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02 Pathfinder (R50) Overland Build *UPDATE


Jax99
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  • 2 weeks later...

Another update coming in the works. Decided to join the family and get an air locker. I’ll be installing a TJM air locker and officially be fully locked on front and rear!

Also roughly another 6000 miles added since my rear set up (I know I drive a lot even for a DD) still in love with the handling and performance I’m getting. Would do it over all again if i had too.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Time has come again and during my favorite season of them all! Will be back in hawairish’s shop again over the weekend. Have some really exciting stuff planned.


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Time has come again and during my favorite season of them all! Will be back in hawairish’s shop again over the weekend. Have some really exciting stuff planned.


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Interested in seeing this install. I’ll be in AZ this weekend so I might make my way over!


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See, you guys have a real SouthernCal/AZ group started too. Funny, the ties between the SW & NW.

Don’t worry, anytime we see each other, you guys are always talked about on a real-name basis. If only our home states were much closer!


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So I stopped by to see hawairish and jax99 hard at work and I have to say these guys have put in some serious work this weekend. By the time I left, around 5pm, they were troubleshooting some small stuff. They said they wanted to get out to the trail to test the locker...in the dark


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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for such a delayed update to all those anticipating the weekends updates. Trust me I’ve been thinking daily on writing up a review and believe me.... I will get to it. Now for the excuses, joking but not really , I’ve been swamped during the holidays planning last minute notices with my college coaches and they have me finally set and squared on coming down now. Between all the back and forth interactions and then packing to now moving I haven’t had a moment that I’ve felt I could write up a decent update.

As of the moment I’m driving down for 10 hours will a full truck (note I’m still raked even with a full load!) I’m hoping I’ll get the time to do something this weekend.
To spoil it a bit without giving pics or build deets yet... hawairish and I installed and RD135 arb airlocker/ arb intensity ar32 spot lights/ custom static trailing arms fab by towndogR50! These things are bad ass and I’ll be doing a picture reference post on everything from the packaging to the install and 2400 mile use I’ve already put on them. Stopped my death wobble permanently and easily maintainable through easy access grease port zirc fittings. If you’ve read along so far on my thread you’ll know that I love my truck and only wanna put the best option out there on it. OEM trailing arms have been a repetitive issue for Me and hopefully my review will give anyone interested in a pair a good taste of what I mean when I talk about the quality and detail TowndogR50 and Hawairish put out into the market for us. Definitely know you guys would be stoked as I am to save yourself from oem replacements and permanently better your drive quality. Knowing they’ve had some prior adjustable arm installs I opted for the static variant since I don’t plan on doing any increased lift and they’re lighter, Their line of trailing arms are top notch, totally a must for the r50!
Thanks to all for being patient I’ll get back to the write up asap.


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Also quick update on what bilstein told me on my repair issue. I havent had time to reply or research part numbers yet but here’s a response for anyone wondering on how they would modify the shock
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I wonder if the salesperson meant to say they dont offer the 90° fitting by itself or if they dont manufacture 5160's with a 90°. I hope he doesnt mean the latter becuase they definitely manufacture 5160's with a 90° fitting, just like my current set

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I wonder if the salesperson meant to say they dont offer the 90° fitting by itself or if they dont manufacture 5160's with a 90°. I hope he doesnt mean the latter becuase they definitely manufacture 5160's with a 90° fitting, just like my current set

That’s what I was going to reply because they have a whole size model with a 90 swivel lol.


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Its finally here! Sorry for the wait but here we go. Christmas Weekend we did a four day run from Friday-Sunday (Monday to wheel) and covered an RD135 ARB locker, AR32 ARB Intensity Spot lights, adjusted a radio fitment for a double Din media display, light bar pre-wiring, and custom fabricated Static Poly Trailing arms and panhard bar done by 

 

[user/]TowndawgR50[user]

Beginning with the locker, I intended to purchase a TJM Airlocker during Black Friday. They were priced around 770 and I've read nothing but amazing reviews on them. Literally not a single forum review I read had anything negative to say about the TJM brand locker. I was set on what I wanted and placed my order on JustDifferentials.com only to get a message a few days later that they did not have that locker in-stock or in the country and gave me a blackfriday offer for a fullpriced ARB locker (so not really a deal then). I ended up getting them to match 4wheelparts.com and I ended up with a 

 

 

-ARBRD135 Nissan H233B 33 Spl Air Locker $846.45 /shipped

picked up again blackfriday weekend, most sites were surprisingly sold out and had to take orders for shipments to come from the factory. fortunately mine was in warehouse and got delivered in about 4-5 days  

I heard some concerns on the first gen ARB lockers which made me consider the tjm, however, looking at the second gen locker it seems as if they created a redesign that tackled any of the faulty issues they had in the past. 

starting with the packaging

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Now for the actual inner assembly of the locker...

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1 hour ago, mjotrainbrain said:

Ooh, genuine ARB cable ties!  Fancy stuff.

 

Hopefully the ARB doesn't give you any issues/make you wish you had the TJM!

 

I was pleased with quality of the ARB unit and accessories.  I'll always have my concerns about the ARB actuation method, but I do still regard it as reliable.  The new units are very stout, and similar in quality internally to the TJM.  I chuckled at the cable ties, too, but then again, it's a useful accessory that no one provides (it would be better if they included the required bearings, though).  My initial concerns when we were talking about TJM vs ARB was whether ARB was still using a plastic internal cradle from their previous design, which was used to push the locking gear over the side gear.  No plastic on the newer design.

 

Once he's got more details, I'll share some of my pros/cons/notes about it and the install.  I may even do a separate review/install thread to mirror the TJM review I've got out there.

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3 minutes ago, hawairish said:

 

I was pleased with quality of the ARB unit and accessories.  I'll always have my concerns about the ARB actuation method, but I do still regard it as reliable.  The new units are very stout, and similar in quality internally to the TJM.  I chuckled at the cable ties, too, but then again, it's a useful accessory that no one provides (it would be better if they included the required bearings, though).  My initial concerns when we were talking about TJM vs ARB was whether ARB was still using a plastic internal cradle from their previous design, which was used to push the locking gear over the side gear.  No plastic on the newer design.

 

Once he's got more details, I'll share some of my pros/cons/notes about it and the install.  I may even do a separate review/install thread to mirror the TJM review I've got out there.

 

Interesting that they used plastic in the first place when they know so many of their customers rely on their products in extremely remote and dangerous areas.  Good that it's been addressed in newer versions!

 

What do you mean by them not including the required bearings?  Did they include wrong ones or not include them at all?  Was this a packaging mistake or something that they corrected, or did you have to source parts yourself?

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We put all the pieces back in place and torqued the bolts using a floor press as a mount.

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I cant seem to find pictures of the bearings we installed. Those were installed however using some lube and a floorpress. We had to purchase Timken bearings however and arb also by chance explains that in their manual.

 

****Part number****

Timken Bearing #32010X

 

 

As far as the install, we began by throwing the car up on jack stands and removed the diff from the housing,

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@hawaiirish made a custom bracket that aligned with the housing holes and aided in keeping the diff in place from rocking left or right during the install.

 

 

 

 

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Next step was drilling the air fill hole into the body of the housing.

Once the hole was drilled and threaded we placed in the arb unit

 

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Now came time to center the unit and adjust accordingly for backspacing. Hawaiirish knows more on this than me but I recall the range for backspacing was between .12-.16.

 

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For the ar32 ARB lights, I have an ARB Sahara bumper with pre placed mounting points for the lights. I began pulling the wiring from the cabin back into the engine bay and from the underside of the bumper, lacked picture of this but it’s pretty simple and self explanatory. I’ll try to mock up some drawings Incase anyone’s curious on doing their own lights.

Anyways once all the wiring was pulled and the lights were taken off all i did was repeat the process by mounting the lights, wiring and running the loom along the brake line and into the cabin.

From the inside of the cabin we ran a power wire back up into the engine bay again and tucked the wire by the battery to save any future installing for a light bar.


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2 hours ago, mjotrainbrain said:

Interesting that they used plastic in the first place when they know so many of their customers rely on their products in extremely remote and dangerous areas.  Good that it's been addressed in newer versions!

 

What do you mean by them not including the required bearings?  Did they include wrong ones or not include them at all?  Was this a packaging mistake or something that they corrected, or did you have to source parts yourself?

 

Well, it's one of those dense composite plastics.  The only reason it was of concern is because in my older ARB, the plastic cradle has a crack on it and appeared to interfere lightly with a spider gear.  The crack doesn't compromise anything, as it's not in a critical location, but it's just one of those things that shouldn't occur (may have been from a prior disassembly by a previous owner?).  The TJM engages the locking gear in the same manner as the old ARBs, but the TJM cradle is comprised entirely of steel parts.  The new style omits the cradle all together, as all the moving parts have moved to the opposite side of the locker; it's a major improvement over the older style, in my opinion.

 

New bearings are required and are not included with the ARB.  The TJM also requires new bearings, but they are included.  OEM bearings will not fit either locker.  In the ARB Application Guide, lockers RD134, RD135, and RD136 (all H233B lockers, 31 or 33 spline) have a design note indicating the requirement and bearing part numbers: Timken 32010X and ARB 160116 (I think the ARB part is the Timken...yet 2x the cost).  That bearing is also apparently used on ARB lockers for some Toyotas.  Also, it appears that the Nachi E32010J bearings that came with my TJM have the same specs as the Timken: 50mm ID x 80mm OD x 20mm width (20mm cone width x 15.5mm cup width).  The Timken's appear to be the cheapest and most-available option of the three.

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Moving on from the Locker. We got our package from TownDawg right on time and tore into the new set of arms

Packaging came all the way from up north and got here in good shape. None of the parts were loose or protruding from the box and brackets holding the arms in place were a solid Idea.

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Taking a closer look, the paint looked clean and nothing was scratched through the shipping process.

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The welds done on these arm amazing, definitely well built and worth it. They’re also thicker than the oem bars including the panhard bar.


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