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For what it’s worth, until I get a front locker, I’m not 100% convinced I’m putting manual hubs on yet myself. I probably will do it but in the wet NW, I really like the AWD with an open center. In packed sand, non-deep snow & wet slick roads where you aren’t going to have to pull yourself down out of stuck, the open center avoids the understeer you get when you lock the center. I switch btwn 2WD & AWD daily here due to all our rain & moss covered roads. If/when I do put on manuals, I’ll pretty much have to keep it locked all the time anyway so the only real advantage I get is the strength of the manuals vs OEM, the existence of which I can only take on others theory. I’m also just a little terrified that if I leave them unlocked my Mom or my wife might drive it & pop it into AWD as they are accustomed to doing when its wet or I might even do it unconsciously due to 16 years & 106K of muscle memory. I wouldn’t get too wound up about doing it right away.

Yea, Bilstein kinda deceived buyers with the shown billet clamp on advertising and product info pics. I wasnt aware they only supplied the band clamps until I got my shocks and opened the box. Somewhat pissed at the deception I made my own reservoir clamps and removed the Bilstein badging. If you're interested in a custom set of clamps let me know. Thanks man. I was in the same boat. When i first joined @hawairishwas one of the first profiles I binged on. He is a great source of knowledge, experience and talent and super nice guy to boot.

You're in great hands. @hawairish is the man. I love the 5160's paired up with the LR springs. I run the wider, open forest routes up here (Scenic Mtn Loop Hwy) at a pretty good clip( 30-50mph) and the type of grading they do creates 2 1/2ft wide wash boarding thats about 4-6" deep from peak to shallow. With my old OME MD springs and 5100's I'd get rear end "float" and the truck never felt stable in those conditions, especially in cornering. Now the truck is tight, easy to control at speed and corners with no rear end "float". I think you're going to love them. Make sure to check for clearance at full droop and compression. Depending on your wheel/tire offet you may need yo make some adjustments to avoid contact with the shocks and reservoir. What reservoir clamp hardware are you going with?

Hey y’all! Doing a little update on what’s been going on with the Pathy and some upgrades hawairish and I plan to tackle this weekend. For starters, this Pathy already fell into my hands with a -3” SFD -4.636 gear swap -R200 Lokka -H233B LSD rear diff (repacked @ 150 lb/ft torque) -airlift 1000 -3” strut spacers -2” coil spacers -Warren Manual hubs And much more in the link below http:// https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/2002-pathfinder-r50-overland-build.134475/ Originally this pathfinder was Duke90’s, my brother, he then later sold it to me and I’ve had the truck over the last 10 months or so. As his was, this Pathy is also my DD and within the first month I notice some pulling and vibration on the passenger side wheel which eventually became so severe I had to garage it till I could tow it out for repair. The damage from what I later understood was a crack on the subframe cross arm which attaches also to my control arm. That side of the frame was completely torn from the bolt. *I assume this was initially caused by some prior trips we did in the Pathy. Never heavily offroaded but did do 300+ miles of various overlanding terrain with no ‘missing link’. I’m assuming this initially created some sort of damage that had slowly got progressively worse. I figure it must of been a drop or rough hit because the damage needed a lot of force for such a tear to occur. I had great difficulty finding a fabrication shop willing to take on the repair. I mean not even collision centers wanted to touch it but from one referral to another I finally got in touch with tnj performance and got my Pathy back on the road again. Note: the truck sat till around the middle of August (with frequent starts to continuously run fluids). Since then I’ve been fortunate enough to be in touch with hawairish and added a aluminum mid-skid and ‘missing-link’ to the truck. I’ve taken it on my first 4x4 trip to cathedral valley/canyon lands/ spider rock/ Tucson and then Anza borrego on the SoCal xterra event and ocotillo Wells after. Have had no problems then and since the trip so all seems clear with the repair. (Put roughly 4K miles on during this time) As for the parts update This weekend [user]hawairish[/user] and I are planning to do -LR Defender 90 Rear coil springs #NRC9448 -Bilstein 5165s #25-261400 -Viair 485c OBA install Keeping the rear spacers this should bring the Pathy up to a 4” lift in the rear and the much added convenience of OBA that also future proofs the Pathy for adding air-lockers if eventually decided. I’m happy to have this truck and looking forward to all the additions we’ll go through and trips we’ll make through the years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This one is long overdue... Here it goes... I decided last winter to buy what was needed to eliminate the strut top-out I was experiencing almost daily. The road from my house to my work are not in good shape and I wanted to so something about it before my strut disintegrate ! I tried last saturday to take a few pictures to better illustrate how I have decided to do it. There is other ways, but I like mine for different reasons. 1) I used adjustable clevis so I can move the adjustment of the strap if I need it or if I change the setup or suspension. Since At the time of doing this I knew I was going to add a spacer later in the year, I knew It would be a piece of cake to do so. If you have a fixed setup, then you need to either re-weld or change your straps... 2) I welded a plate on the inner fender of the pathy cause I feared the metal sheet of the pathy was not going to be strong enough for the long run if I just welded a small surface mount on it... So I welded a plate, then welded the surface mount on the plate, giving more strength and area to the mount. I bought my stuff at Pacific Custom ( http://www.pacificcustoms.com ) Great service and fast delivery, no mistakes...worth mentioning these days.. The parts I used are the following : 1) CHROME STEEL ADJUSTABLE CLEVIS FOR LIMITING STRAPS - MADE IN CHINA Part Number: AC510050C Price: $35.00 2)WELD ON FORGED MOUNT FOR LIMITING STRAP CLEVIS Part Number: AC510050CV Price: $10.00 3) BEARD 13 INCH LONG 2 PLY BLACK SUSPENSION LIMITING STRAP WITH 1/2 BOLT HOLES - MADE IN USA Part Number: RA17113 Price: $24.00 In my setup, a 13Inch strap was limit a bit and that's why you see the adjuster all the way to the minimum. But since I will be adding a spacer this winter, It will go down 1 inch and will be perfect. Be advised that straps do stretch a bit. I would recommend a 12inch for a regular pathy lifted with ac springs but no spacers. The bottom was made from a welded piece of steel that was bent a bit in order to have a direct line with the upper mount so that it pulls in straight line. Here's a few pictures... If you have questions, don't hesitate. ha yes, almost forgot... gone is the bang of top out.. now I don't hear anything. General view: Upper mount: Lower mount: Hopefully this will help clear the many questions you guys may have about this mod. S.

I got the manual hubs for the slightly better gas mileage, maybe 1 mpg better, lighter steering, and so I could go longer between CV joint and boot replacements. At 260k, with the first 135k on the locked hubs I've not had to do a change yet. I hadn't heard of other front axle issues though. Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

I want to protect my axles as long as I can as well

Have it. Done it. Worked great! Been two years+ since I have had to use it, but the Underground Exterminator worked great for me.

Thank you, this cleared everything up perfectly

Thank God for 2 things right now. One the search feature finding this post, two you providing all the part numbers and detailed pics. Saved me a bunch of trial and error. Thank you.

Hopefully all will work but ran the closest shock height I could get to copying hawairish’s rear set up. The ‘25-261400’ was from the 15-18 Ford F-150 and has.... Collapsed Length (IN): 17.52 Extended Length (IN): 29.44 After a ton of reading you forget some things such as I cant remember being 5125s, I call 5160’s which are now 5165s... why the number changes ? I have no clue. If you find your intended CL/EL go to summit racing parts and they have a whole list of sizes They seem to be low on stock so I ended up getting mine on eBay Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congratulations on acquiring such a well built & pretty truck. Also, really sorry to hear about that failure but you certainly know the repair was worthwhile even if a PITA. You are going to be right where I am headed with my truck (not a terrible surprise given I’m consulting heavily with@hawairish &@TowndawgR50 for guidance). Fantastically, you are about to definitively answer a question I’ve had.@TowndawgR50 has been VERY happy with his LR NRC9448s & Bilstein 5165s. So much so that last weekend he convinced me to go with the 5165s over the 5100s or 5125s. He, however, runs a 6” lift, whereas I’m looking at a 3-4” SFD. My research in the next week or so was to figure out the right part# for the 5165 for my rig. Let me know how that one (25-261400) works out because, if it fits & functions properly, I’m ordering mine as soon as I have confirmation from the two of you. Awesome timing & thanks for posting!

Wheeled it for the last 4 weeks. Awesome time. Ordered Doug thorley headers as my exhaust is original on the 95 and getting crusty.

Pathfinder Pest Control. Tried a new way to kill off the moles who are destroying my yard....we’ll see if it works?

I put all my floor mats after the big shampooing last week. Shopping for some tires tomorrow.

Got her oil sprayed to prevent any rust ?

Terrano R50 from japanes crew

Russian team rally R50: "Tecnosport"