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Dude yours looks awesome. That winch completes the bumper perfectly! I am excited to get a roof rack and bumper! Good job man

 

 

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Thanks man! I agree, the winch finishes it off really well. Only other exterior mod I'm going to be doing any time soon might be lights, so I have to decide if I want them on the bumper or roofrack. Can't wait to see yours with the rack and bumper! Will you be building around your winch, or starting from scratch?

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Nice, thats an awesome raffle prize. Time to get dirty and test it out!

I really like my KYB/OME combo too. Good on and offroad. What shocks are you running in the rear?

 

That's what I thought, best prize ever! Hopefully getting it dirty soon, but I'll see. Might be renting a Jeep (going to Silver Lake dunes, don't want to wreck my new wheel bearings quite yet). I'm a big fan of the KYB/OME combo so far, amazing ride quality, can't wait to see how they do offroad. I'm most interested to see how they do at speed on a corrugated dirt road though. Rear shocks are currently stock...yeah. I need to change that.

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Thanks man! I agree, the winch finishes it off really well. Only other exterior mod I'm going to be doing any time soon might be lights, so I have to decide if I want them on the bumper or roofrack. Can't wait to see yours with the rack and bumper! Will you be building around your winch, or starting from scratch?

I will probably start from scratch since the current winch mounting is where I will need to mount the bumper.

 

 

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Nice lookin Q! I currently have the same spacers as my only lift (except 2" all around), and after about 10 months or so I noticed the front has definitely come down a lot. I went from slight lean to definite rake, so I'm thinking of doing a similar set up to yours. OME HD/MD as part of a full suspension overhaul, but then include just 1" of spacers all around rather than 1" front, 2" rear like yours. Based on the experience with your rig do you think I could expect to keep just a little bit of rake?

 

Also, are you using camber bolts for alignment? I currently have some on, but I'd like to use the stock bolts when I do the overhaul if possible.

Thanks!

Edited by jjonez
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Nice lookin Q! I currently have the same spacers as my only lift (except 2" all around), and after about 10 months or so I noticed the front has definitely come down a lot. I went from slight lean to definite rake, so I'm thinking of doing a similar set up to yours. OME HD/MD as part of a full suspension overhaul, but then include just 1" of spacers all around rather than 1" front, 2" rear like yours. Based on the experience with your rig do you think I could expect to keep just a little bit of rake?

 

Also, are you using camber bolts for alignment? I currently have some on, but I'd like to use the stock bolts when I do the overhaul if possible.

Thanks!

 

First of all, thank you! I think if you had 1" spacers front and rear it would be a lot more level but would still have some rake. I'm considering doing that, but I'll wait until all the heavy stuff in the rear is finished to decide. I am using camber bolts. You'll still need them because it will still be higher than stock; camber can occur due to spacers or coils, it's only negated by a full subframe drop.

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First of all, thank you! I think if you had 1" spacers front and rear it would be a lot more level but would still have some rake. I'm considering doing that, but I'll wait until all the heavy stuff in the rear is finished to decide. I am using camber bolts. You'll still need them because it will still be higher than stock; camber can occur due to spacers or coils, it's only negated by a full subframe drop.

 

 

Awesome thanks for the info. Can't wait to get going on this. How's the handling with your new suspension? I'm hoping fresh heavier-duty springs and shocks will limit some of the body roll and sloppiness I'm feeling with my 145k mile OG parts.

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Awesome thanks for the info. Can't wait to get going on this. How's the handling with your new suspension? I'm hoping fresh heavier-duty springs and shocks will limit some of the body roll and sloppiness I'm feeling with my 145k mile OG parts.

 

It definitely feels much more stable, especially with the wider stance from my wheels. Obviously still have to slow down a lot around corners, but you can't feel it leaning as much if you take it too fast. I haven't replaced my rear shocks yet so the rear end feels a little light.

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Enjoyed reading through your build. I think it may have inspired me to go ahead and try and do my suspension work myself!!

Thank you very much! The suspension goes much easier if you have somebody helping.

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It's not my daily driver so that's doable. Given work & kids it will likely take me a week or two to cobble together the time-unless I wait until the rains start, then it will take forever.

 

 

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New fuel filler tube should be here today or tomorrow. When inspecting the damage the hole got very big. Not worth patching. Surprised it didn't leak until now. At least I know why I had an e-vap leak.

 

IMG_20170725_120434.jpg

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New fuel filler tube should be here today or tomorrow. When inspecting the damage the hole got very big. Not worth patching. Surprised it didn't leak until now. At least I know why I had an e-vap leak.

 

IMG_20170725_120434.jpg

You should probably check your fuel filter too, a lot of that rust and debris probably ended up in your tank even before it ripped open like that.

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You should probably check your fuel filter too, a lot of that rust and debris probably ended up in your tank even before it ripped open like that.

 

Yup, I plan to. It'll be convenient too since the tank will be drained. I'm just hoping the debris won't cause future issues with things like the fuel pump.

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  • 1 month later...

Since the last update I haven't done much with the QX4.

 

Fixes: Put the new fuel filler neck on a while ago and haven't had the CEL come back, so I'm glad to have solved both of those issues. Also replaced the front brake pads, which I thought had a good amount of life left in them, but when compared to new pads were virtually gone! Only had to wrestle with one stuck slide pin, which isn't too bad considering every job with this truck seems to have some sort of complication.

 

Fun: Went camping with it once, and the entire back was packed to the ceiling with stuff, 4 bikes on a rack on the back, and stuff in the roof rack. All said and done, it sat nice and level, continuing my amazement with how great this OME/sfcreation combo is working out for me! I also went offroading with a friend who just got an '03 Liberty which was also my first time with the new front suspension components, and I was again very impressed. I found myself able to travel over rougher terrain more quickly and more comfortably than every before, which is very nice. I just got a new phone, so all the pictures of this aren't able to be posted here, but they are on my Instagram (which is honestly a better place to keep up-to-date with what I do with my QX4). https://www.instagram.com/mjotrainbrain/

 

Future: I've got a coupon for a free 100-point inspection at my local Infiniti dealer, so I'll be doing that. I'm sure I'll need to be replacing my rear brakes at least, but between my dad and I we just couldn't get the drum off to check (rust belt is lovely), so I'll let that be their problem. :lol: Since I just started college yesterday I don't have a ton of time, but this upcoming weekend is a little longer for Labor Day so I'd like to start on some rust prevention by repainting areas that are starting to get surface rust, and then come up with a plan as far as rust repair in areas that are already damaged. I want to take good care of this vehicle, but I wouldn't be able to justify thousands of dollars worth of work. We'll see what happens. I also need to figure out why my heater doesn't seem to turn off fully.

 

And it would just be wrong to make an update post without a picture, so here's something scary that I need to have resolved. When I was changing my brakes I discovered that this side only has half of a camber bolt. :ohmy:

 

IMG_20170829_121605631_12.jpg

Edited by mjotrainbrain
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Holy crap, dont drive with it like that. Get it fixed before taking it back out on the road. If one side sheared off like that the other might not be far behind. You could kill yourself and others if it failed completely.

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Holy crap, dont drive with it like that. Get it fixed before taking it back out on the road. If one side sheared off like that the other might not be far behind. You could kill yourself and others if it failed completely.

Unfortunately I had to drive it to class today but it's getting done as I type this.

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Thats a bit of russian roulette. Not worth the risk. Take an uber, get a ride from your folks or anything but drive on a situation like that. You are super lucky.

 

Out of curiosity, what was the brand of camber bolt that broke?

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Thats a bit of russian roulette. Not worth the risk. Take an uber, get a ride from your folks or anything but drive on a situation like that. You are super lucky.

 

Out of curiosity, what was the brand of camber bolt that broke?

 

All good options that I should have taken advantage of. At least everything went OK this time (hopefully there never is a next time though). I'm not sure on the brand, I'll ask.

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Since PhotoBucket decided to screw everybody over and there's no sign of them righting their wrong, I'm going to do a bit of a picture dump in the next couple posts so the history of my R50 isn't lost. This may take me a few days since I'm squeezing it in between college classes (or I may do it all right now, depends on how long it takes).

 

Post #1:

 

Offroad_with_Drake_Fall_2015_zpsqx7eum4s

 

Offroad_Mothers_Day_2016_zpsgh9xenf8.jpg

 

Post #7:

 

Dirt_Road_by_Millenium_zpsxjvtavx4.jpg

 

Post #10:

 

Flexing_at_Bass_Creek2_5.20.16_zpsedanqj

 

Flexing_at_Bass_Creek_5.20.16_zpsi0v4yyu

 

Post #19:

 

Fleurys_lift_arrived_zpsvr3eytxj.jpg

 

And for some reason the next few posts still have the pics... :wacko: Decided to put them here anyways even though they're redundant, I don't trust PhotoBucket.

 

Post #22:

 

Front_Lift_Spacers_zpsumi08e8v.jpg

 

Post #23:

 

Halfway_Lifted_zpshz0m59ji.jpg

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Post #46:

 

Before_Lift_zps6xuqde5z.jpg

 

After_Lift_zps3k5ibqsg.jpg

 

Post #47:

 

IMG_20160806_104856_zpsyafva5kf.jpg

 

Post #62:

 

IMG_20160819_204059_zpsldcx2ks1.jpg

 

IMG_20160819_202652_zpsfqpnn8k8.jpg

 

Post #64:

 

IMG_20160901_142530_zpssdlhaooz.jpg

 

Post #74:

 

IMG_20160924_082514_zpsrjto32ai.jpg

 

IMG_20160924_082518_zpshzlusma7.jpg

 

I'd like to take a moment to say a few words about the Jeep in the picture below. Other than a couple trips to Silver Lake, it had never been offroad except for two times when it went in a group by my invitation. The owner loved finally using his Jeep the way it was meant to be. Unfortunately, this last winter his son was driving it and rolled it over. Luckily he came away with minor injuries, but the Jeep went to the scrap yard. The owner is now waiting for his aging pickup to finally die so he can buy another Jeep.

 

IMG_20160924_100528_zps5fmjfi67.jpg

 

IMG_20160924_120340_zpstjfgkio2_1.jpg

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