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03 Pathfinder Journey


Bax03SE
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2 minutes ago, mjotrainbrain said:

Look different that I'd expected from that angle, cool that all that extra space could be had if needed.  I'll be really interested to hear your results long-term, although I doubt there will be any negatives to report from how it looks.

Yeah I hadn’t even paid attention to that until I happened to really look at it from that front angle for the first time. That had nothing to do with my original reason to try this, but it’s a nice bonus. So far I still really like how the springs ride. I’ve had it around town and up to 80 on the highway and it rides nice. I don’t expect anything to change, a coil spring isn’t exactly a high tech item that wears out lol! 

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With that amount of coil spring lift in front, do you have any issues with the strut topping out over abrupt depressions in the roadway or when going over speed bumps? It seems that you may have very little down travel remaining in the strut.

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35 minutes ago, XPLORx4 said:

With that amount of coil spring lift in front, do you have any issues with the strut topping out over abrupt depressions in the roadway or when going over speed bumps? It seems that you may have very little down travel remaining in the strut.

I was a little worried about that but so far I haven’t noticed anything. Keep in mind I have both springs and strut spacers, so half the lift is from the spacers on top of the strut. The spacers are 2 inches (2.5 inches of lift) and I got another 2.5 from the springs. 

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2 minutes ago, XPLORx4 said:

So, you've got about 5" of lift. When the front tires are off the ground, do the CV axles bind?

You might not have read all the way through everything yet, I put in a 3 inch SFD yesterday so the CV angles have been addressed. It was definitely binding without the SFD, I really didn’t even drive it after putting the front springs in and went straight into working on the drop. 

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1 minute ago, XPLORx4 said:

Oh, got it. Yeah, I didn't read all of the whole thread. How's your camber with the 2" spacers and 3" SFD?

I have camber bolts so it’s hard to say how it would be with stock strut bolts, but with the camber bolts I have more than enough adjustability to get it where it needs to be. 

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19 minutes ago, PathyDude17 said:

I can’t believe you did an entirely custom front suspension swap in so little time, that’s incredible. 

 

That's what's amazing me, this all happened really fast!

 

Between this and LR springs there may be a killer combo for R50's coming to light.

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3 hours ago, mjotrainbrain said:

 

That's what's amazing me, this all happened really fast!

 

Between this and LR springs there may be a killer combo for R50's coming to light.

I don’t think my wife would say it was fast, I know she feels like I’ve been living in the garage the past couple of weeks! Sometimes it’s a blessing, and sometimes a curse, but when I get started on something I have a really hard time stopping. I’m more likely to just stay up and work through the night than to stop and go back to it the next day. 

 

 

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13 minutes ago, Bax03SE said:

e6d11587ab0b2ab67030d054028ec263.jpg9c5bda3826fb0ef23e356ae155de9721.jpgc86f92d06d2327a7012d047f7fb06605.jpg826206d2645ec5a48fd2e571095cb7f0.jpg
Kind of cool to look at some pictures back to back to see how it’s evolved over the past few years!


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Man I love your rig!!!

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13 minutes ago, Bax03SE said:

e6d11587ab0b2ab67030d054028ec263.jpg9c5bda3826fb0ef23e356ae155de9721.jpgc86f92d06d2327a7012d047f7fb06605.jpg826206d2645ec5a48fd2e571095cb7f0.jpg
Kind of cool to look at some pictures back to back to see how it’s evolved over the past few years!


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Man I love your rig!!!

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e6d11587ab0b2ab67030d054028ec263.jpg9c5bda3826fb0ef23e356ae155de9721.jpgc86f92d06d2327a7012d047f7fb06605.jpg826206d2645ec5a48fd2e571095cb7f0.jpg
Kind of cool to look at some pictures back to back to see how it’s evolved over the past few years!


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what are the tire sizes you’ve had on your rig so far? do you think you’ll get rid of fender flares and rear bumper cover to fit bigger again at some point or are you gonna stick with size you have now?


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I’ve had stock (255/65/16), 245/75/16, and 285/75/16.

 

The current 285/75/16  (approx 33x11.5) is a good size in my opinion. Everything fits well, and with the lift in the rear there’s enough room for it to flex without getting caught up on the flair at all. Also the engine has enough power to push the 33’s without feeling under powered.  If I change anything I might get 305/70/16 next time which would be just a little wider but same height. 

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I’ve had stock (255/65/16), 245/75/16, and 285/75/16.  

The current 285/75/16  (approx 33x11.5) is a good size in my opinion. Everything fits well, and with the lift in the rear there’s enough room for it to flex without getting caught up on the flair at all. Also the engine has enough power to push the 33’s without feeling under powered.  If I change anything I might get 305/70/16 next time which would be just a little wider but same height. 

 

 

i love the fact our motors can handle a 33” tire like it’s nothing it’s great

 

that’s the size i also wanted to go to when i purchase tires, the 285/75/16, i have the 2.5/2” spacers from sf, that’s the lift you still had when you first put them on right?

 

 

 

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34 minutes ago, spicyheckboi said:

 

i love the fact our motors can handle a 33” tire like it’s nothing it’s great emoji16.png

 

that’s the size i also wanted to go to when i purchase tires, the 285/75/16, i have the 2.5/2” spacers from sf, that’s the lift you still had when you first put them on right?

 

 

 

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It wasn’t from sfcreation, but yes that’s how much lift I had when I put them on. I did have to trim the fender and bumper to get them to fit up front with that little lift.

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Quick update on the front springs. I did speak too soon saying there was no top out on the struts. Depending on where I drive I might go a full day without noticing it, but if I hit something like a pothole just right it will definitely do it. I know some people with the AC coils have reported no ill effects from long term top out, but I still don’t like it. It’s a pretty violent bang when it happens and I feel like it can’t be good. I ordered up a set of limiting straps earlier in the week and started mocking them up last night. I’ll share an update on how that works out once completed.


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4 hours ago, Bax03SE said:

Quick update on the front springs. I did speak too soon saying there was no top out on the struts. Depending on where I drive I might go a full day without noticing it, but if I hit something like a pothole just right it will definitely do it. I know some people with the AC coils have reported no ill effects from long term top out, but I still don’t like it. It’s a pretty violent bang when it happens and I feel like it can’t be good. I ordered up a set of limiting straps earlier in the week and started mocking them up last night. I’ll share an update on how that works out once completed.


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I’ve yet to top out my AC springs on the road, and I haven’t changed driving style at all. Hopefully I’ll get off the pavement next week though and see if that holds true. If I do experience top out I’ll be interested to see how you rig up limiting straps. Not many people have done it on R50’s

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Alright I got the limiting straps finished up today. The sway bar presents a bit of an obstacle so I used some one inch square tube make an upper mounting bracket that helps clear the sway bar for a relatively straight pull. I probably went a little overboard, but I wanted those brackets to be strong so I boxed in the end of the square tube and also reinforced the area of the frame that I welded to with some 1/4” plate to stiffen the area up. The lower mount is welded to a piece of 1/4” plate that is then welded to the control arm.
9e3678716653851561da0f3fa30a620a.jpgbcc2cccdeb382857195b19cd447b4ccd.jpg
It works! No more noticeable top out over potholes and such. The limit straps are designed to stretch about an inch so instead of a jarring jolt they cushion the impact as they hit their limit so the violent bang of the strut topping out is gone.
I also cut off my rusty exhaust, and put in a Y pipe that goes into a single inlet stainless magnaflow muffler with a turn down before the rear axle. Simple set up, and it sounds really nice. It sounds a little like a 350z but in a non ricey way, lol.
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  • 3 weeks later...

Just checking in with an update after the most recent suspension work. I’ve put about 500 miles on it with the sfd, custom front coils, and limiting straps and I’m still very happy with how it all worked out. Other than the struts topping out, I love the way it rides with the new front suspension set up, and the limiting straps worked out perfect to take care of the top out. I haven’t had a single issue with top out since installing the straps. At the risk of jinxing myself..I’m going to say I’m done messing with the pathy for a while and am just going to drive it, lol.


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