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R50JR’s build thread


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Hey everyone!

 

I haven’t been on the forum for very long but I have received much help from many of you in the little time. I plan on doing some mild mods to my 03 le 4wd and I want to document as much as I can. My car is a DD so it may be some time between posts. If you have any questions feel free to ask! dbfbb571d9903d1c0a5a559c63a00e4b.jpgThis was the first time I had seen my pathy in person. It was delivered to me from Illinois mid-December.

 

 

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All the way from Illinois huh? What made you want to buy one from that far away? Also, it being from the north, have you had the chance to deal with any rust yet, or have you been lucky? Good luck with the build! Mine is a daily too so changes happen slowly, but if you want it enough it will happen!

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This was the first mod I did. The car didn’t come with a hitch so I bought one at the JY for $60. I gave it a few generous coats of gloss black paint and it looked good as new. It was not easy installing it alone. I put it on a jack and used the handle extension inside the receiver to maneuver it around. Unfortunately I didn’t get photos of the installation. 148ae5f03fc927176234be2b7df9b1ad.jpg

 

 

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Today, I replaced the crappy oem bose headunit. I didn’t want to go through the hassle of rewiring the doors for aftermarket speakers to I just bought the Pac interface adapter. ROEM-NIS2 d1bee3582ec195a3984bf60ca6ce65b5.jpg

 

Here is the nissan diversity antenna adapter for the aftermarket HU. 40-NI11

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I also bought the steering wheel remote adapter. I wanted to keep it functional since my 04 frontier didn’t have one so I want to get use of it. SWI-RC

f57caf28d4acf47463a95122d2ad8284.jpg

 

I try to do everything as thorough as possible so I always solder electrical.

854d1948be8d06a3bbc39c2b3772203b.jpg

 

 

 

 

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Here is the birds nest of wires for the interface and steering wheel b07de03feffb976341877b7c3d5624ca.jpg

 

I tried to keep everything original intact but I had to cut the harness for the factory remote.

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Set the new HU in there to make sure it fit correctly. 54555b52bf2f143b310d1bfece6422ad.jpg

 

The trim i used to fill in the weird shape of the bezel. This was definitely the most difficult part to cut and fit so I snapped the photo of the back side in case someone wants to do this. Just count the dots from the edges of the inner opening. The opening is pre-cut from factory. Metra 99-9999

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When I put the brackets on HU I angled it upward on the brackets as much as possible. It was very very little but it helps see it better. That left a small gap on the upper edge and sides so I used a foam I use for my mountain bikes for a custom snug fit.

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The finished product! Now I wish a would have gotten a 7 inch rather than a 6.2. It still looks and sounds much better than stock. d4f66fde93cf9ea606a752e6e8a851ed.jpg

 

 

 

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Edited by Astrorami
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All the way from Illinois huh? What made you want to buy one from that far away? Also, it being from the north, have you had the chance to deal with any rust yet, or have you been lucky? Good luck with the build! Mine is a daily too so changes happen slowly, but if you want it enough it will happen!

I searched everyday for one on autotempest and saw a few closer to me in San Diego, CA but I wanted something in pristine condition or at least very close. I even drove 7 hours north the day after thanksgiving to see a pathy. That was a bust. I saw a couple of 2004 in the areas surrounding socal for the similar price but I honestly I don’t like the plain black instrument cluster. So yeah I basically bought this one because of the white gauges. Oh yeah and 4wd was a must. My 04 frontier is 4x and its amazing the places that truck has taken me. The car has very little rust and a very thorough maintenance record. The only rust I have seen is on the upper area around the rear passenger side shock. It was a bit corroded but nothing too bad. The front strut area is completely rust free and no recall fix was done.

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

My pathfinder has been sitting in the driveway for about 3 weeks now. I am too lazy to drive over to AZ to title and register it. I'll get to it sometime next month..hopefully. For now I am slowly planning on my next mods. Today I bought the MM 435 supreme hubs, so I will be installing once they arrive. Per fleury's knowledge no lights should come on the dash triggered by the front axles not spinning while unlocked if everything is normal. I plan on getting the spacers for a subtle 2 inch lift but first must collect the parts for new front struts and rear shocks.

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My light does come on during long trips (after an hour or so on the freeway), but there's no negative effect (just ignore it, lol). Make sure you put the c-clip back on right when you do the swap!

f9bef226c78a357edb78ad35ef80b038.jpeghmm that isn’t what I wanted to hear. Maybe I’ll need to think about my plans more before I begin more mods. I don’t want any dash lights. I am super anal about that. Its bad enough my wife’s subaru has a check engine light from a small evap leak once in a while, but it is a subaru!

 

 

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My light does come on during long trips (after an hour or so on the freeway), but there's no negative effect (just ignore it, lol). Make sure you put the c-clip back on right when you do the swap!

 

What light comes on and why?

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What light comes on and why?

 

It's a yellow 4WD warning light. It's the same one that flashes when you're in 4-Lo. (Well, I think a light flashes, I don't use 4-Lo enough to remember, in any case, the light comes on.)

 

f9bef226c78a357edb78ad35ef80b038.jpeghmm that isn’t what I wanted to hear. Maybe I’ll need to think about my plans more before I begin more mods. I don’t want any dash lights. I am super anal about that. Its bad enough my wife’s subaru has a check engine light from a small evap leak once in a while, but it is a subaru!

 

 

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I mean if it's really going to annoy you that's your own decision, but it has zero negative effects. How often are you on the highway for long periods of time? It does tend to vary from vehicle to vehicle, just like what the maximum safe lift height is...for some reason experiences tend to vary with these trucks, lol.

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Here are a couple of messages from the thread I was on in NicoClub. I asked these same questions about who, what, when, where, why...

 

Re: Manual Locking Hubs and Allmode 4WD - 03 LE

Postby astrorami » Mon Jan 01, 2018 9:28 am

Hi everyone and happy new year! I’m sorry to resurrect the thread but I would also like to get some clarification. From reading previous posts I understand nothing will be damaged if installing manual hubs on the all mode system, but does that mean no dash lights will come on? What is the reason why some people have had the lights appear? Is it because they are in auto while having the hubs unlocked? Is it only certain MY that are okay with manual hubs? I’d like to get some clarification before I jump into buying these. And if someone could post a photo of an install with either RR or MM hubs on the 17” le rim. Thanks!
fleurys Posts: 309 Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:00 pm Car: 2001 Pathfinder , Locked and loaded ! Contact:
Re: Manual Locking Hubs and Allmode 4WD - 03 LE

Postby fleurys » Tue Jan 02, 2018 8:53 am

No dash light will come on. It seems that when some people (Only one I know of actually), got the 4x4 light while having unlocked hubs was due to some sort of issues with their 4x4 transfer case to start with. Not related with the installation of the hubs. The atx14a transfer case is fussy on the oil level and quality. If the oil has not been changed for a long time (many years), the 4x4 light will start to illuminated sometimes. Since this transfer case has clutch plates similar to one of an AT transmission, oil quality and friction is important. This is why is runs with AT transmission oil in it and not gear oil like the AT10x one from the 96-2000 model.

Cheers.

I know this matter has been addressed many times, but if anyone else has first hand experience I would appreciate your reasoning.

Edited by Astrorami
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People have made them fit, usually involving a dremel tool I've even seen it done with the stock hubcaps used with the center carefully cut out, it looks really good if done properly.

how bad would it be if i hit the mm hub with the dremel? I'm thinking of grinding down the 6 'splines' that hold the cap on. would that compromise the strength of the hub?

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I would enlarge the center bore of the wheel. I would not want to compromise the structural integrity of the hubs themselves as that could potentially cause a catastrophic (even fatal) failure. Carefully enlarging the center of the wheel won't compromise anything, as these are lug centric, so as long as you don't go way overboard while hogging them out, you'll be good to go. And yes, I do remember being very impressed by how good those wheels looked with a manual hub poking through the center, far better than how my 01 looks.

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I ended up buying the rugged ridge hubs on Amazon. I will have them tomorrow. Those should definitely fit with no modifications.

 

 

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I finally got the rugged ridge hubs installed yesterday. They don’t look as nice as the mile marker hubs with the rim but at least they fit. The quality doesn’t look to be very good imo but only time will tell. I’ll probably carry the factory flanges when I’m out wheeling. 21ca8e63c1cd475d89d4736c65e724f3.jpg18a9b1df73efb22b6c1ccb8a22fd8a08.jpga12d0d68c726ae927da2c8d0a6e01d67.jpg

 

 

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Interesting, I never noticed the difference, but then again I couldn't pass up the deal I got on my milemarkers. I have to say that although I haven't had any functional issues, the quality of the chrome is terrible. After the first winter it began to peel off, and at this point my driver side is almost all pitted metal, pass side is about half peeling chrome/half pitted crap. Doesn't bother me much though, as long as they function as they should, I couldn't care less what they look like. Those RR's sure are purdy though! Lol

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I've got my tax refund coming this week and the wife says its okay to spend part of it on car parts. So it looks like I have a lift spacers, struts, shocks, and most likely tires. Does anyone have some suggestions on good all terrain tires? I have some pirelli scorpion atr's on my 04 frontier and it is an okay tire. It works well on hardpack and wet roads but really lacks grip in sand and mud. The tread pattern on the discoverer at3's looks promising but I've never had them. I'd like to keep road noise to a minimum as well.

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Im sure youll get a lot of tire suggestions, but the best AT tire Ive ever ran were the BFG AT KO2s, excellent traction in almost all conditions and very little road noise as well.

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One more thing, can someone please help me with camber bolts? I have read through a bunch of threads with conflicting replies. Are they necessary for fleury's 2 inch spacer lift? If you could include a link to a bolt kit that would help tremendously.

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