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losing my mind arguing over front struts with shop


cor50
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hi there, hoping to gain any insight on my girlfriends 2004 pathfinder se 4x4.

 

4wheel parts sold her on some bilstein 5100 front struts and rancho rear shocks. took the truck in and during install they say,

 

"this pathfinder actually has a 2003 style front suspension underneath it. it is a mcphearson strut type and there are no parts available but oem and monroe. no one makes anything off road style. it is rare, uncommon and is a 50/50 crapshoot on which suspension came on this year pathfinder because its a split year model, it doesnt have an upper a arm or control arm so we cant put these bilsteins we ordered on it because its the different style"

 

now i am pretty knowledgable and already knew it was a strut type. i even PB soaked all the the bolts for them before she took it to the shop. isnt this guy just full of @!*% on two different suspension types on these? i believe he ordered Armada front shocks or something. (he asked if it was a v8 when we made appointment)

 

i asked him well what about all these trucks online with bilsteins and kybs and he said "they must have the other suspension type with an upper a arm, its a 50/50 gamble"

 

all in all he says monroe is all there is and its going to cost several hundreds more than the bilsteins he sold us. any idea what hes on about? thank you for your time.

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I would take it to a different shop. There are options out there for them you just have to look online. I have Old man Emu on my 03 pathfinder. I love them. They handle great on and off road. But I also did my springs too at the same time. You'll have it torn apart might as well change them out too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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You definitely have macpherson style struts, no upper A-Arms. Monroes shouldn't cost hundreds more than anything, mine were under 100$ each, although they didnt come with coils and mounts, so maybe thats the difference, but I still doubt they'd cost that much more than bilsteins. Armadas didn't come around till 05, so 03/04 shouldn't matter. My best guess is that he made a mistake when entering the year because he asked if it was a V8, 00-04 Pathfinders only ever had the 3.5 V6, and 4wheelparts' website reflects that, its the only engine option for those years. He is right that there aren't many offroad options, if any, for the r50 struts. ARB makes coils for it, but you're gonna be hard pressed to find a whole assembly. 4wheelparts' catalog is somewhat misleading, under my selection of my vehicle, 2002 RWD Pathy, it gives me several listings of sets of 4 individual shocks when my truck only takes two and has struts up front, but it claims those have direct fitment even though I'd have two useless shocks if I bought them. If you want an offroad setup I'd go OE equivalent front strut tower with ARB or some other taller coils.

A second professional opinion definitely wouldnt hurt.

 

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Actually in 04, the Armada was called a "Pathfinder Armada", so based on his question of it being a V8 I'd say you are correct that he got the two vehicles mixed up. There is no 50/50 chance or random difference btw 03/04 R50 pathfinders though, he's a bit mixed up on that. But as others have said, there aren't too many options for front struts on these, the guy is right about that.

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1999 was the only split year, but that had nothing to do with suspension; suspension's been the same from '96 to '04. Check this out:

 

http://www.4x4parts.com/c-1046938-nissan-suspension-shocks-struts.html

 

It takes a minute to look through, but you should find plenty of good stuff in there. It is not a "50/50 crapshoot", that's for darn sure. Must have confused it with another model. I believe Bilstein only makes the shocks for our trucks though, no struts, but I could be wrong on that. Are you planning to do any other offroad mods while it's in the shop? Now would be a good time to throw some spacers or coils in there to get a 1 or 2 inch lift.

 

Hope this all works out for ya, shops can be a real pain when dealing with non-OEM for sure, especially on "unusual" vehicles like ours!

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thanks for all the replies. i appreciate it. i knew i had to be right about him ordering the wrong stuff and there not being some random based two suspension setup (he even told me his buddy at the nissan dealer confirmed this, lol). i am surprised there arent more options. its just frustrating he would argue with me about it when theres just no evidence of his claims.

 

unfortunately i was not really the direct handler as she went in to the 4wheel parts store and got all setup with an appointment and sold on these parts that they incorrectly looked up to begin and are trying to play it off as not their fault because its some unicorn pathfinder haha.

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Actually in 04, the Armada was called a "Pathfinder Armada", so based on his question of it being a V8 I'd say you are correct that he got the two vehicles mixed up. There is no 50/50 chance or random difference btw 03/04 R50 pathfinders though, he's a bit mixed up on that. But as others have said, there aren't too many options for front struts on these, the guy is right about that.

 

This is the right answer. 2004 V6 Pathfinder vs. 2004 V8 Pathfinder Armada...totally different. Blame Nissan for not better distinguishing the name.

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This is the right answer. 2004 V6 Pathfinder vs. 2004 V8 Pathfinder Armada...totally different. Blame Nissan for not better distinguishing the name.

 

Hmm, never knew about that naming conflict before! Bad job Nissan....surprised I haven't heard of somebody else running into issues with this before now.

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I've encountered this muddling before...guys at the local parts store ask if my 04 is V6 or V8...my instinctive answer is, "There wasn't a V8 in 04" remembering immediately the Armada.

 

I think another member here also bought some wheel hubs from RockAuto...bolt-on style that the R50s doesn't use. There are no shortage of parts listed there that aren't for R50s, and even there RA just splits the "Pathfinder" into 3.5L and 5.6L subcategories . Sometimes it's easier to just look for 02-03 parts.

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my 96 just has the strut mount to the knuckle and the upper body of the spring / strut goes to the strut mount built into the body, just put on some gabrial ready mount struts that came with the spring bearings and strut. bout an hour per side if ur bolts are on there good like mine were lol. one was bad so i put the old one back on till i can send it back to rock auto though, pissed me off. do have rancho 5000 on the rear. love em.

 

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I couldn't find ready mount struts.... For my 01 anywhere.

 

I just did the KYBs new Moog springs and spacers up front.

 

"Did it at home by myself, not particularly cheap or easy... But I'm waaaay too cheap to pay idiots at a shop"

Edited by LittleFR
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