to do a lot of off roading you should get or make skid plates, and sliders to protect the rockers.

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SAS is the way to go. Gathering parts for my 94 now, if you wanna do some pretty aggressive offroading anywyas. Mine will be a trail rig but work truck also. If just light offroading i say go for either a spacer for the rear or cherokee springs, uca's and a body lift. Or just get a calmini suspension kit, a little pricey but have heard decent reviews

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Make sure you know when the timing belt was done last... and do it if you don't know. These motors are interference and the square-tooth belt in your '91 is rated for 60k miles.

 

There are ratcheting lockers available for both ends, though still not what I would call cheap. There's a thread for another front locker group buy. Some of these also have factory LSD in the back, which can be repacked for better performance.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Unless you need new tires right away and want to replace them with a larger size, I'd suggest driving it as is for a while and decide if you need a larger size tire and/or lift. Based on my experience, I wouldn't want to run larger than 31s with the stock engine. I did a very mild lift when I had to replace my shocks so I could do it all at once, but the amount off offroad driving I do compared to street driving didn't justify a lot of lift or large tires.

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  • 3 weeks later...

You asked what mods you should make. I may have missed it, but I didn't see anyone mention a better transmission cooler mounted in front of the radiator. Check out this thread for more info: http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/8817-changing-auto-tranny-fluid/. In the thread someone mentions using a tranny cooler pulled from an Explorer at a wrecking yard. I like that idea...I get a lot of great parts for my projects and the prices can't be beat. Also pay attention to the post about mounting the cooler so that the outlet is on top to prevent an air bubble from forming in the cooler.

 

Check out Row 52 (https://row52.com/home) for pull-it-yourself yards near you and also Car Part dot com (http://www.car-part.com/index.htm) to find parts available at wrecking yards that pull the part for you.

 

Good luck and happy off-roading.

Edited by archer973
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