Jump to content

2020 Nissan Pathfinder Lift for Towing


trome
 Share

Recommended Posts

I have a stock 2020 Nissan pathfinder and installed a Draw Tite hitch.  As you know the vehicle can tow 6,000 and the off road pop up that we have is only 2,200lbs dry weight.  The car pulls great and brakes awesome (with electric trailer brakes).  Here is my dilemma and question.  When i go even a bit off road (so think decent gravel roads with some loose rocks and undulating terrain) it is not unusual for me to drag the bottom of my ball hitch.  As the clearance of the ball hitch is only about 6" from the ground.  So i am looking for a way to add some lift to my Nissan.  I have talked to some shops and they said the difficulty will be the fact that it is so new.  It doesn't look like Summo Shocks are available.  It seems like there are some Air Suspension Coils, but these require some maintenance.  I was hoping to go with something more like set it and forget it.  Any suggestions are greatly appreciated?  And a side question, even though i am towing way under my car's capacity is a Auxilary Transmission Cooler necessary or overkill? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you've running the usual dropped ball, and that's what's hitting, you could also try a raised-ball setup like this. It wouldn't get you a whole lot, but it would be a cheap place to start. If that doesn't do it, a company called Dobinson makes a spring kit.

I'm not familiar with the R52 and I don't know how good its stock trans cooler is or isn't. But given the reputation of Nissan's CVTs, and the stress of towing off-road, I would be looking for overkill.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to the forum! The R52 Pathfinder (model years 2013-current) doesn't get a lot of attention on this forum, so I'm not certain if you'll be able to get exactly the help you are looking for. I know some company's offer lift kits for that platform, such as Dobinsons, so I would start with a Google search and just see what you can learn. You'll want to stay relatively mild with whatever mods you do and what kind of conditions you put the car through, namely for CVT concerns as @Slartibartfast brought up. Maybe this particular thread can give you a starting point:

 

https://www.pathfindertalk.com/threads/r52-lift-kit.23154/

 

Does you rear suspension seem to be sagging at all when towing the trailer and all loaded up? If so, helper air bags are a good option and can be very reliable if bought from a reputable company and installed well. Otherwise, sourcing springs with a higher spring rate than factory is a good option, such as from a company like Dobinsons. I will also echo Slart here as well though and suggest starting with seeing what you can do to simply raise the hitch ball. It's the least cool option, but definitely the most sensible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...