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Dual swing out tire carrier is done. I thought about building a full bumper but wanted to keep the factory look of the vehicle as much as possible. I have to figure out what to do to pretty-up the hinge holes in the bumper plastic, but other than that it is done. The latch I had to order from Amazon, works perfectly. I used an axle shaft off my old Pathfinder as the wheel mount. I don't care for the look but I like the nostalgia and it is hidden when the tire is attached. These are the best hinges I have found. Double shear, nice bearings and have the nice lockout feature when open. I didn't get a rear facing shot, but I did get a side shot. I can still use the review mirror and see out of the back due to the tire being offset on the passenger side. The driver side swing-out is going to get some rotopax cans and other goodies when I can afford it. The next items on the to-do list are: -Pull transmission/tcase and drop subframe for oilpan gasket/rear seal/oil soaked clutch <- this is going to be the SUCK...maybe over xmas holidays. -Fix the rear passenger fender extender -Build slid out for fridge -Build sleeping area in the back and storage area -Lights Lights and more lights, need lights For the future: I want to go back to having an off-road trailer and I am going one of two ways: Go all out and build a sleep in (tear drop style) trailer that weighs less than 2500lbs or build a roof top tent trailer that weighs less than 1000lbs. I am leaning towards the tear-drop style sleep in with a spot for the roof top tent on top. This sounds like a good excuse to become proficient at aluminum welding. The rooftop tent weights 125, tires and wheels about 180, axle about 45 , and at least 15 gallons of water 120 so that is a start off weight of 485.

I did a deep dive on this subject this spring. For AGM, Odyssey & Northstar/X2 Power from Batteries Plus (rebranded Northstar) seem to be the top of the heap. The X2 Power has a 5 year warranty which is tough to beat. For a wet battery it's hard to top Interstate at Costco. 42mo warranty & most batteries Best dual battery setup I've seen in a Pathfinder goes to [mention=1343]XPLORx4[/mention] https://xplorx4.shutterfly.com/437 Another http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/167538-Dual-battery-on-R50-Pathy-with-VQ35 I would advise against Optima. I was an Optima fan & have owned 3 (1 red top & 2 yellow tops). My red top was purchased 3/27/04 & I think it might still be going today (I gave it to my brother about 3 years ago). My 2nd Optima Yellow Top was purchased to replace the Red Top (it still worked I just wanted a deep cycle battery since I was running alot of accessory power). It lasted 8yrs (11/20/09-11/2017). My third was purchased after Johnson Controls bought the company & moved production to Mexico. I bought it for my wife's MDX because I felt the OEM battery didn't do a good job with all the electonics drain I would get while simply cleaning the car. It did improve that but it only lasted 3yr 10mo (1/2015 - 11/2018). I just replaced it with an Interstate. Battery Yellow Top Odyssey Northstar X2 Power Group 34/78 / 75-25 25 / 34 / 34/78 27 27 34/78 PHCA 1400 / - / 1500 1750 1500 CCA 750 / 620 850 / 792 / 850 930 930 880@0*F/585@-20*F CA 870 / 775 990 / - / 1250 1080 1050@32*F Ah 55(120AH)/- 65 / - / 68 92 90 68/64@20*, 61@10* Reserve 120” / 100” 130”/ - / 135” 195” 133" Weight (#) / 38.81 50 / 46.6 / 49.5 68 69.75 48/50#(26.2kg) Length (") 10 1/16 / 9 1/16 9.46 / 10 1/4 / 10.86 12.44 12.46 10.87/10.9"(276mm) Width (") 6 13/16 / 7 1/16 6.84 / 6 13/16 / 7.09 6.77 6.77 6.99"/7.01"(178mm) Height (") 7 7/8 / 7 5/16 8.69 / 7 7/8 / 7.88 8.86 8.75 7.76"(197mm) Warranty (yr) 3 / 3 4 / 3 / 3 4 5 5 (4 if Northstar) Cost 282 / 272 290 / - / $262+t=289.18 350 330 300

hmm, almost wish I still lived up there Started it and let it warm up and moved it a few feet so jumper cables reach the trunk of the car. What a hell of a morning, my face hurt... now I know how all you guys feel ...went out to a dead battery in the car, pulled out the jumpack only to discover that it was dead as well. Got a factory battery few years ago which died just out of the full replacement period. Local dealer just swapped it for a new one that had been on the shelf too long to still be sold. Rather than charging me nearly full price under the pro-rate remaining Looks like I got almost a year out of that one, going to have to break down and buy one now though. But the Pathy started right up, as usual, and eagerly jump-started the car!

CB Skip

Pretty interesting stuff here.

Well done! I was telling @Astrorami the other week about taking a very similar approach. Definitely good use for that axle shaft...I'm sitting on a few WD21 shafts right now and I'm thinking one or two would be perfect for something similar. I was already thinking about using the splined ends for maybe making a test tool for rebuilding LSDs, that would give me use for the other end.

Thank you for the company and top notch beer! @RainGoat

Saturday I stopped by the garage of @TowndawgR50 where he was working on some of the projects he and @hawairish are planning to offer. Most of you probably don't know this, but @TowndawgR50 is an artist as well. It certainly shows in his work. That was some pretty stuff right there!

Just some useful information I thought I'd share. Sometimes after replacing an old o2 sensor you will start getting CEL code 45 injector leak (sometimes other fuel related codes). Before you waste time and money fussing with your injectors you should reset the ECU with a 24 hour unplug. Because you may not really have a problem at all. This can be done but disconnecting the battery or by getting under the seat and carefully unscrewing and removing the ECU connector from the ECU. The latter preserves your clock and radio settings but is a little bit harder to get to. WHY? The FSM won't tell you this but Just resetting/Clearing codes won't work here because it does not clear the rest of the ECU memory. The ECU uses a trim feature to adjust your fuel based on o2 sensor feedback. The trims change as the o2 sensor ages and when a new sensor in place the trims may be too far off (usually because the old sensor was telling the ECU to run richer) so the ECU thinks there is an injector leaking. Doing a 24 hour unplug resets these trims so the ECU can establish a new baseline.

Update: Went off-roading Saturday afternoon and hit some fun trails... really showed off my sagging springs in the rear though. Lift is going in today and I’m so excited to not feel like I’m going to flip every time I go around a corner, and I’m not even going fast [emoji51]. Saw this picture and it made me laugh because I feel like this is everybody on this forum lol

Love the look of this!! That would be an easy order for me whenever these become available

Drove to store and resisted the temptation to turn on the flashing lights from the led light bar at the guy in front of me who kept slamming on brakes...

Update: Scored a killer price on an xj bumper with pre-runner bar online so bit on it. Spent the day getting it mocked up Wasn't too bad, but did take nearly all day to do some trial and error research. I think it came out pretty good though. Will definately have to have a plate made to protect the radiator as well as reroute or build a cover for the washer fluid and radiator overflow. For the radiator overflow, I may make something for it. Now I just have to take it back off and have it sprayed. Was also planning to change out the front springs too, but time ran out. Project for another day. Next relatively big project is building a custom rear bumper with a swing arm for my spare and jerry can. Thanks for looking Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

I don't know the R50, but yeah, if you've got rear drums it should just be a cable tension adjustment. Mine's got rear disks so it's got its own little miniature drum brakes tucked inside for the parking brake, with their own star adjusters. There's also a cable tension adjustment, but it's under the truck on mine, where the cable from the lever meets the cables to the rear end. I thought the shoes were whupped until I took everything apart and found that they had just as much meat on them as the replacement parts, so I just cleaned/lubed/adjusted (having found the adjusters and realized that they were a thing!) and that brought them back to life. I like how the R50 moved the cable tension to inside the cabin. That's actually a really good idea!

I've known of the part, but haven't seen it. The OME strut has a tab with a nut on it instead of a slot for the line. I imagine it was just OME's way of squeezing a couple more bucks out of Nissan owners. A cable clamp and bolt sufficed. I can get you some OME vs. KYB pics if you'd like.

They're definitely not fun to compress. I've done it twice with rental compressors, and dread the thought of doing it again.

They are tough to compress. Unless a shop has a dedicated spring compressor the task can be really challenging. I had a shop compress my HD coils ( I thought OME Front HD coils were PN# 2608?) and they claimed it took more effort than most coils.