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Hey everyone, today I decided to visit the local mechanic and ask him for any advice he could give me about lifting my Pathfinder. I had already made my decision that I was gonna go with the AC springs up front and the NRC9449 springs in the back. I figured i would talk to the mechanic to gain any info I could be missing about other work like pan hard drop etc. He told me that lifting the vehicle would be a huge mistake I would regret in the future. He said it will cause premature wear to all suspension and steering components and completely devalue the truck. I knew that there would be some periodic work I would have to do like ball joints and and potential cv axle work but he was acting like lifting the truck would make it turn into a repair nightmare. So my question for you guys is have any of y’all ran into any problems as a result of your lift? Anything breaking or needing replace? I have no problem working on my own truck and small things needing replacement is fun for me but I am trying to avoid something I will regret considering this is my daily driver. Please let me know what you guys think. Thank you for your time.

 

 

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I ran a 2.5” lift for a while, no issues except for CV wear on the trails due to binding. Then I did a 4” SFD, still no problems really. It’s when I threw on bigger tires that I started seeing a bit more wear and a difference in performance. After that, I went on to build my 7” SFD and lift, which of course has been a pain on its own, but it’s been holding sturdy and still stays nice and smooth on the highways as a daily. Is it a luxurious ride when lifted? Absolutely not. Lifting the Pathfinder pretty much removes all comfort in the suspension, makes it a little less stable to drive, but if you get used to it, you’re fine.

That aside, I’ve done a lot of rework to my suspension and such over time due to general wear and tear, at almost 200,000 miles, so it’s hard for me to gauge properly. I would say, however, to expect to go through CV axles and U-Joints more frequently, ESPECIALLY if you don’t get manual locking hubs. They’re your saving grace when it comes to lifting these, and promoting drivetrain longevity in general.

I know I’m bouncing around a bit, but to summarize, your mechanic is right. A lift will devalue the vehicle, unless someone really wants a lifted pathfinder. Lifts are usually accompanied by bigger tires, which puts additional stress on the transmission, engine, driveline, and so on. Really, anything you do to modify the suspension and such will cause additional wear, because you’re making it do things it was not “designed” to do.

The R50 is built well though. I’ve put mine through hell and back and I know what to expect. If you know you’ll need to do a bit more maintenance, and understand the risks of things breaking more frequently or when unexpected, you’re set. If you aren’t ready for that expense, there ARE easier/less expensive vehicles to lift and maintain. These are, of course, opinions from my experience.

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Additionally, if I would have known how much work it would be to maintain as a daily, I wouldn’t have lifted my pathfinder the way I have. At this point it really should just be a toy and trail rig, but I don’t have space for another vehicle at the moment. Just food for thought.

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Additionally, if I would have known how much work it would be to maintain as a daily, I wouldn’t have lifted my pathfinder the way I have. At this point it really should just be a toy and trail rig, but I don’t have space for another vehicle at the moment. Just food for thought.

 

 

Thank you for the quick response. I see how strong the r50 must be after all of that abuse with the sfd and I haven’t gone as far to consider any thing like that . I will really just be happy with 2in in the front with those lr springs in the back, this should be easier on the cv axles. When regarding tires I was gonna throw on some cheap pro comp steelies on 32s and call it a day. Basically all I do is light to medium muddin with friends and I tow a light trailer every once in a while. If you hadn’t done the sfd do you think it would have held up fine at 2in in lift?

 

 

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I could make a really long post, but I'll say this simply; CV's, ball joints, and tie rods will be at a steeper angle than stock.  Other than those parts, everything else shouldn't be affected in any really significant way.  Sure things will wear quicker overall, but the off-road use you'll put it through when lifted will probably be more of a factor on most components than the lift itself.  In my opinion biggest struggle you'll run into will be alignment, as far as parts wearing out I wouldn't worry about it.  Your mechanic is right to be concerned, but he's definitely making you freak out more than necessary.  Unless you're wheeling really hard you'll probably only have to replace anything once since it's really old anyways, and after that the parts will last quite a while as long as you get quality parts.

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I could make a really long post, but I'll say this simply; CV's, ball joints, and tie rods will be at a steeper angle than stock.  Other than those parts, everything else shouldn't be affected in any really significant way.  Sure things will wear quicker overall, but the off-road use you'll put it through when lifted will probably be more of a factor on most components than the lift itself.  In my opinion biggest struggle you'll run into will be alignment, as far as parts wearing out I wouldn't worry about it.  Your mechanic is right to be concerned, but he's definitely making you freak out more than necessary.  Unless you're wheeling really hard you'll probably only have to replace anything once since it's really old anyways, and after that the parts will last quite a while as long as you get quality parts.

Ok thank you both. Small things wearing out are just fun to fix every once in a while . As long as nobody else ran into any major problems, I don’t think lifting will be a bad decision. Thank you for the reassurance.


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Basically all I do is light to medium muddin with friends and I tow a light trailer every once in a while. If you hadn’t done the sfd do you think it would have held up fine at 2in in lift?


A 2” lift is perfect for that sort of thing! It likely would have, and I’ve seen plenty of people who have done so with little issues aside from misalignment of the suspension and so on. I would say 2” is still within the comfort zone before you really start causing additional wear. Just understand, at 2” and beyond, without a SFD, you do operate your CV axles at more dramatic operating angles, which increases wear. I cannot stress enough how great of a solution manual locking hubs are for that issue. On the trails, though, you’ll wanna take it nice and slow when going into deep areas where the front suspension might droop to its max extension, because at that point you’ll be within the binding range of the CVs. And you’ll know, too, when it isn’t spinning anymore. If you take it nice and slow, you’ll just notice you can’t get traction or move, and should back off and retry with a different approach. If you go flooring it or cruising through a drop, you’ll likely snap your CV joint, but I haven’t had any experience doing so, as I’m rather careful to reduce any additional cost on every trail!
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Awesome thank you so much. I was getting big sad until I talked to y’all. Lol. I will be perfectly content with 2in and I will be mindful when on the trails. Thanks for the info and the trail tips I didn’t know that stuff about the cvs.
Have a good night!


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The setup you mentioned being set on is the exact setup I have(OME/AC heavy duty springs up front, LR 9449 rear springs) with 275/55 20's(32"). To date I have not had any issues. As the other posters have mentioned, it drives a little different and the ride is more stiff. But I'll say I have been very impressed with the road ride quality.
When I go off road is when I feel the rigidness in the suspension.
I changed out my CV axles, but only beacause of the post concerns when doing my initial research about lifting it. They didn't really need to be changed.
I also put manual hubs on which has been a big benefit as well.
The setup you are thinking of going with should be just fine. Yes some things will be out of their normal range which could cause more potential strain on them.
If you go in knowing this and are o.k. with changing a FE suspension part every now and then, just lift it!

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The setup you mentioned being set on is the exact setup I have(OME/AC heavy duty springs up front, LR 9449 rear springs) with 275/55 20's(32"). To date I have not had any issues. As the other posters have mentioned, it drives a little different and the ride is more stiff. But I'll say I have been very impressed with the road ride quality.
When I go off road is when I feel the rigidness in the suspension.
I changed out my CV axles, but only beacause of the post concerns when doing my initial research about lifting it. They didn't really need to be changed.
I also put manual hubs on which has been a big benefit as well.
The setup you are thinking of going with should be just fine. Yes some things will be out of their normal range which could cause more potential strain on them.
If you go in knowing this and are o.k. with changing a FE suspension part every now and then, just lift it!

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Exactly what I needed to hear thank you for the advice!


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23 minutes ago, JackFletcher said:


Exactly what I needed to hear thank you for the advice!


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And beyond personal testimonies, if you start reading through this forum a lot, you’ll have a tough time finding people complaining about their lifts.And besides, if your like most people who want a lifted 4x4, the small nuances won’t matter in conparison to how much you enjoy being lifted.

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And beyond personal testimonies, if you start reading through this forum a lot, you’ll have a tough time finding people complaining about their lifts.And besides, if your like most people who want a lifted 4x4, the small nuances won’t matter in conparison to how much you enjoy being lifted.

Very true!


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I've had the AC heavy duty 2 inch spring lift for the past 10 years. At the same time I changed the shocks and struts and put in manual hubs. I've had larger tires the whole time, right now 265/70R16s.

I've had zero extra problems related to it. It rides really rough, but the handling is much better than stock.

Just in the last 6 months I have a minor clunking in the front suspension when turning hard over a bump at slow speed. But at 260k miles and as hard as I drive it in the city, I think it is due to be a little tired.

At this point with the youngest R50 being 15 years old, the last thing I would be worried about is resale value. I'd be more worried about spending a bunch of money on it and it not lasting long.

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Here's my 2 cents. Find a new mechanic or ditch 'em altogether. Lifting your rig is not going to devalue it at all, and any true car guy doesn't give a darn about value anyway, it's about what the car means to you. Lifting it is not gonna just make all your parts stop working all of a sudden or lead them to break more often than just driving the car is. As long as you do everything right you will have no problems. Increasing control arm angle theoretically wears it out faster but I've never had any problems with mine. As long as the angle is still within operating limits (in other words, as long as you don't use spacers) your cv's will still be within the limit they were designed to work at. I've said the same thing in another thread somewhere but basically you can put however much lift you want in the front as long as the spring still fits in the original strut. The cv axles were designed to work within the full range of suspension travel all the way up to full extension, so even if you could theoretically fit a spring in that held the strut all the way topped out all the time the axles would still work in 4wd fine. Of course you'd have other problems then but that's purely for example. You don't experience any problems until you add a spacer into the mix. Since a spacer goes on top of the strut it allows the suspension to drop to full extension PLUS however much the spacer adds, which allows the control arm and axles and whatnot to drop past the range in which they were meant to operate within. For example, if you have a 2" spacer on top of your strut, at full droop your wheel will be able to extend the full length of the topped out strut plus another 2 inches past, which is 2 inches lower than the axles were made to operate at. For the rear you can basically do whatever you want until you reach around 6" which is where you start running into driveshaft issues. 

 

Lifting your car isn't really gonna affect it negatively at all, it'll only benefit. You'll have more suspension travel, better handling and a better ride, better articulation, and have a way cooler car in general that can get places it couldn't before. When it comes down to it, lifting your car is making it way better, not worse. 

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Here's my 2 cents. Find a new mechanic or ditch 'em altogether. Lifting your rig is not going to devalue it at all, and any true car guy doesn't give a darn about value anyway, it's about what the car means to you. Lifting it is not gonna just make all your parts stop working all of a sudden or lead them to break more often than just driving the car is. As long as you do everything right you will have no problems. Increasing control arm angle theoretically wears it out faster but I've never had any problems with mine. As long as the angle is still within operating limits (in other words, as long as you don't use spacers) your cv's will still be within the limit they were designed to work at. I've said the same thing in another thread somewhere but basically you can put however much lift you want in the front as long as the spring still fits in the original strut. The cv axles were designed to work within the full range of suspension travel all the way up to full extension, so even if you could theoretically fit a spring in that held the strut all the way topped out all the time the axles would still work in 4wd fine. Of course you'd have other problems then but that's purely for example. You don't experience any problems until you add a spacer into the mix. Since a spacer goes on top of the strut it allows the suspension to drop to full extension PLUS however much the spacer adds, which allows the control arm and axles and whatnot to drop past the range in which they were meant to operate within. For example, if you have a 2" spacer on top of your strut, at full droop your wheel will be able to extend the full length of the topped out strut plus another 2 inches past, which is 2 inches lower than the axles were made to operate at. For the rear you can basically do whatever you want until you reach around 6" which is where you start running into driveshaft issues. 
 
Lifting your car isn't really gonna affect it negatively at all, it'll only benefit. You'll have more suspension travel, better handling and a better ride, better articulation, and have a way cooler car in general that can get places it couldn't before. When it comes down to it, lifting your car is making it way better, not worse. 

I completely agree with you. That darn mechanic had me worried.


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I've had the AC heavy duty 2 inch spring lift for the past 10 years. At the same time I changed the shocks and struts and put in manual hubs. I've had larger tires the whole time, right now 265/70R16s.  

I've had zero extra problems related to it. It rides really rough, but the handling is much better than stock.

 

Just in the last 6 months I have a minor clunking in the front suspension when turning hard over a bump at slow speed. But at 260k miles and as hard as I drive it in the city, I think it is due to be a little tired.

 

At this point with the youngest R50 being 15 years old, the last thing I would be worried about is resale value. I'd be more worried about spending a bunch of money on it and it not lasting long.

 

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I don’t want to know my resale value lol. I’m driving this thing till the wheels fall off. But I completely agree with you the last thing I want is to pour all this money in with the lift and tires and then watch the truck fall apart. Thank you for the reassurance!

 

 

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Everyone has pretty much nailed it. For a lift within the 2-2.5 inch range there really isn’t much concern. Upgrade all of the usual wear and tear items on the front end like ball joints, bushings, and sway bar links at the same time as putting in the lift and you should be in good shape to not deal with any failures for quite some time. And definitely budget for manual hubs. Being able to fully disengage the hubs when you don’t need 4wd makes the CV angles almost a non issue at least for regular street driving. I personally couldn’t be happier that I lifted my R50! 

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just something to add! the “missing link” also helps those cvs with the spacers. i feel like as it stiffens the front it adds little more resistance to over flexing the front since you’re connecting independent suspensions?? feel free to tell me i’m wrong here though


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just something to add! the “missing link” also helps those cvs with the spacers. i feel like as it stiffens the front it adds little more resistance to over flexing the front since you’re connecting independent suspensions?? feel free to tell me i’m wrong here though


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That would make sense. Thanks


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1 hour ago, spicyheckboi said:

just something to add! the “missing link” also helps those cvs with the spacers. i feel like as it stiffens the front it adds little more resistance to over flexing the front since you’re connecting independent suspensions?? feel free to tell me i’m wrong here though


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It basically connects the back ends of where the control arms mount so they can't pull apart from each other, it doesn't prevent or effect suspension travel.

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It basically connects the back ends of where the control arms mount so they can't pull apart from each other, it doesn't prevent or effect suspension travel.

 

true but the control arms not pulling away is probably helpful to some extent for the cvs. either way just gotta be careful until i either do a sas or get coils

 

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56 minutes ago, spicyheckboi said:

 

true but the control arms not pulling away is probably helpful to some extent for the cvs. either way just gotta be careful until i either do a sas or get coils

 

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 it seriously does nothing for your CV’s. The control arms have the same amount of travel, but they can’t pull away from each other in the lateral direction. So your CV’s still have the same travel unless somehow your controls arms could move far enough laterally that your CV’s are overextending, which would mean catastrophic failure for your front suspension. And that’s what a missing link helps with anyway, though no control arm should move that far anyway. Trust me, I had mine up on jack stands, the droop was the same before and after.

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Honestly the missing link does very little. It’s one of those things that is so cheap and easy that there’s just no reason not to do it, but it’s not a game changer. If anything it does tighten up the handling a little bit. I 100% think all R50’s should have it because it’s that easy, I just don’t want anyone to get false expectations on what it will do. 

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2 hours ago, Bax03SE said:

Honestly the missing link does very little. It’s one of those things that is so cheap and easy that there’s just no reason not to do it, but it’s not a game changer. If anything it does tighten up the handling a little bit. I 100% think all R50’s should have it because it’s that easy, I just don’t want anyone to get false expectations on what it will do. 

It’s been said before, and ya, the results vary, most people either get a placebo effect or notice a small difference. Though it’s worth noting that @Jax99 wheeled an SFD equipped rig that had no missing link, and his subframe actually cracked and tore. Pictures and explanation of it in his build thread.

 

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Though it’s worth noting that [mention=41792]Jax99[/mention] wheeled an SFD equipped rig that had no missing link, and his subframe actually cracked and tore.


Well that’s terrifying. Glad I built a missing link when I did then... it may not be a perfect link, but a quarter-inch steel square tube is plenty robust. I’ve always wanted to find any more ways to reinforce the subframe after such a large drop, this might have motivated me to do so...
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